HSBC's tycoon ties propel it to highest-ever rank as Asian deal advisor

By Lawrence White

HONG KONG (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings PLC has shot to second rank among banks advising Asian firms on merger deals, its highest ever, due to ties to one man: Hong Kong tycoon and the region's richest man, Li Ka-shing.

The rise from 19th place is the product of a strategy championed by Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver of increasing collaboration between lending operations and its investment bank, by encouraging borrowers to also hire HSBC for deals.

The jump also comes at a time when HSBC is considering returning its headquarters to Hong Kong.

As the biggest bank in Hong Kong by loans extended, HSBC has long been the lender of choice for Li's firms. But the London-based bank has often taken a back seat to investment banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc in advising on Li's deals.

So far this year, companies controlled by Li accounted for 16 percent of all merger activity in Asia excluding Japan, Thomson Reuters data showed, as the billionaire businessman diversifies out of Hong Kong and streamlines his empire.

Of that, HSBC was the top advisor, working on deals worth $123 billion versus $5.6 billion in the same period a year prior, Thomson Reuters data showed.

HSBC declined to comment. Li's biggest listed company, CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd, did not provide an immediate comment.

REORGANISATION

HSBC was sole financial advisor in the January-announced reorganisation of Li's two largest-listed companies into Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd and energy, retail and telecommunications firm CK Hutchison.

Central to HSBC's efforts corralling Li deals were Hong Kong investment banking head Chi Ning Liu, Hong Kong coverage banker Yue Seng Chiu, and head of banking Dai Kitamura, who has worked with Li's companies for many years, banking insiders said.

In the past, 'coverage' or relationship bankers who steadily lend to clients and build relationships over years, sometimes mistrusted investment bankers whose interest is short-term fees from deal-making, HSBC insiders said. Cooperation between the two sides at HSBC has improved under Gulliver, they said.

That improvement plus HSBC's years of lending to Li paid off when the tycoon's lieutenant Canning Fok came to select a bank to overhaul his empire, people familiar with the matter said.

(Reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Christopher Cushing)