JPMorgan’s Chatterji to Lead Asia M&A as Sivitilli Quits

Cathy Chan

JPMorgan (JPM) Chase & Co. named Rohit Chatterji to lead mergers and acquisitions for Asia excluding Japan as Rob Sivitilli resigned from the post after 18 years at the biggest U.S. bank.

Sivitilli will leave the industry and relocate to Florida to be closer with his family, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News. Chatterji, who was most recently co-head of banking in India, will move to Singapore to take up his new role, the document showed. Marie Cheung, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan in Hong Kong, confirmed the contents of the memo.

Mergers involving companies in Asia excluding Japan have climbed about 33 percent to $254 billion this year from the same period in 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News based on pending and completed deals. New York-based JPMorgan is ranked 11th, after finishing third last year, the data show.

The firm also appointed Kaustubh Kulkarni as India investment banking head and Madhav Kalyan will remain chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase Bank in Mumbai as well as head of treasury services, according to another internal memo confirmed by Cheung.

Sivitilli, a 41-year-old native of Canada, joined JPMorgan in New York in 1996 and moved to Singapore in 2010 when he was named head of Southeast Asian corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. He was appointed to his latest post in September 2012.

M&A Projection

In November, Sivitilli forecast a 30 percent increase in the value of mergers that JPMorgan expected to handle in Asia for 2014. Energy companies, financial firms and Asian buyers expanding in the U.S. and Europe would drive the surge, he said in an interview.

JPMorgan has worked on deals in Asia excluding Japan this year valued at $15.4 billion, down 16 percent from the same period in 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Chatterji has been at the U.S. firm for 17 years, holding various leadership positions in Asian investment banking, according to the memo. He led the Southeast Asia corporate finance team and later debt capital markets for emerging Asia, the document showed.

He moved to India from Hong Kong in 2010 and replaced Vedika Bhandarkar, who left in April of that year to join Credit Suisse Group AG as head of India investment banking.

The Wall Street Journal reported the changes to M&A management yesterday.

India Roles

In India, Kalyan will be responsible for corporate banking coverage, the memo showed. Vinay Menon will assume the role of co-head of coverage in addition to his responsibilities as head of equity capital markets in the country, Cheung said.

JPMorgan has faced several senior departures this year, including Mike Cavanagh, who was co-head of the firm’s corporate and investment bank and served as a close deputy to Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon for more than two decades.

Fang Fang, CEO of investment banking for China, resigned in March after more than 12 years at the firm amid an investigation into its Asian hiring practices. Ray Eyles, CEO of Asia commodities, quit after 25 years at the bank as it withdraws from physical products, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg last month.

Bloomberg