Ex-Morgan Stanley bankers win coveted role on Alibaba unit IPO

ALIBABA Group Holding is turning to a pair of Hong Kong-based bankers it knows well for the initial public offering of its marquee logistics unit.

Ampere Partners, a boutique firm founded by senior former Morgan Stanley dealmakers, has landed the coveted role of financial adviser to Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, according to a preliminary Hong Kong exchange filing on Tuesday (Sep 26). The listing could raise at least US$1 billion, Bloomberg News has reported – potentially delivering a significant win for a four-year-old upstart firm.

Co-founders Crawford Jamieson and Daniel Wetstein have cultivated longstanding relationships with the Chinese tech giant, helping Morgan Stanley land the firm’s US listing in 2014, which was the largest ever at the time. Jamieson held roles including vice-chairman of global capital markets during his 22-year career with the lender, while Wetstein, who joined Morgan Stanley in 1996, led the firm’s Asia-Pacific technology investment banking business for over a decade.

The duo co-founded Ampere Partners after leaving Morgan Stanley in 2019, and were listed as financial advisers in the prospectus for Ant Group’s attempted 2020 blockbuster listing, which was abruptly halted as Beijing imposed a sudden crackdown on the sector. Ampere’s website lists the financial technology firm under its “Experience” section, and describes an IPO on China’s Star board and in Hong Kong for the firm, which shares a founder with Alibaba in Jack Ma, as “pending.”

Ampere also worked on deals including SenseTime Group’s IPO in Hong Kong in 2021, and has advised electric vehicle maker Xpeng on several transactions including billion-US dollar listings in the US and the Asian financial hub, the website shows.

Ampere’s relationship with Alibaba may help the boutique firm land more work as the company proceeds with more listings for the six units being spun off, in a business where loyalty is sometimes rewarded. With Cainiao potentially among the first of Alibaba’s units to go public, more might follow in the next few years. BLOOMBERG