Saurabh Agrawal to join StanChart as i-banking head

This article has been corrected. Please read the clarification at the end of the article.

Saurabh Agrawal, the high-profile banker known for his deal-making skill in sectors like telecom, media, technology and infrastructure, is all set to join Standard Chartered Bank as head of its investment banking division for south and south-east Asia, sources said.

Agrawal, 42, will join Standard Chartered Bank after a 16-year stint with DSP Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America Merrill Lynch) where he is currently the managing director and head of investment banking.The top position at Standard Chartered Bank's investment banking division has been lying vacant since Anantharaman Venkataramanan was elevated to Regional Co-Head of Wholesale Banking, India & South Asia at the bank.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Agrawal is expected to join Standard Chartered Bank in September this year. He will be responsible for corporate financing and M&A (mergers and acquisitions) advisory businesses of the bank.

He did not wish to comment for this story.

Standard Chartered Bank also declined comments, while officials of Bank of America Merrill Lynch could not be reached immediately.

Agrawal is credited with managing successful initial public offers of top Indian companies in telecom and technology space. He was the banker to the country’s largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and India’s third largest telecom company by revenue, Idea Cellular, when these companies went public in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

He is believed to be close to the Aditya Birla Group as he managed several deals, including merger between Idea and Spice Communications and Telecom Malaysia buying stake in the Indian mobile phone services company.

But he has been equally active in managing deals of the Tata Group of companies, including TCS’ acquisition of Citigroup’s captive business process outsourcing unit in 2008.

“Saurabh Agrawal is a very good banker. He has vast experience in telecom, technology and other sectors. I’m sure wherever he goes, he will be successful,” said Hemendra Kothari, former chairman of DSP Merrill Lynch.

In the infrastructure sector, Agrawal was the man behind the deal between GMR Infrastructure and Intergen. He was also the banker to transactions like Turner buying majority stake in NDTV Imagine, Walt Disney acquiring stake in UTV Software and Oracle buying i-Flex.

CLARIFICATION
This article had mentioned that Anantharaman Venkataramanan had resigned earlier this year, which is wrong. He has been elevated to Regional Co-Head of Wholesale Banking, India & South Asia at Standard Chartered. The error is regretted.