Asia-Pacific debt syndicate head leaves Morgan Stanley

Debt veteran Ethan Farbman is leaving Morgan Stanley after a 14-year stint at the US bank to join one of its clients, according to an internal memo seen by FinanceAsia on Monday.

The Hong Kong-based executive director was most recently Morgan Stanley's head of Asia-Pacific debt capital markets and syndicate, working on different products from leveraged loans to high-yield debt financing for both corporate and institutional clients.

Farbman joined the New York-based bank in March 2004, holding various positions in global capital markets, according to his Linkedin profile. Prior to banking, he worked as an analyst for Sempra Energy Trading, a US energy trading firm.

Farbman's departure comes amid a broader reshuffle of Morgan Stanley's Asia Pacific debt capital markets senior leadership.

James McKenna will assume the role of sole head of its Asia Pacific Fixed Income Capital Markets division, reporting to Julien Begasse de Dhaem, the Asia Pacific head of Global Capital Markets.

Ernst Grabowski will take over from Farbman as head of debt syndicate. Since joining the firm in 2010, Grabowski has worked in debt capital markets, leveraged finance, and most recently ran Morgan Stanley's non-China high yield effort in the region.

Morgan Stanley has named Oskar Arnoldsson head of leveraged and acquisition finance, including responsibility for all aspects of the loans business and non-China high yield. Arnoldsson began his career in Asia Pacific risk management in 2007.

Farbman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

In March, Morgan Stanley was one of the bookrunners in ChemChina’s $6.4 billion dual-currency bond sale, the largest corporate bond sale by an Asian issuer so far this year. Previously the US bank had worked on ChemChina’s refinancing of its loan for the $43 billion takeover of Syngenta.

According to Dealogic, Morgan Stanley ranked 9th in the Asia ex-Japan G3 league table last year, underwriting $10.5 billion in 110 deals. The bank remains in the same position so far this year, with $4.4 billion in 54 deals.

This story has been corrected