Danny Wong has been promoted to head of equity capital markets for Greater China at Macquarie Capital Advisers, the Australian firm’s advisory and corporate finance arm, according to an internal announcement. This is a new role and shows the importance that Macquarie attaches to this region.
As a senior member of the Hong Kong ECM team, Wong has helped Macquarie build a leading position in the Hong Kong IPO market during the past few years and has executed numerous deals for Chinese clients. This means this is a new title more than a new role for Wong, and a way for the firm to formally recognise his experience. A source noted that one of his key assets is that he can function both as an originating China banker and an ECM banker.
He will continue to report to Mark Warburton, head of ECM for Asia, and will remain based in Hong Kong. However, he will now play a leading role among Macquarie’s 15-or-so ECM bankers who are focusing primarily on Greater China.
“We have an excellent ECM pipeline in Greater China and we are confident that, under Danny’s leadership, we can continue to grow this critical business area,” Warburton and Kalpana Desai, head of Macquarie Capital Advisers in Asia, said in the announcement, which was signed by both.
Macquarie became a player in Asian equities after buying ING’s local equities business in July 2004. In 2008, it ranked as the top underwriter of IPOs in Hong Kong after lead-managing three of the five biggest offerings by Chinese companies, including the H-share portions of the dual A- and H-share listings for China Railway Construction Corp and China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock. Over the past couple of years, the firm has been mainly involved in bringing mid-cap companies to market, although it did have bookrunner roles on Agricultural Bank of China’s $22.1 billion IPO last year and China Minsheng bank’s $3.9 billion H-share listing in 2009. It is also mandated for China Guangfa Bank’s pending dual-listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which is expected to raise more than $5 billion.
Wong joined Macquarie in Singapore in 2005, also focusing on ECM. He transferred to Hong Kong in 2007. Transactions he has worked on for Chinese companies since then, according to the announcement, include the $212 million Hong Kong IPO of sofa maker Man Wah Holdings, Global Dairy’s $204 million IPO and the Hong Kong dual-listing of China Animal Healthcare. More recently, he was involved in the $800 million Hong Kong IPO for wind power generator Huaneng Renewables in June.
A native Singaporean, Wong joined Merrill Lynch’s corporate finance team in his home town after graduating from MIT in 1998. Before joining Macquarie he also worked at Credit Suisse First Boston and CLSA.
