From Morgan Stanley intern to COO for South-east Asia investment banking in just 7 years

[SINGAPORE] Jannie Tsuei, who started as an intern at US bank giant Morgan Stanley in New York in 2011, has been made its chief operating officer for South-east Asia investment banking in just seven years, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg.

Morgan Stanley also named Jonathan Pflug, who joined the bank as an associate in 2011, to head South-east Asia M&A (mergers & acquisitions) and Singapore coverage.

Ms Tsuei began her finance career on Morgan Stanley's real estate investment banking team in the US before moving to Singapore in 2015, the memo shows. Earlier this year, she transitioned to Singapore coverage and has been helping build out the firm's work on healthcare deals in the region. A representative for Morgan Stanley confirmed the contents of the memo.

"Gone are those days where you have to spend fifteen to twenty years before you get a shot at the top," Tsewang Bhotia, a Hong Kong-based director at recruitment firm Executive Access Ltd, said by phone Monday. "These days, the turnover is a lot faster and in the last five years, they are getting younger."

The promotions follow the departure of Gordon Parker, who was head of South-east Asia M&A at Morgan Stanley before moving to San Francisco-based boutique DBO Partners. Citigroup poached Kelvin Goh, who was Morgan Stanley's head of Singapore coverage and chief operating officer for Southeast Asia investment banking, Bloomberg News reported in June.

Morgan Stanley ranked fourth on mergers and acquisitions involving companies in Southeast Asia this year, down from first place for all of 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The bank worked on the US$1.2 billion sale of EMR Capital's Martabe gold mine announced last week. It also advised a TPG-backed consortium on its sale of a stake in consumer lender PT BFI Finance Indonesia to Mediobanca SpA.

Morgan Stanley advised Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc on the acquisition of animal feed producer Gold Coin Management Holdings Ltd. announced in July. It's also working with Indonesia's state-owned Inalum on a US$3.85 billion deal to gain control of Freeport-McMoRan Inc's giant Grasberg copper mine in the country.

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