BoA Merrill poaches Achintya Mangla from J.P. Morgan

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired convertible bond specialist Achintya Mangla and one member of his team at J.P. Morgan, Aloke Gupte, as it builds its equity and equity-linked platform in the region. Mangla's resignation from J.P. Morgan and potential move to BoA Merrill was rumoured in the media earlier this week and was confirmed through an internal announcement at the firm yesterday.

Mangla will not focus solely on converts, but has been given a broader role as head of Southeast Asia equity capital markets and head of equity-linked solutions for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. In this role, he will be responsible for leading the US bank's ECM efforts in Southeast Asia in addition to improving its market share in and revenues from equity-linked products, including corporate derivatives.

In effect, Mangla will take on some of the Southeast Asia responsibilities that Soofian Zuberi had before he was promoted to a new role as head of the firm's sales activities in the region in February 2009. Zuberi and Jason Cox were co-heads of Asia ECM and while they didn't formally divide the region between them, in practice, Zuberi's experience and background in Southeast Asia meant this was where he spent most of his time.

Despite the Southeast Asia focus, Mangla will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Cox, who is now the sole head of Asia ECM. He is expected to start in early August after three months of gardening leave.