Awards for Excellence 2016
|
If you wanted to identify the moment HSBC became an unarguable candidate for the best investment bank in Asia award, it was when the bank was mandated on the devilishly sensitive reorganization of Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa. In years past, the advisory mandate would have gone elsewhere, probably straight to Goldman Sachs; HSBC would have been called in at the last minute for its balance sheet and perhaps a bond takeout. This time, HSBC led the deal the whole way through and won widespread acclaim for it, including from its peers.
In fact, M&A advisory is a useful microcosm of why HSBC is now much more than a debt house. First, there’s the strength in depth. Softly spoken ex-Morgan Stanley man Jason Rynbeck heads the M&A team with great capability, but is only one on a bench of senior ability that includes
Che-Ning Liu, who also serves on the Takeovers and Mergers Panel and Takeovers Appeal Committee at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission; Liu’s banking co-head Martin Haythorne; and strength from elsewhere in the bank such as Stephen Clark, an acknowledged expert in Hong Kong public-listed corporate finance who was instrumental in the CK/Hutch deal.