French bank Natixis has hired banking veteran Desmond Tang to its investment banking team, betting on increased activity as financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific region hunt for more deals.
Based in Hong Kong, Tang becomes head of the financial sponsors coverage team for Asia Pacific region, a newly created unit, the bank said in a statement on Thursday. He will be responsible for strengthening and growing the bank’s business with financial sponsors, including private equity and sovereign wealth funds.
Natixis says the creation of the unit was intended to help the bank's Asian clients search for growth and technological transfer opportunities beyond the region, leveraging the bank’s global M&A franchise following a series of acquisitions of M&A boutiques in Europe and the US.
“The establishment of this dedicated coverage group speaks to the strategic importance of the financial sponsors segment to Natixis in Asia Pacific,” Damien Cleris, its head of coverage and co-head of investment banking for Asia Pacific, said in the statement. “We are also confident that the development of our M&A activity in the region and at a global level will facilitate strategic dialogue with them.”
Tang was previously with Standard Chartered for more than eight years and spent another six years with ABN AMRO Bank in a similar role. Prior to that, he worked for the debt capital markets team at Bank of America from July 2000 to December 2002, according to his LinkedIn profile.
