UBS has reorganized its Asia-Pacific equities team following the departure of Steve Barg, head of global capital markets (GCM) Asia, to Goldman Sachs. Barg is credited within the bank for overseeing its continued dominance of Asia’s IPO market during the second half of this decade alongside China deal machine Henry Cai, and his departure was a big loss for the firm. It followed the exit of the bank’s equity head, Mark Williams, on May 6 to Nomura. Having lost two of the three key men (Cai being the third) in its Asia business, UBS immediately faced comments from media and competitors that the equity team, the most successful among its peers this decade in what has been Asia’s most profitable core investment banking business, was collapsing.
New management
The bank responded quickly by announcing the new management of its GCM Asia business on June 2. The bank has recalled Peter Burnett, a former head of investment banking Asia at the firm, to the region to take the newly created role of chairman of GCM Asia. John Sturmey, a veteran of the bank’s Asia equity business who ran the syndicate desk between 2004 and 2008, and Joseph Chee, a former head of the bank’s China equity team, will be co-heads of GCM Asia.