BoA Merrill makes Tye head of public CB origination

Coinciding with a recent pickup in convertible bond issuance in Asia, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Nicholas Tye as the effective head of publicly placed convertible bond origination for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. The long title means he will essentially be responsible for CBs that are sold to the public markets and that entitle the arranging bank to league table credits.

While strong when it comes to structured equity-linked issuance that is privately placed, BoA Merrill has been lagging in public market CBs in recent years and currently does not rank in the top-10 for equity-linked deals in Asia ex-Japan this year, according to Dealogic. The appointment of Tye suggests that the bank is...