"Go West", sang the Village People when encouraging listeners to seek utopia but bankers considering their career prospects might now be advised to go in the opposite direction. In what might be a sign of things to come, Credit Suisse has relocated two senior bankers to Asia, seeking to align top talent with areas of highest potential growth. First up is Vikram Gandhi, who has led CS to its position as the top M&A adviser to financial institutions (year-to-date) since he joined the firm in 2005. Gandhi, who moves from New York to Hong Kong, will continue in his role as head of the global financial institutions group. Before he joined Credit Suisse, Gandhi was head of FIG at Morgan Stanley.
Meanwhile Ronan Agnew, co-head of Credit Suisse’s European financial sponsors group, moves to Hong Kong to become sole leader of the equivalent Asia-Pacific team. While banks in the US and Europe have been wondering what to do with their LBO teams, their counterparts in Hong Kong sound upbeat about the prospect of more sponsor-driven activity after a strong 2007. Agnew will report to Paul Raphael, head of investment banking for Asia-Pacific (ex Japan), and Harold Bogle, global head of financial sponsors at the firm.