Rob Sivitilli, JP Morgan's head of M&A for Asia excluding Japan, is to leave the bank after 18 years and will be replaced by Rohit Chatterji, JP Morgan’s co-head of banking in India.
Sivitilli plans to retire from banking and relocate with his wife to Palm Beach Florida to spend more time with his elderly parents.
“At this point, I feel my priority is to spend time with them,” Sivitilli told FinanceAsia in a phone interview. “I have been working intensively at the bank for nearly two decades and now have the flexibility to do something else, which could be more entrepreneurial.”
News of Sivitilli's move was disclosed in a memo signed by Hernan Cristerna and Chris Ventresca, JP Morgan’s global co-heads of M&A and Therese Esperdy, co-head of banking Asia Pacific, and sees him join the growing number of senior bankers turning their back on the industry.
JP Morgan is understood to have given him various options, including taking a sabbatical, before opting to leave.
Sivitilli, 41, started out his JP Morgan career in 1996 as an associate, covering diversified industries and real estate in North America before relocating to Singapore in 2010. He was promoted to the role of head of M&A for Asia excluding Japan in 2012.
Prior to that, Sivitilli was JP Morgan's head of M&A and corporate finance for Southeast Asia, a role he retained after his promotion. However, in January this year Jerry Chua was promoted to head corporate finance for Southeast Asia.
Sivitilli has worked on numerous mergers and acquisitions for JP Morgan while at the helm in Asia. The most noteworthy was ING’s sale of its insurance business in Asia, which Sivitilli described as having put his “heart and soul” into.
The business was eventually split, with ING's insurance business in Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand sold to Richard Li’s Pacific Century group for $2.1 billion, its Malaysian business sold to AIA for $1.7 billion and its Korean business sold to MBK partners in 2012 for $1.7 billion.
According to Dealogic's bank league tables, JP Morgan is in ninth place so far this year in terms of announced M&A for Asia excluding Japan, with a market share of 5.3%.
Replacement
Chatterji will relocate to Singapore to replace Sivitilli as the firm's M&A head for Asia ex Japan M&A, according to the memo seen by FinanceAsia. Chatterji has been with JP Morgan for 17 years and was most recently co-head of JP Morgan’s banking business in India.
He has held a number of leadership positions within Asian investment banking, covering clients in various industries and the telecommunications, media and technology sectors, as well as leading the firm’s Southeast Asia corporate finance team and later, emerging Asia debt capital markets.
Chatterji’s move, in turn, has triggered changes in India. Kaustubh Kulkarni has been promoted by JP Morgan to head of investment banking in India while Vinay Menon will assume co-head of coverage, in addition to his current role as head of equity capital markets for India, according to a second internal memo seen by FinanceAsia.
The second memo was signed off by Kalpana Morparia, senior country officer, India, Esperdy and Tom DuCharme, co-head of banking, Asia Pacific.
Madhav Kalyan, who was previously a co-head of JP Morgan’s corporate and investment banking in India, together with Chatterji, will continue as CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Mumbai branch, and head of treasury services India. He also assumes sole responsibility for corporate banking coverage which includes local companies, multi-national and financial institution clients.
