Deutsche lures Sumeet Puri from Morgan Stanley

Deutsche Bank has poached Sumeet Puri from Morgan Stanley in India to head equity capital markets (ECM) syndicate for Asia. Sources close to the development say he will replace Jorge Munoz, who will relocate to London shortly to take on a role in syndicate for Europe.

Puri will be based in Hong Kong and will report to John Lydon and Ashok Pandit who are co-heads of ECM for Asia at Deutsche. Lydon and Pandit were appointed to their current positions in March 2008.

The move brings Puri full circle, back to Hong Kong where he previously spent nine years with Merrill Lynch. Puri was head of Asia execution and syndication when he transferred to Merrill's India subsidiary, DSP Merrill Lynch, in Mumbai in 2007 to take up a new dual position as head of ECM and head of structured origination for India. Puri had earlier worked with DSP in India for four years before he moved to Hong Kong in 1999.

But Puri jumped ship within six months of his transfer to DSP in India. He joined Morgan Stanley as head of ECM for India in September 2007, attracted by the opportunity to build up the equities business. Morgan Stanley dissolved its joint venture with JM Financial in February 2007, relinquishing the investment banking, fixed income and retail businesses to JM and taking full ownership of institutional equities sales, trading and research. Morgan Stanley went on to build its own investment banking businesses, receiving an India merchant banking license in October 2007.

Under Puri's watch, Morgan Stanley has built a strong position in ECM in India. This year alone, the US bank has worked on some of the largest ECM deals in India. Morgan Stanley was an adviser to a $325 million qualified institutional placement (QIP) by real estate developer Unitech in April that reopened the QIP market after a pause of one year. In June the bank helped Unitech raise another $575 million in a follow-on QIP. In July Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan raised $1.5 billion for mining firm Sterlite Industries from a follow-on sale of US-listed American depositary shares. And last month Morgan Stanley was sole bookrunning lead manager for the $327 million initial public offering by greenfield power generation company Indiabulls Power.

Puri has been attracted by the opportunity to cover multiple geographies and products at Deutsche, said a source.

A Morgan Stanley spokesperson confirmed that Puri will be leaving the firm. Puri went on gardening leave last week and will join Deutsche in three months, sources added. Deutsche Bank could not be reached for comment.