HONG KONG, July 28 : Barclays is moving to bolster its investment banking presence across Asia-Pacific, prioritising fee-rich advisory and M&A opportunities a year after restructuring its regional team."We want to add more to our core coverage advisory business because our global focus is to grow that business more," Avinash Thakur, who was appointed regional investment banking chief in July last year, told Reuters in an interview with three senior Barclays executives.Barclays' global investment banking and underwriting fee income grew 24 per cent in the first six months of this year from a year ago, its results on Tuesday showed.Thakur highlighted Japan, India, Australia and Southeast Asia as key growth drivers for the London-headquartered bank's efforts to grab a bigger share of high-value, milestone transactions.
Both global and local investment banks have been expanding their headcount in regional markets including Japan and India to advise on equity and debt capital market offerings, as well as on M&A transactions.In the 12 months ended June, Barclays' equity capital proceeds in Asia Pacific, including Japan, surged 82 per cent year-on-year, while debt capital market volumes rose 11 per cent, LSEG data showed. "We will continue to see significant amounts of capex and refinancing activity that clients will need to address," said Richard Satchwell, Barclays' APAC Head of Capital Markets Financing.The bank's M&A business expanded by 18 per cent over the same period, propelled by Japan dealmaking, which rocketed more than tenfold to $14.8 billion from the previous year's $1.4 billion.Japan has been leading Asian M&A activities with multi-billion-dollar take-private arrangements, outbound investments and private equity activity, amid corporate governance reforms to tackle chronic low valuations.In Japan, Barclays appointed Hiroshi Minoura as chairman of investment banking and recruited Kensuke Nakatsuka as head of M&A advisory in April. It has also added three senior sector coverage bankers over the past year."The strategic imperative to find growth outside Japan is, and continues to be, very strong," said Ee-Ching Tay, Barclays' APAC head of M&A and head of Southeast Asia investment banking.Barclays has also hired former Deutsche Bank banker Ramin Naji as Asia Pacific head of healthcare, and he will start in his new role in August, according to a source familiar with the matter. Barclays declined to comment.Although macroeconomic volatility and AI disruption drove broader Asia Pacific M&A volumes down 20 per cent in the first half, Tay sees growth opportunities in AI-driven digital infrastructure buildouts for advisory and financing.Last month, Barclays advised Indian software firm Persistent Systems on its acquisition of Germany's Nagarro, and Tay said she expects more Indian buyers to pursue targets abroad to access technology and expand into new markets at favourable valuations.($1 = 0.7509 pounds)
