Morgan Stanley Rehires Brazil Banker

Sao Paulo-based senior investment banker Marcelo Naigeborin has returned to Morgan Stanley, whose Brazil presence he helped construct in the 1990s. He will provide general coverage of Brazilian clients, assisting with, among other things, M&A and reporting to Sao Paulo-based head of LatAm investment banking Charlie Stewart. “We’re constantly trying to identify and attract the best talent that’s out there as we continue to invest in the region,” Stewart tells LatinFinance. He describes the shop’s hiring as opportunistic and says there is no fixed headcount target for the LatAm group. In February, Naigeborin left Itau BBA – where he was an MD in charge of investment banking for various service and industrial sectors in Brazil – amid reshuffling related to the merger with Unibanco. He was previously an MD at Merrill Lynch in Brazil and started his career at Morgan Stanley in 1993. Stewart says he sees M&A in Brazil picking up in the second half. “People are starting to look at M&A as an offense strategy rather than thinking about it as a defensive strategy, like we’ve seen for the past 6 months,” he says. Morgan Stanley dominates M&A volume for the region in the year to May 18, with $9.1bn from 8 deals, or 31% of the market, according to Dealogic. However, it is sixth for M&A revenue, with $8.9m or 5.7% share, and total M&A volume is down more than 50% year-on-year. Morgan Stanley also recently hired Patrick Cassereau from Merrill Lynch to lead fixed income derivatives for Mexico.