UBS has hired Oi-Yee Choo as its head of investment banking for Singapore, according to a memo seen by FinanceAsia.
Choo was most recently head of Singapore investment banking and an executive director at Morgan Stanley. She will join the Swiss bank on February 4.
She has worked on a number of key transactions for SingTel, the CapitaLand group and Temasek Holdings, including the sale of its stake in SingTel, China Construction Bank, Bank of China and Huaneng Renewables. She was also involved in the IPO of Religare Health Trust and Ascendas Hospitality Trust.
Choo replaces Keith Magnus, who was previously UBS head of investment banking for Singapore and Malaysia. Magnus left the bank in July to join independent investment banking advisory firm Evercore Partners as a senior managing director and chief executive of the new Singapore business.
Magnus’ old role is being split between Choo and Sufyan Abdul Jabbar, who the bank also recently hired as its head of investment banking for Malaysia. Jabbar will join the bank on January 2.
He was previously a director at CIMB and was involved in a number of key transactions including the $2.1bn IPO of IHH Healthcare; Khazanah's $1.1 billion sale of its 30% stake in IHH to Mitsui; and Khazanah's S$600m exchangeable sukuk.
UBS has also recently made hires in Indonesia and Thailand to replace bankers that have left.
It hired Agung Prabowo as its head of investment banking for Indonesia to replace Rajiv Louis. Prabowo was previously the head of investment banking for Indonesia at Barclays.
The Swiss bank also hired Weeratos Simapichaicheth as its head of investment banking for Thailand, replacing Phumchai Kambhato, who joined Deutsche Bank in a dual role responsible for investment banking and corporate finance in Thailand. Simapichaicheth, who was previously assistant managing director at Phatra Securities, will join on January 14.
Morgan Stanley has seen a number of departures in investment banking during the past year. Kate Richdale, the bank’s head of investment banking, left the bank in March to join Goldman Sachs, while Jonathan Popper, head of Southeast Asia M&A, joined Temasek in January.
