Deutsche gets King

Ed Peter's Asian equities division made waves last year with a boat load of hires. In 2002 it upped its headcount by 22%. Attention now seems to have focused on Australia.

Recently hired head of Australian equities, Steve Vrjelc - the former head of Morgan Stanley Asian equities business - has just made his own first hire, having only joined Deutsche in February. He has poached Tim King from Salomon Smith Barney to be the new head of Australian equity research. King is ranked as the number one building materials analyst and number three in telecoms.

Meanwhile, Ed Peter, who recently assumed the role of global head of emerging market equities, looks set to start hiring again.

This will be welcome news to headhunters, who may have been distressed by 10 lay-offs in the firm's equity division including former head of research, Brian Nolan and deputy regional head of research, Mohan Alexander. Suspicions that Peter's division had run out of gas greeted the cuts.

But Peter is now set to boost his business in Indonesia with a series of hires. And with Deutsche strategist, David Scott making India his top pick of the year, Peter is also reckoned to be ready to build in India. Deutsche is awaiting FIPB approval to open its broking company office in India.