li ka-shing's broker looks set for an early retirement from mega-deals
The chairman of Citigroup Global Markets (Asia), Francis Leung Pak-to, must be one of the most sought-after investment bankers in town. You can tell this by the amount of speculation over his potential departure from the firm.
Although just 50, Mr Leung (who joined Citigroup in May 2001) is rumoured to be preparing for an early retirement, having failed to secure any China mega-deals in the past nine months.
The drought began after China Netcom's IPO in November last year and seemingly ended just this week when Citigroup landed an advisory role for CNPC's trump bid for PetroKazakhstan.
Despite his renown as Li Ka-shing's broker, Mr Leung has not scooped any deals from the Cheung Kong group. Other blue-chip clients have shown similar parsimony in a generally deal-friendly market. So when Citigroup shot out a super bearish report on the share-price prospects for Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa on Tuesday, the market smelled at rat.
Both Mr Leung, who was out town yesterday, and Citigroup offered no comment on the rumour surrounding his status at the firm. So long as the world's biggest bank continues its run of bad luck in China, the tittle-tattle seems unlikely to abate.
