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By Abhinav Ramnarayan
LONDON, Aug 6 (IFR) - Michael Bevan will leave his positionas head of Middle East and Africa ECM for HSBC. He will move tothe bank's Hong Kong offices to cover sovereign wealth funds.
The bank recently set up the division by appointingerstwhile CEEMEA ECM chief Evans Hajitouma as global head of thesovereign wealth funds coverage group in 2012.
While Hajitouma sits in London to oversee the division,Bevan will be in Hong Kong to specifically handle relationshipswith sovereign funds in the region, such as Singapore's Temasek.
The appointment of two ECM bankers to the division suggeststhat HSBC will focus on sovereign fund involvement inIPOs.
Funds such as China Investment Corporation and Singapore'sTemasek and GIC have become increasingly active in IPOs, oftenacting as "cornerstone" investors. Hong Kong's HKMA, SouthKorea's KIC and Malaysia's Khazanah are also among the biggestsovereign funds in the world.
Bevan's move away from the Middle East also highlights thescarcity of ECM activity in the Gulf region.
While bankers agree that a pipeline of deals has beenbuilding recently, the local stock exchanges do not have theliquidity and the right regulatory environment to allow newcompanies to list easily. Also, not all the deals that gothrough have a foreign component.
Only a select few companies will have access to foreignbourses such as London.
Bevan has worked on Middle East ECM for over three years.During his tenure, deals which HSBC have been involved ininclude IPOs for Vodafone Qatar, Damas Jewellery and Al NoorHospitals.
