Pratt takes charge at CSFB

Following a global re-shuffle of CSFB's debt operations last week, Carsten Stoehr is set to return to London to head up European DCM leaving his number two, Jon Pratt, to take charge in Asia. The move is expected to be announced via an internal memo today (Thursday).

Pratt, is considered one of the most genial bankers working in Asian DCM with friends across the whole market. Armed with an understated but reliably successful approach to winning business, he has been at CSFB since April 2000 and before that worked for UBS Warburg in Hong Kong.

He was handpicked by Stoehr to help build a successful Asian DCM business after the latter's arrival in November 1999. Stoehr has a formidable reputation among his competitors and been responsible for building one of the most profitable franchises in the region. Primary market fees (excluding swaps) topped $20 million last year, beating everyone else - if Asian Development Bank deals are not taken into consideration.

He did so by relying on a small but loyal team and concentrating on lucrative high yield deals in markets like Indonesia and the Philippines. Including syndicate head Alister Moss, there are now four members of DCM.

However, as a result of his move back to London, ABS will be split out of DCM and have a separate reporting line. This team, run by Greg Park has a total of three members and like Pratt, will report into Asian investment banking head Eric Varvel.

Meanwhile, as many predicted, Stoehr will now move onto a bigger stage and take over European DCM in early summer. He will, however, continue to stay in the region for the next few months as the firm has a pipeline of deals, which it is hoping to execute.

The global re-shuffle, which followed the departure of John Walsh, has left Paul Tregidgo and Peter Milhaupt as co-heads of debt capital markets. Both will oversee emerging markets and investment grade DCM, with Tregidgo overlooking Europe and Asia from London and Milhaupt running the Americas from New York.