Its Asia offices have enjoyed a reasonable amount of success, prompting the firm to embark on a second phase of headcount expansion. It will be “cherry-picking the best of the best”, said Christopher Laskowski, head of Asia investment banking, in an interview.
The company has jumped on hiring opportunities thrown up by the turmoil around Credit Suisse’s takeover by bigger Swiss rival UBS, which led to a slew of departures.
India’s market has proven to be a bright spot for the firm. This year the firm has already scored two blockbuster deals worth US$1.38 billion and US$1.87 billion involving the sprawling Adani Group, in which the firm acted as broker.Jefferies hired its India team just 14 months ago, and has since become the top equity house based on 2023 year-to-date rankings, according to Refinitiv data. That is up from 7th spot in 2022 and 34th in 2019.
“We’re committed to serving our clients across Asia, with significant new hires recently made in Southeast Asia and India,” said Laskowski.
“We have about 40 bankers sitting here in Hong Kong, as part of a 250 team, actively engaged in Hong Kong and China M&A and equity transactions.”
Laskowski, who joined Jefferies in October 2021, chose to focus on bolstering its coverage of the Greater Bay Area and Southeast Asia markets, and did not rush to expand the team in China as some might have expected.
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Despite sluggish momentum, Laskowski said the streets of China were “full of energy” and the firm is “bullish long-term” on China.
“There will be some short-term volatility, but the Chinese people’s entrepreneurial spirit is going to make it work,” he said.
A slump in mergers and acquisitions and the collapse of Credit Suisse have sparked a major turnover in senior managers. Having hired aggressively during better times, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are among those cutting jobs in major downsizing drives.
37:19
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Global M&A volumes in the first quarter of 2023 fell nearly 25 per cent year on year to 9,197, while the deal value dropped 47 per cent to US$369.6 billion, according to S&P Global.
Meanwhile, funds raised from new share listings in Hong Kong dropped to a two-decade low in the first half of the year, pushing the city to ninth place in a global ranking of IPO markets, according to Refinitiv. Worldwide IPO proceeds declined 24 per cent.Laskowski said he expects the most business for the firm to come from a few key sectors: healthcare, tech, consumer, industrial tech, metals and mining, and energy. Unlike larger banks, Jefferies has found its “sweet spot” working on deals in the US$500 million to US$2 billion range.
The German lender said it, too, was betting on a rebound in Asian deal-making.
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