Agnew was previously co-head of the European financial sponsors group, based in London since 2005. He has worked with private equity firms on their investments both in the US and Europe and has extensive cross-border experience. Agnew was recently involved with deals in the US, Spain, Germany, Sweden, France, Holland, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Agnew will report to Paul Raphael, head of investment banking in Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan), and Harold Bogle, global head of financial sponsors coverage at Credit Suisse. He joined Credit Suisse in 2000 after the bank's merger with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he was part of the European leveraged finance/financial sponsors coverage group.
Credit SuisseÆs announcement comes one day after it said it would relocate the head of its financial institutions group, Vikram Gandhi, from New York to Hong Kong to oversee the global FIG portfolio. AgnewÆs role, unlike GandhiÆs, will be restricted to this region but in the financial sponsorsÆ arena, the argument to be based in Asia is currently very compelling.
Dealogic estimates that global financial sponsor M&A buyouts have plummeted 71% year-to-date, and are currently at their lowest level since 2004. In stark contrast, financial sponsor buyouts in Asia (ex Japan) are up 41% to $6.8 billion. The base in the region is small - thus the high percentage growth - and the absolute level of private-equity-led buyouts is still very small even compared to the $25.7 billion the US has registered year-to-date (down 87% versus the comparable period last year) but it is indisputable that the growth momentum is in this region.
Credit Suisse ranks third in Asia-Pacific buyouts so far this year behind Nomura and Goldman Sachs, according to Dealogic data based on announced deals.
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