Max Blandon, who has been working in the Asian DCM team since January 2001, takes over as the new head at a time when Morgan Stanley is riding high at the top of the league tables with $5.507 billion of issuance under its belt at the end of the first quarter. And although his appointment has only just been formalised, the transition actually began last year when he arrived in Asia to take over the high yield debt team alongside Simon Morgan, who was to run investment grade debt.