Merrill Lynch has boosted its marketing presence for Asian equities with a hiring spree in recent weeks. According to an internal announcement by Nigel Beattie, head of Pacific Rim equity investor client group in Tokyo, Merrill has made the following hires for the investor client group in Asia: Tim Last, equity derivatives marketer at JPMorgan in Hong Kong, has joined as a director in Hong Kong; Gus Cheah, head of institutional sales at DBS in Singapore, has joined as a director; Jerry Yoon, marketer at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, has come on board as v.p. in Hong Kong and Orion Leung, equity derivatives research at JPMorgan in Hong Kong, has joined as v.p. in Hong Kong. Beattie declined comment. Additionally, Angus Kent, Thailand Indonesia and Philippines product head at JPMorgan in New York, has joined as a director in New York covering Asian products. For Japanese convertibles, cash equity and derivative sales, Miki Edelman, marketer at JPMorgan in Boston, has joined as a marketer in New York, Sharon Bowen, marketer at Nomura Securities in New York, has joined as v.p. in New York, and Andreas Frenzel, fund manager at Deutsche Investment Trust Management in Frankfurt, will be v.p. in Frankfurt.
An equity official at the firm noted that with the growing number of hedge funds being set up, as well as increasing flows into Asian equities, Merrill needed to boost its coverage for the region globally.