JP Morgan is reshuffling its global equity capital markets team. Nick Johnson is set to become the firm’s Asia Pacific ECM head as Jeff Zajkowski, the current head, relocates to New York from Hong Kong at the end of April.
Zajkowski will lead the US investment bank’s Americas ECM division alongside Michael Millman, who has overseen the firm’s ECM business in the technology media and telecom sector for several years out of San Francisco.
Johnson was most recently Hong Kong-based head of real estate, gaming and lodging coverage, origination and execution for emerging Asia.
Both positions are effective immediately, with Zajkowski and Johnson reporting to global ECM head Liz Myers and Johnson also reporting locally to Therese Esperdy, co-head of Banking Asia Pacific, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Previously Bill Contente and Myers handled JP Morgan's US ECM division, according to a spokeswoman. Contente has since become vice-chairman of North American ECM, while Myers now oversees global ECM.
In January 2012, Zajkowski relocated from New York to Hong Kong to take over as regional head of ECM. He was previously responsible for equity-linked origination for the Americas and helped build the firm’s equity-linked securities group in New York, the memo said.
As Asia-Pacific ECM head, Johnson will have three direct reports — David Suen, head of Asia ex-Japan ECM; Yoshihiro Katsumura, head of Japan ECM; and David Gray, head of Australia ECM. All three previously reported to Zajkowski.
Johnson, a 14-year veteran of JP Morgan, took on the real estate, gaming and lodging investment banking head position for emerging Asia in 2009, and has overseen a range of equity, debt and M&A transactions in real estate companies, including the Global Logistics Properties $3 billion initial public offering in 2010; the MGM China $1.6 billion IPO in 2011; and the Wynn Macau $1.9 billion listing in 2009. He previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Matthew Lawson replaces Johnson as the new emerging Asia real estate, gaming and lodging investment banking head. He reports to Esperdy.
These changes come amid a reorganisation in its investment banking group — last week, the US bank named Frank Gong chairman of investment banking in China, after the departure of its most senior investment banker in the country, Fang Fang, who is retiring after 12 years at the firm.
Brian Gu and Jing Zhao were also named co-heads of investment banking in China. The changes are also taking place as the US SEC investigates whether JP Morgan breached the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by hiring children of Chinese government officials, so-called princelings, to win investment banking contracts.
A spokeswoman declined to comment on the probe.
Last April, JP Morgan’s chairman of Asia Pacific ECM Kester Ng left after seven years to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities outside the investment banking industry.
