Citi adds to Asia-Pacific ECM origination team

Citi has hired Stephen Albutt as a director and co-head of corporate equity derivatives in its capital markets origination (CMO) team in Hong Kong and appointed Victor Wong as director of equity syndicate with a specific focus on the origination of equity blocks and accelerated transactions, according to an announcement yesterday.

The two appointments come after the bank late last week hired Nathan McMurtray, formerly with Standard Bank and Morgan Stanley, as a director in its regional equity-linked origination team. The bank has also hired Robert Jahrling, a former equity syndicate banker with Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, as a vice-president in its Australian capital markets origination team, based in Sydney.

Albutt joins from Morgan Stanley, where he was an executive director and head of structured equity. He is no stranger to Citi though, having worked in Citi's London office as a director with the equity structured solutions team from 2000 to 2007, when he left to join Morgan Stanley.

Wong is an internal appointment and his role on the Asian syndicate desk is a new position. Previously with the equity sales team, he will work alongside current syndicate bankers Leslie Holland and Jackie Chien.

"The creation of this new role will further entrench our platform, bringing direct contact with the buy-side into CMO to generate opportunities as well as provide us with a better read on market colour, investor appetite and risk transactions," Ken Poon, head of capital markets origination in Asia-Pacific, said of Wong's new syndicate role.

According to the announcement, Citi's Asia-Pacific CMO business is one of the fastest growing areas within its global markets division in the region. In the past year, the bank has raised close to $150 billion for clients in the region, Citi said, quoting Dealogic data.