Bonus season over, job churn begins at i-banks

Bonus season over, job churn begins at i-banks

Abhineet Kumar / Mumbai March 12, 2010, 0:10 IST



Stuart Gulliver, head of HSBC’s global investment banking business, is planning to give away the £9 million bonus he received this year to charity. Many investment bankers in India, however, are charting moves of a different kind after receiving their bonuses — up to 100 per cent in most cases.

Most of them are moving to the exit door.

The churn in investment banks, though less muted than in the heydays of 2007, is gathering speed. “The pent-up desire to move is very high at the moment,” says R Suresh, managing director at head hunting firm Stanton Chase.

Every year, after bonuses are given in January and February, employees at investment banks “plan their career”, Suresh says. The desire to move is higher this year for another reason, he adds. “In many ways the era of big brands are now being questioned; people want to work with institutions that are better at managing risk.”

The most high-profile job switch is that of Kaku Nakhate, head of equities at J P Morgan, to Bank of America Merril Lynch (BOA ML). Nakhate is joining BOA ML as chief executive officer, replacing Kevan Watts who is retiring. She is bringing in a team of bankers from J P Morgan, said people familiar with the development.

There have been many others — all in the last one-and-a-half month. Gaurav Gupta has joined as head of investment banking at Macquarie, moving from Nomura. Nipun Goel joined Nomura as managing director, moving from BOA ML. Sumit Khanna and K Mahesh have joined Morgan Stanley as executive directors, moving from HSBC and Edelweiss, respectively.

Samita Shah joined the investment banking arm of Axis Bank from Credit Suisse some time ago, and Nitin Jain has moved out of ICICI Securities to join Nomura as co-head fixed income.

Head hunters claim more moves are expected to materialise in about a month. “Various developments are taking place and if people want to ride the growth wave then this is the time to do so,” said Suresh.

The other reason for the churn is the composition of bonuses. “There was not much of a cash component in bonuses announced at global investment banks, so employees are looking for better opportunities,” says Sourabh Chattopadhyay, executive director at Options Group, an international executive search firm dedicated to the financial sector.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan confirmed that investment banker bonuses would be made up of a higher percentage of stock this time. The bank was expected to cut the cash component of bonuses between 5 and 25 per cent, depending on the amount of the payout.

“The revival in hiring is also evident from the fact that a lot of people who had moved out of jobs are getting newer opportunities now,” says Saket Jain, managing partner at Vito India, a specialised executive search firm for the investment banking and financial services industry.

The demand is mostly for those employees who bring in the clients for equity issues. This function in investment banking parlance is known as "capital market origination". According to stock exchange data, about 90 Indian companies have announced plans to raise about Rs 70,000 crore through this route alone.

The January-March quarter is expected to see fund raising of around Rs 30,000 crore, including government disinvestment of about Rs 23,000 crore in firms such as NTPC, REC and NMDC.

According to estimates given by investment banks, the next financial year is expected to see fund raising of about Rs 1,30,000 crore including qualified institutional placements, initial public offers, depository receipts etc. The government alone plans to raise another Rs 40,000 crore next year through disinvestments.


http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bonus-season-over-job-churn-begins-at-i-banks/388342/

India Inc's overseas takeover party resumes after a year

India Inc's overseas takeover party resumes after a year

Abhineet Kumar / Mumbai March 5, 2010, 0:28 IST



Cross-border deals are back after a brief lull in 2009. And, investment bankers say 2010 is going to be the year of outbound deals.

The tide turned in February after a rather slow start in January, which saw 15 outbound deals valued at $341 million. Among the done deals was Renuka Sugar acquiring a controlling stake in Brazilian sugar maker Equipav for Rs 1,530 crore and Religare Enterprises buying a California-based fund of funds, Northgate Capital, for around Rs1,000 crore.

Reliance Industries' $14.5 billion bid for bankrupt chemical maker LyondellBasell would have been added to that kitty if the American company's board had not rejected the Indian company's overtures. Reliance, however, is pursuing a Canadian oil sands group, Value Creation, through a $2-billion bid that, bankers say, is likely to go through.

February also saw Bharti Airtel announcing exclusive talks to acquire Zain Telecom’s African assets for $10.7 billion (about Rs 49,000 crore). The fate of that deal will only be known later this month.

The month saw just one significant inbound deal — American Tower Company buying out Essar Telecom Infrastructure for Rs 2,000 crore.

Experts say one major reason for the possibility of more outbound deals is the fact that valuations of troubled overseas assets have risen enough for them to be willing to discuss options. Last year, they had no choice but to wait out, with valuations near all-time lows.
HANDS ACROSS THE WATER
Value in million $ 2008 2009 2010#
Cross Border 25739 5261 377
Outbound Deals 13193 1376 341
Inbound Deals 12546 3885 36
Domestic 5212 6702 2167
Total M&A 30951 11963 2544
#January Source: Grant Thornton Dealtracker
LARGE DEALS IN FEBRUARY 2010
BUYER COMPANY VALUE
OUTBONND FEALS
Renuka Sugar Equipav 329
Religare Enterprise Northgate Capital 200
Bharti Airtel Zain Telecom’s
African Asset* 10700
INBOUND DEALS
American Tower
Company Essar Telecom
Infrastructure 435
* Under discussion Source: Business Standard Research


“Deals never happen when valuations are much below their implicit value,” said Ajay Garg, managing director, Equirus Capital, a Mumbai-based investment bank. “As the global market improves, the targets are coming close to their implicit value and this is helping the deals get through,” he said.

The lull in outbound deals in 2009 followed three preceding years of outbound overtaking inbound with Indian companies acquiring foreign firms such as Corus, Jaguar Land Rover, and Novelis.

“Both Indian and companies abroad are now opportunistic and looking at deals,” said K Balakrishnan, managing director and chief executive officer, Lazard India, local arm of the global investment bank. “Circumstantially it is the right time for Indian companies to look for assets overseas available at attractive valuations, while companies abroad are still cautious with the global economy still on the recovery path,” he said.

In 2009, outbound deals fell short of inbound ones in terms of value. Some 82 outbound deals worth $1.37 billion were closed against 79 inbound deals valued at $3.88 billion.

The figure for outbound deals could have been higher but for the fact that many deals that were on the drawing board last year did not materialise. For example, Sterlite Industries attempt to acquire the US-based copper miner Asarco for $2.56 billion failed. Also Bharti Airtel’s second bid for South African telecom firm MTN in September 2009 fell through on account of regulatory issues.

“The confidence of Indian companies has returned and access to capital is much easier,” said Vedika Bhandarkar, managing director and head of investment banking at J P Morgan India, the local arm of the global investment bank. “Outbound deals will at least be equal to inbound deals this year” she predicted.

Companies such as Vedanta Resources, the holding company of India’s most diversified base metal producers, raised about $4.7 billion (Rs 21620 crore) in the current financial year through American Depository Receipts, Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds etc. The company says its group companies such as Sterlite and Sesa Goa are on the lookout for the right opportunities for inorganic growth.

In the current financial year, Indian companies raised at least Rs 41,000 crore from qualified institutional placements (QIPs) when the Sensex, the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, rose about 75 per cent to 17,000 on Wednesday from 9,708 at the end of the last financial year.

According to stock exchange announcements, about 90 Indian companies have announced their intention to raise an additional Rs 70,000 crore through QIPs in the coming months. Easy access to capital markets has helped the companies de-leverage their balance sheets.

Experts suggest sectors like pharma, IT and automobiles will be the front runners as far as outbound deals are concerned. However, sectors like hospitality and steel also have a huge potential.”

A large proportion of outbound acquisitions by India Inc in terms of value has so far been in the North American region, which accounted for as much as 32 per cent of the total outbound deal value, followed by Europe, which that accounted for 23 per cent of the total outbound deal value.

India Inc cautious on capex

BG Shirsat, Ashok Divase & Abhineet Kumar / Mumbai February 17, 2010, 0:28 IST


Says it will take another two quarters before capex gains momentum

Industrial growth in December may have been the highest in the past 29 years, but India Inc is still cautious on its capital expenditure (capex) plan. Most say it will take another two quarters before capex gains momentum.

A study of 435 companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, which provide their capital-employed data on a quarterly basis, shows capex grew by a meagre 3.4 per cent in the nine months ending December 2009, compared to the level in March 2009. The capex of these companies in 2008-09 grew by Rs 269,952 crore, up 23.67 per cent over the figure at the end of the previous year.

“There has been a lack of confidence in the system, slowing the demand for fresh capital expenditure by companies,” said R Shankar Raman, executive vice-president, finance, at Larsen & Toubro. He said there had been some pick-up in the orders given to capital goods companies in January, but attributed it to the last-quarter phenomenon, when companies try to use their annual budgetary allocation. “I will wait for more certainty,” he said, explaining that companies would wait for five to six months more before planning fresh capital spending.

“Banks are sanctioning loans but disbursements are not taking place, as companies fear demand growth could be short-lived,” said P Harshavardhan, partner & director at the management consultancy firm, The Boston Consulting Group.

Some are more optimistic. Mahesh Vyas, managing director and chief executive officer at the Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy, admitted the capital expenditure of companies had slowed in the June quarter, but emphasised that it had slowly started strengthening since. “Orders given to capital goods companies in January shows continuation of capital expenditure by the companies,” he said.

The cement industry showed the poorest growth, with a decline of 9.3 per cent in the capital employed, indicating they had completed most of their expansion projects and reversed unallocated funds. Similarly, there were reversals of funds from the capital goods and steel makers in that period, showing a decline of 0.87 and 0.11 per cent, respectively, in their capex.

EASING EXPANSION

Capital employed Capital employed as on % change
(Rs crore) Mar ’08 Mar ’09 Dec ’09 Mar ’09* Dec ’09#

Capital employed 11,42,104 14,12,056 14,59,649 23.64 3.37
Mining & Minerals 14,973 21,922 28,703 46.41 30.93
Sugar 21,769 25,547 29,408 17.36 15.12
Power 86,579 94,838 99,559 9.54 4.98
Base metals 77,360 86,139 87,348 11.35 1.40
Telecom 1,02,435 1,42,552 1,43,140 39.16 0.41
Steel 1,43,571 1,64,667 1,64,479 14.69 -0.11
Eng & capital goods 60,135 84,536 83,800 40.58 -0.87
Cement 17,183 20,748 18,802 20.75 -9.38

*% change over March 2008; #change over March 2009 (Source: BS Research Bureau)

The highest rise in capex in the nine months came from the mining and minerals industries, of 30.9 per cent. Sugar, power and base metal industries also respectively grew by 15.1, 4.98 and 1.4 per cent in this period. Telecom, the driving factor of capex for over a decade, grew by a meagre 0.4 per cent in the period, as Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular had completed their expansion plans.

“Companies in these nine months focused on rationalisation of capacity instead of capacity expansion,” said Ashvin Parekh, national leader-global financial services, at Ernst and Young, the accounting and management consultancy. “Fears of rising interest rates would prompt companies to tie-up for working capital requirements in the first quarter of the next financial (year), but the new capital expenditure is expected to pick by only by the second quarter,” he said.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-inc-cautiouscapex/385948/

QIPs face roadblock as markets turn volatile

QIPs face roadblock as markets turn volatile

Rajesh Bhayani & Abhineet Kumar / Mumbai February 15, 2010, 0:55 IST


Enthusiasm for Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs) to raise equity from institutional investors has slowed down.

This, market experts say, is because stock markets have turned volatile and funds flow from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) has turned negative. At least 15 companies are waiting for the market to improve to raise money through QIPs. But, unless prices turn positive and rise above two-week average, they will not be able to raise capital.

QIP is a capital raising tool preferred by listed companies in India to quickly raise funds with minimum documentation. Through QIPs, companies issue equity shares, fully and partly convertible debentures, or any securities other than warrants which are convertible to equity shares to qualified institutional buyers.

According to stock exchange announcements, 90 companies are waiting to raise about Rs 70,000 crore through this tool. “QIPs do not work in declining or volatile markets,” said Prithvi Haldea, chairman and managing director of Prime Database, Delhi-bases capital markets data provider.

“The primary capital market will be choppy in the short term. We have to price in volatility to ensure success of issuances. Investors are slowly becoming risk averse,” said S Ramesh, chief operating officer, Kotak Investment Banking.

A QIP’s pricing is based on the latest two-week average price of a stock. So, in a falling market, investors shy away from an issue when the prevailing market price comes below the two-week average.

Companies have raised about Rs 41,000 crore in the current financial year till January, when the Sensex rose 68 per cent to 16357 at the end of the month, from 9708 at the end of the last financial year.

“Appetite of investors has come down, which is affecting the QIP issues,” said Pankaj Jaju, executive director, investment banking at Enam Securities.

The fund flow from FIIs turned negative in January, for the first time in the current financial year. There was net outflow of Rs 1,100 crore FII money in the month, against inflow of average Rs 10,100 crore in the last nine months. FIIs have been the largest subscribers to the QIP issues.

FII sentiment has also been hit since the US President spoke about plans to ban proprietary trading of US banks last month. Proprietary trading has been the mainstay of these banks and such a move could hurt their investing capabilities. There is also rising concern of governments globally withdrawing stimulus packages over a period of time. This has affected the stock markets in India, along with other markets worldwide.

'Monetary tightening will cause some pullback'

'Monetary tightening will cause some pullback'

Q&A: Pankaj Vaish, MD, Nomura Financial Advisory & Securities (India)Abhineet Kumar & Sidhartha / Mumbai December 31, 2009, 0:26 IST

Pankaj Vaish, managing director and head of equities & fixed income liquid markets at Nomura Financial Advisory & Securities (India), says he takes a contrarian view of things. Unlike most market players, Vaish — who came to Nomura after the Japanese financial giant took over Lehman Brothers — says things could go wrong for the stock markets, though not on the same scale as in 2008. In an interview, he tells Abhineet Kumar & Sidhartha that Nomura is looking to set up another finance company to deal in corporate bonds. Excerpts:

The next year looks promising with companies planning to raise Rs 150,000 crore by selling equity. It looks pretty huge

It does. But for me there is not much information in that. It simply says that if the markets continue to do well, the issuance can happen to that extent. Vibrancy of capital markets is obviously a good thing. The government is reducing its stake in some public sector companies. So, all these things are quite nice. But if the markets were to tank, all of this would be withdrawn.

But people are talking about shrubs. Green shoots are a thing of the past.

The last 24 months have taught us not to extrapolate. We all tend to see the trend of the last few months. Everybody is in a good mood now and I hope this continues. I am somewhat contrarian by nature. So, we felt very comfortable being long most of this calendar year, which was not an easy call in February and March. Generally speaking, the next year should be good as well.Globally, rates will remain low, there is search for yield, and there is search for assets that will outperform. India is in a far better situation. But there will be some pullback owing to a necessary monetary tightening.

Then what could be the spoiler?

If the hike in interest rates is a little faster than what the markets expect, it could be a spoiler. There is another point that a fair number of people have started talking about. This is about the economy sliding back in the US and the UK, which probably still have a lot of things to sort out. Dubai was localised, but if something bigger happens, it will affect banks all over again. Then, there could be problems. It does not have to be of the magnitude of what happened in 2008, but would cause enough sense of disbelief in the recovery, which would cause a natural problem for the markets. Some UK banks still don’t have all their books marked to market.

FII (foreign institutional investor) fund flow has helped recent QIPs (qualified institutional placements) and IPOs (initial public offers). Do you expect the fund flow to continue next year?

If the markets are stable, you can expect similar numbers that you saw this year. If there are more QIP or other issues, the inflows could be larger. The money is there. Global hedge funds and long-only funds have plenty of money. Households are also able to provide further inflows. People definitely got shell-shocked and went into the savings mode. But that can be liquefied. If the markets remain stable, that money will come back. The higher one-year CDs are expiring but now in the G7 countries, the rates are not going up and people are desperate for higher returns. You can see that in India also. Look at what has happened to fixed deposits. People are searching for higher returns.

Is dollar appreciation a concern for FII flows?

The appreciation of the dollar is going to be short-lived. First, there is a possibility that dollar appreciation and S&P 500 appreciation will go hand in hand. Seven to eight years ago, there was a correlation. Secondly, the focus will now be on fundamentals of emerging markets. So, I am not too worried about that unless we see the dollar going above 52 to a rupee, which I currently don’t. FIIs would not be dissuaded from coming to India at 46 to 49; if anything, it is a better entry.

This year, the stock markets offered great returns. What is your take on 2010?

Historically, such large years are not followed by another huge year. So, strictly going by that, we should be less enthusiastic. I am simply not extrapolating. I just don’t have the same level of enthusiasm that I had in March. If the earnings keep coming in, the enthusiasm will be back. The market is fairly priced right now and may return in the teens next year, depending on RBI’s actions.
Can a large number of issues impact the secondary markets?

Issuances will only come if the markets are rallying. Investors are hopeful that the markets are doing fine. When you have that environment, when all secondary issues are doing okay, a minor re-rating happens for existing stocks.

Is pricing going to be the deciding factor?

It is always healthy when people are looking at pricing. So, some issues fail and some issues succeed. That is healthy because people are not putting money mindlessly. I was nervous when they did not talk about it.

But are FIIs comfortable with pricing when retail investors are not?

FIIs look from different lenses. FIIs have a different risk profile and they tend to be nimble; they get out if they think they have made a wrong decision. Retail investors look at long-term investments, which is good.

Listing gains are out. Is that going to deter retail investors?

That was unhealthy. It is healthier now that they are not buying stocks for first-day gains.

Do you see new products coming in?

There will be a lot of choice. New products will come, which is good thing. So far, there is a somewhat counterproductive ban on OTC derivatives onshore (to customise being embedded in products).That will open up choices for household investors as well as customisable hedges. In the corporate bond market, we should contemplate exchange-trade funds (ETFs) for corporate bonds. ETFs will just be a basket, easily tradable on the exchange, with low transaction costs. It will provide a big boost to corporate bond liquidity in the secondary market. Also, commodities trading for a wider group of institutional players will allow the much-needed liquidity and hedging that we as a merchandise-deficit country must do.

What are you doing to strengthen your operations in India?

We already have a full-fledged equities business, including direct market access and prime services, and a primary dealership that is very active in providing liquidity in government bonds and swaps. We have applied for an NBFC (non-banking finance company) licence. Through that entity, we would like to get into corporate bond trading and customised notes issuances to cater to the needs of investors, among other things. We are also entering into a joint venture with LIC Mutual Fund.

Is there a lot of interest in Japan on investing in India?

Yes. Late last month, Nomura launched a Nifty ETF on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. There is a lot of interest in India given the yield-driven hunger. Five or seven years ago, there was a lot of interest in high-yielding Uridashi bonds in New Zealand and Australia, but now people are looking at emerging markets within Asia.

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