Offshore firm Maples and Calder has moved two finance partners to Hong Kong to meet an expected increase in the number of deals on Asia's capital markets.
Mark Western and Stacey Overholt have been moved from the Cayman Islands and London offices respectively, to lead the firm's Hong Kong banking and finance practice. Western will focus on aircraft and asset finance, while Overholt will specialise in capital markets and structured finance matters.
"From our experience during the past two or three months things are definitely looking up and for that reason we believe we need more firepower in place so that when things get back to full blast we will be more than prepared," said Hong Kong managing partner Christine Chang (pictured). This may be sooner rather than later if recent activity is any indicator. Over the past two months alone several sizeable capital markets deals have successfully closed to high demand. Chinese manufacturer Zhongwang launched a US$1.2bn IPO - the largest HK IPO of the past 12 months - while more recently, Bawang's $US215m and 361 Degrees' $US280m IPOs will raise in excess of HK$4bn.
Maples' partner moves are also timely as competition between offshore firms heats up. Both Appleby and Conyers Dill & Pearman have recently opened Mauritius offices in an effort to boost their stake in key Asian economies, and all offshore firms, it seems, remain in an expansionist frame of mind. Chang, however, noted that Maples will be adopting a different strategy to the competition.
"Our view is that control of quality and consistency of product is very important, and if you don't have enough resources, that's a very difficult thing to maintain," she said. "Our [strategy] is based on listening to our clients and understanding market needs. Until such time that we feel we've gathered enough client impetus, we won't be considering additional jurisdictions. There is always a danger that if you expand into too many different jurisdictions or you open too many overseas offices offering the same jurisdictions you spread yourself too thin."
For more on recent Hong Kong capital markets deals, see the August edition of ALB.
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