In a further expansion of the firm’s global equities business, Jefferies has added four managing directors in Asia.
The following professionals have recently joined the firm: Marcus Okuno, managing director in equity sales in Tokyo; Chua Lee Leng, managing director in equity sales and trading in Singapore; Lisa Lau, managing director and co-head of Hong Kong and China sales trading in Hong Kong; and Conor O’Mara, managing director in equity sales and trading in Hong Kong.
“We are very pleased to welcome Marcus, Lee Leng, Lisa and Conor to Jefferies, says Michael Alexander, CEO of Jefferies Asia. Their significant experience and outstanding reputations make them important additions to our global equities business. These hires demonstrate Jefferies’ ongoing commitment to provide our institutional clients with a full suite of equity research, sales and trading products and services on a global basis.”
Jason Griffith, global head of equities at Jefferies, adds: “The addition of these senior professionals is another step in the continued expansion of our global equities platform into Asia, a region which is incredibly important to our business. Jefferies continues to gain market share as we add to our global platform to better serve our institutional client base.”
Jefferies’ Global Equities business provides full-service research, sales and execution services across cash equities, electronic trading, equity derivatives, exchange-traded funds, convertibles, prime brokerage and securities finance. The group is comprised of more than 700 professionals in research, sales and trading across the US, Europe and Asia, including more than 250 research professionals covering more than 1,300 companies globally.
Okuno joins Jefferies from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he spent 13 years and was most recently a director in equity sales. Previously, he was a vice resident in equity sales at Robertson Stephens and, before that, worked for Salomon Smith Barney in equity derivatives sales. He received a bachelors degree from Menlo College.
Chua brings to Jefferies more than 17 years of experience and joins the firm from UBS, where she was executive director of regional equity sales. Previously, she was head of equity sales at HSBC in Singapore. Before that was a director in equity sales at Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong and Australia. She received a bachelors degree from the University of Melbourne and a postgraduate diploma in operations research from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Lau brings to Jefferies 17 years of experience and joins the firm from China International Capital Corporation Limited, where she spent seven years and was an executive director and head of equity sales trading. Previously, she spent four years at Societe Generale, where she was a sales trader covering the Asia region. Before that, she was head of Hong Kong trading at Paribas.
O’Mara also brings 17 years of experience to Jefferies and joins from Morgan Stanley, where he was an executive director running a long/short Asian technology book in that firm’s Strategic Investment Group. Previously, he was a fund manager at Balyasny Asset Management, covering Asian technology stocks. He also founded and became the fund manager of the HSBC Global Technology Alpha fund, a market neutral long/short fund focused on Asian technology stocks. Before that, he co-founded Arete Research, Europe’s first independent research broker. He started his career at Dresdner RCM, managing global equity portfolios with a focus on Japan. He received a masters degree in finance from London Business School and a first-class honors bachelors degree from Dublin City University.
(CM)