Credit Suisse ECM Head Jumps to Merrill

Merrill Lynch has poached Sebastien Chatel from Credit Suisse, where he was head of LatAm ECM. He joins the US shop – which is on a hiring spree in Brazil – in a co-head position and regroups with former UBS colleagues who recently jumped ship to Merrill, including Alexandre Bettamio, former investment banking co-head at UBS Pactual. Chatel is named co-head of LatAm ECM, presumably sharing the beat with Juan Vogeler, Merrill’s LatAm ECM chief. Bettamio, along with three other senior UBS Pactual bankers, jumped ship to Merrill earlier this week, a move which struck local bankers as curious given the bank’s woes in the US. But late yesterday, Merrill officially announced the moves, which include five other mid and junior-level bankers, saying the hires are part of a push by the firm to increase its footprint in high growth economies. Chatel, who left UBS in 2006 for Credit Suisse, led the latter’s ECM business to the top of the league tables. The two Swiss shops dominate the Brazilian equity market and originated the vast majority of the region’s IPOs and follow-ons last year. Merrill participated in a handful of equity deals, but did not come close to pulling in the mountain of fees bagged by UBS and CS. However, given the poor LatAm ECM outlook for 2008, that fee pool looks hugely eroded.