After nine years at Morgan Stanley, Sykes returns to ING Barings where he has been appointed managing director and head of Asian debt capital markets. Based in Hong Kong, he will complement Robert Scholten, head of loans and Richard Lamb, head of securitization.
The Dutch bank views his hire as a next logical step in the integration its operations and use of greater balance sheet firepower in capital markets transactions. Although, for example, the investment banking operations of ING Barings and corporate lending activities of ING Bank have been merged, recent acquisitions - BBL Bank and BHS Bank - still operate separate credit lines in Asia.
Commenting on the bank's ambitions, Asian chairman David Hudson says, "As liquidity increases and bond markets deepen across the region, we expect ING, with its strong capital base and credit rating, to become a significant player in Asian debt capital markets."
Tim Hall, global head of debt products also adds, "ING is committed to building a global debt products network and our ability to service issuers around the world will be further enhanced by bringing Rod Sykes on board."
Since he came to Asia in 1993, Sykes has built up a trackrecord in corporate high yield, large emerging markets borrowings and exchange offerings. These include numerous deals for the Republic of the Philippines including its most recent Brady bond exchange and a debut exchange offer by Bangkok Bank.
Indeed, it is believed that in his time, Sykes has originated more high yield transactions than any other banker in Asia.
