Deutsche recruits new investment banking head from rival
A long-mooted return of Deutsche Bank to the local investment banking scene is about to accelerate with the German outfit hiring Morgan Stanley’s high profile Emma-Jane Newton to head its Australian and New Zealand team.
Newton, who was appointed chairman of the Sydney Dance Company earlier this year and is a member of the Takeovers Panel, will be the Wall Street giant’s head of investment banking as Deutsche gets back into local dealmaking. It will be a big opportunity for Newton, who has been at Morgan Stanley since 2018. And there should be plenty of talent for her to choose from as she builds a team, given the lay-offs at some of the other major banks around town.
Top Morgan Stanley banker Emma-Jane Newton is off to lead Deutsche Bank’s Aussie business. Daniel Boud
Newton leads Morgan Stanley’s general industries group and has overseen a number of notable deals, including Deloitte’s sale of Virgin Australia out of administration and into the hands of Bain Capital. Other transactions include Carsales’ $2 billion acquisition of Trader Interactive and the two equity raises associated with that purchase, and TPG’s sale of a minority stake in pets and vets business Greencross to HOOPP and AustralianSuper.
Deutsche’s Asia-Pacific investment banking boss, Mayooran Elalingam, and country CEO, Glenn Morgan, announced the high-profile appointment on Monday night, telling staff it was part of the bank’s global strategy to grow its origination and advisory business and reflected “the importance of the Australian market.”
“Emma-Jane has over 20 years’ experience in investment banking and brings a wealth of M&A, leveraged finance and capital markets experience,” the internal memo, obtained by Street Talk, said. “She has advised leading Australian corporate clients including Woolworths, Carsales, Telstra, Virgin Australia, Wisetech to name a few.”
Street Talk reported earlier this year that Deutsche had quietly been hiring as it considered making a comeback to M&A in Australia. In August, the bank told staff it had tapped Credit Suisse’s David Geddes, another dealmaker who had spent his entire career at the Swiss bank.
Comeback kid
Deutsche disappeared from M&A a few years ago. But it has been active in debt deals, including paying a role in the biggest loan deal of 2023 – AirTrunk’s $4.76 billion deal. In its heyday, however, it loomed large on a number of big-ticket gigs, including advising the NSW government on its $US7.38 billion sale of TransGrid and Santos on its $2.5 billion rights issue.
Another former Credit Suisse figure, Karla Wynne, joined Deutsche in June as the bank’s head of consumer, retail and healthcare for Australia and New Zealand. She is best known for running Bank of America’s equity capital markets team and floated Viva Energy, before joining the ASX-listed company as its head of strategy.
As for Newton, she too is a former Credit Suisse alum, exiting in 2015 after rising to be head of telecommunications, media, technology and education coverage at the bank. She went on to become a divisional chief financial officer at Telstra, overseeing its consumer and small business division.
Her hiring is part of a broader move by Deutsche to bulk up globally, and nearly 20 managing directors have been hired around the world.
Newton is expected to start at Deutsche in March.
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