Rickards returns to the region

Sources at NM Rothschild & Sons in London have confirmed the appointment of Andrew Rickards to be the new head of Asian investment banking. He is replacing Greg Shenkman who is returning to London after four years in the region.

Rickards joins from Goldman Sachs JB Were in Sydney where he was a managing director in the investment-banking group focusing on telecoms, communications and media sectors. Rickards worked in Hong Kong until December 2001 when Goldman transferred him down under. At Rothschild he will have an overall role, but his addition will add to the firm's already impressive credentials in the telecoms space.

Rickards finished work at Goldman at the end of last month. He is slated to start in his new position in the middle of April. The search for a replacement for Shenkman took little over four months, after it emerged in November last year that he would be leaving Hong Kong. Shenkman will take a short sabbatical before rejoining Rothschild in London in September.

Before working for Goldman, Rickards worked with Schroders, BZW and Price Waterhouse. He has worked in Sydney, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, London and Milan. He is also known as a keen sailor. When last in Hong Kong he bought ex Morgan Stanley property guru Peter Churchouse's yacht Moonblue, which he then sailed down to Sydney.