Credit Suisse ECM boss lands at E&P Financial

afr.com:

E&P Financial is beefing up its equity capital markets business with a key hire, bringing on Credit Suisse head of ECM Hamish Whitehead.

Credit Suisse Australia ECM boss Hamish Whitehead. 

Whitehead has been in investment banking for more than 25 years and was joint head of Citi’s equity capital markets unit. He is well known in Australian capital markets, both by fund managers and big listed companies, having worked on raisings for the likes of Air New Zealand, Afterpay, Auckland Airport, National Australia Bank and Insignia Financial.

He was also seen on initial public offerings for Judo Bank, Dalrymple Bay Infrastructure, Ingham’s and Medibank Private – the largest local IPO in 2014 at $5.7 billion.

The hire signals E&P Financial’s readiness to expand its equity capital markets footprint. The firm is known primarily for its corporate advisory business, advising mid-cap private and listed companies. Today, its ECM strengths lie in small caps and bank hybrids.

Others departing Credit Suisse since the forced marriage with UBS include Sam Speer, the investment bank’s head of small-cap sales, who has jumped ship to Jefferies. Mr Speer’s exit followed that of Eugene Budovsky, the head of low touch/electronic trading, who moved to Barrenjoey Capital Partners.

Seasoned infrastructure banker Tim Foy is set to join JPMorgan’s Sydney offices before year-end and serve as its head of infrastructure for Australia and New Zealand. Whitehead was a managing director at Deutsche Bank until 2015, before heading to Citi as head of capital markets origination and joining Credit Suisse in June 2022. He will start at E&P in mid-September.