BMO Capital Markets have added investment banking services to the range of financial products and services offered by BMO Financial Group in China. The addition of the BMO Capital Markets Representative Office in Beijing increases BMO’s capacity in the Chinese cities in which it operates, which include Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“We consider this the next vital step to achieving our objective of becoming a most trusted adviser to Chinese business leaders,” says Tony Comper, President and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group. “Being successful in China requires ‘guanxi’, and the building of those relationships takes time and commitment. We appreciate the trust that the Bank of China placed in us earlier this year, and we will work hard to earn the trust of other leading Chinese businesses.”
The BMO Capital Markets Representative Office in Beijing will help offer a broad range of investment and corporate banking services to Chinese and North American institutional, corporate and government clients. The new office will help leading Chinese companies looking to acquire assets in North America by providing equity capital markets services, as well as mergers and acquisitions advisory services. The new BMO Capital Markets office will also help Chinese financial institutions securitize assets to improve their capital adequacy and assist Chinese securities firms that offer securitization products to their corporate and government clients.
“We are exceptionally well-positioned to take advantage of China’s enormous growth,” says Yvan Bourdeau, Chief Executive Officer, BMO Capital Markets and Head, Investment Banking Group. “We have our own people on the ground, such as Tony Choy, Managing Director, BMO Capital Markets, now appointed as the Chief Representative for the Beijing office, working closely with local advisers who understand local legal and regulatory structures, as well as the rights and obligations that derive from partnerships.”
“Our mandate is to coordinate with our colleagues in North America and help them identify high value investment banking and capital markets opportunities with select Chinese corporations and help them secure financing from outside China, including from Canadian institutional investors,” says Mr. Choy, describing the role of the BMO Capital Markets Representative Office. “Our BMO Capital Markets product group will offer a new suite of services to support mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financing and securitization. Our initial focus will be in the mining, energy, forest products and financial services sectors, and will later broaden to include other industries. As China’s capital markets mature, we will grow with them to better serve our Chinese clients in China, our Chinese clients in North America as well as our North American clients interested in China.”
“We are recognized as a firm that can deliver globally and can help Chinese institutions, as witnessed by the role we played in the Bank of China IPO, China’s largest IPO to date,” says Mr. Bourdeau. He adds that BMO’s long-standing presence in China helped it secure a role as one of six co-lead managers, the only Canadian bank selected for that role, in the US$11.2 billion financing deal.
“Adding BMO Capital Markets’ services in Beijing further entrenches us in preparation for January 2007, when China fully opens its financial system to foreign competition in order to fulfill its WTO accession commitments,” says Mr. Comper.