Exclusive | Ex-Morgan Stanley bankers make a splash in Hong Kong as new boutique firm adds Ant Group, Xpeng to list of clients
- Ampere Partners, formed by former Hong Kong-based investment bankers, has advised Alibaba, Ant Group, Xpeng and Burning Rock in impressive start
- Team of nine has plans to hire at a time when more mainland Chinese firms are turning to Hong Kong for capital to fund expansion
Ampere Partners was launched last year by two former senior Morgan Stanley bankers, Crawford Jamieson and Daniel Wetstein, and has since added top-notch companies including Alibaba Group Holding, Ant Group, and Xpeng among its clients. The firm offers corporate finance advice to companies and financial sponsors in the technology, health care and financial services sectors, backed by experience in completing US$500 billion worth of deals between them since late 1990s.
Ampere is rustling up business at a time when the value of banks’ research is falling and investment banking fees on initial public offerings (IPOs) are thinning in Hong Kong. Chinese brokers have waded into the market during the past decade to use the financial hub as a launch pad for their international expansion, heightening competition for equity and debt capital raising fees in the process. Ampere said they are not exactly aiming for the same pie.
“Our job is not to compete; it’s to complement,” co-founder Jamieson said in an interview. “I’m not sure everyone will see it that way. This is a team sport.”
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In Asia, investment banking business tends to be more capital-markets focused than in the more mature markets of the US and Europe where boutique banks have more M&A work and boutique advisory firms can count on a stream of fees even in niche areas such as convertible bonds.