Societe Generale (SocGen) has brought on board Kenneth Tung, a seasoned dealmaker who formerly led HSBC’s financial sponsors group across Asia, to help spur growth in the French bank’s Asia investment banking business. Tung takes on the role of managing director in Hong Kong, where he will focus on transactions with private equity firms and play a key part in mergers and acquisitions and sector deals, including those in health care.
This senior hire is seen as a concrete step in SocGen’s broader effort to grow its Asia Pacific franchise during a year of surging deal activity in Hong Kong and the region. According to data released this autumn, IPOs in Hong Kong have reached their highest level in four years, topping $30 billion, while corporate M&A and private equity transactions have been climbing steadily in markets like China and Japan too.
Tung’s arrival follows SocGen’s earlier move this year to recruit David Jiang as a senior banker for Hong Kong, with a specific remit to bolster the bank’s performance in IPOs and primary placements throughout the Asia Pacific. SocGen is clearly not alone in ramping up its capabilities; global banks are investing heavily and chasing top talent as capital raising and deal pipelines accelerate.
HSBC, meanwhile, continues its restructuring drive, shedding senior management roles as part of a global overhaul. The bank has shut its corporate advisory and equity underwriting teams in New York, London, and Europe, laying off hundreds and carrying out further investment banking cuts in Asia as it streamlines its operating model.
SocGen’s recruitment of Tung underscores the fierce competition for seasoned M&A hands and private equity specialists in APAC, even as cost-cutting pressures persist at many Western institutions. With Tung at the helm of its Asia deals team, SocGen is positioning itself to capture a greater slice of the region’s fast-evolving investment banking landscape.
