BofA Merrill gives Hume-Kendall new Europe role
Rupert Hume-Kendall, a senior banker within Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has been promoted to a newly created European role, focused on relationship building within the region.
Previously chairman of global capital markets, Hume-Kendall will now have a wider remit but focused on Europe, Middle East and Africa as chairman of global corporate and investment banking for Emea, according to an internal memo.
In an internal memo, Christian Meissner, head of global corporate & investment banking, and Bob Elfring, co-head of Emea corporate & investment banking, said Hume Kendall will be responsible for “developing essential new senior relationships, across all aspects of corporate and investment banking in Emea”.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has been beefing up its European team after the loss of Andrea Orcel, formerly executive chairman for global banking and markets, who left for UBS in March to become global co-head of investment banking at the Swiss bank. Jonathan Moulds, European president, also retired in August, and Mark Astaire, the former head of corporate broking, left for Barclays in April.
Alexis de Rosnay, co-head of global healthcare at Bank of America Merrill Lynch with a focus on Emea, joined from Lazard in April, only to leave in September to head up Canaccord Genuity's European operations.
In response, Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, formerly chairman of the investment bank at UBS, joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in April as president of Europe and emerging markets, excluding Asia.
Other hires in 2012 include Peter Luck from UBS, Michael Findlay from Moelis and Diego De Giorgi from Goldman Sachs. De Giorgi now co-heads Europe alongside Elfring.
In Emea, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has fallen from seventh to ninth in terms of investment banking fees over the first nine months of 2012, compared to the same period in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters. The bank has earned $453m in Emea so far this year, compared to $676m for 2011, and $577m this time last year.
However, the bank has won a number of major deals in a time where fees have been few and far between. The bank helped lead UniCredit's $10.3bn rights issue in January, and was sole bookrunner for Reckitt Benckiser’s $2bn follow on in May.
More recently, Bank of America Merrill Lynch helped manage a £300m convertible bond for Capital Shopping Centres, the UK’s largest shopping centre owner, and is on the deal ticket to help list Telefonica Deutschland.
