Stephens Taps Blandon for LatAm-China Push

Boutique Stephens Cori Capital has hired former Morgan Stanley banker Maximo Blandon to focus on business opportunities between China and LatAm. “China is rolling out its strategy to provide capital to companies in Latin America, whether it be raw materials, energy, infrastructure or agriculture. These are key sectors that are going to be important for them in the future,” Blandon tells LatinFinance. “Investment opportunities continue to expand outside of the energy industry, and we are working with various Latin American and Chinese companies to identify synergies and investment opportunities,” he adds. By country, the focus is the Andean Region, Brazil and Chile. Stephens Cori, which has 6 bankers, focuses on corporate finance advisory work, including M&A, private equity, agented financings and restructuring in LatAm and the Hispanic US. It helps US companies enter LatAm, and European/LatAm companies enter the US, having particular expertise with family-owned companies and is a division of Stephens Inc, an investment bank headquartered in Arkansas. Blandon joins from MSCI-Barra, a former subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, where he was an MD in the finance department. Prior to that, he spent more than 15 years at Morgan Stanley, where he worked as an MD in the global capital markets team, including stints covering LatAm, Asia and North America.