Cazenove expands sales and research teams in Hong Kong

Mid-cap focused investment bank Cazenove has made two new hires for its equity sales and research teams in Hong Kong, which are both key parts of the bankÆs capital raising franchise. In recent years, the bank has been particularly active when it comes to taking mid-cap Chinese companies public and many of those mandates have been won thanks to its strong research capabilities.

The two hires are Jonathan Lloyd, who has been appointed head of equity sales for Hong Kong, and Lawrence Chen, who will join the equity research team focusing on the Hong Kong and China banking sectors.

Lloyd joins from Mirabaud Asia where he was a managing director and responsible for building the investment banking platform. He will report to Christopher Hunt, CazenoveÆs head of equities for Asia. Lloyd has more than 13 yearsÆ experience in banking, the majority of which has been spent in Hong Kong. Prior to his stint at Mirabaud, he has also worked at Crosby Capital, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, SG Securities and LGT Asset Management.

Chen has been covering AsiaÆs financial sector since 2001, most recently at Fox-Pitt Kelton where he was a regional bank analyst. Before that he worked at Deutsche Bank and, aside from his knowledge of AsiaÆs banking sector, he also has what Cazenove refers to as ôbroad experienceö in investment banking deals within this sector. In his new job he will report to Alistair Griffin, who is the bankÆs head of research for Asia.

Cazenove is currently in the market with two Hong Kong initial public offerings: fashion accessory and jewellery designer Artini China, which is seeking to raise up to $123 million and is due to price its offering today; and Hong Kong shipping company Wah Kwong Maritime Transport, which is pre-marketing a deal that is expected to raise about $100 million to $150 million. The institutional bookbuilding for the latter is scheduled to kick off on May 19.