Barclays Capital yesterday clarified how mergers and acquisitions advisory in the region will be handled from now on. Edward King will serve as head of M&A for Asia-Pacific, while Jason Rynbeck, the previous head, will become vice-chairman for M&A.
BarCap poached Ed King from Morgan Stanley in June. In making this move, King followed his former Morgan Stanley colleague, Matthew Ginsburg, who joined BarCap last year as head of investment banking for Asia-Pacific.
Sources said that after serving his gardening leave, King came on board around a month ago. He brings with him more than 20 years of experience in investment banking, of which the past 11 were at Morgan Stanley. King joined the US investment bank in 1999 from Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ). He worked with DLJ in both New York and Hong Kong. King will continue to be based in Hong Kong with BarCap.
"[King’s] breadth of expertise underlines our commitment to providing a superior full-service product offering to our clients," said Ginsburg in a written statement.
When King left Morgan Stanley in June the US investment bank appointed Samuel Kim and Peter Ding co-heads of M&A for Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan. However, Ding also decided to join Ginsburg and King at BarCap in July, leaving Kim in sole charge of M&A at Morgan Stanley.
For Ginsburg, his former employer is an obvious poaching ground for people with whom he has good chemistry and first-hand experience. Indeed, along with Ding, BarCap also hired Gary Kuo, Morgan Stanley's country head for Taiwan and head of Taiwan investment banking, who had been with the US firm since 2001 and is highly regarded in investment banking circles.
At BarCap, Ding and Kuo share the title of co-head of investment banking for Greater China.
However, Morgan Stanley is not the only poaching ground for BarCap. The UK-based investment bank has been hiring people across firms as it seeks to build its capabilities.
Rynbeck is part of a team of ABN AMRO bankers Barclays hired in mid-2008. In assuming the role of vice-chairman for M&A some sources say he is relinquishing a significant level of responsibility for M&A. However, others suggest he is only distancing himself from day-to-day execution to focus instead on key client relationships. Rynbeck’s immediate focus, added the sources, will be on a defined list of important clients. However, this list will expand over time.
BarCap is ranked sixth on announced M&A deals and fifth on completed M&A deals for the first nine months of 2010, according to Dealogic data. Excluding fairness opinions, the bank is ranked fifth for both announced and completed deals.
