BPI Securities inks alliance with NY investment firm

The stockbrokerage unit of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands plans to bring homegrown companies to the global limelight through a newly minted alliance with New York-based global investment firm Jefferies Group LLC.

Jefferies signed a deal with BPI Securities Corp. last February to distribute to its global client base the latter’s equity research on companies in the Philippines on a co-branded basis. Additionally, BPI Securities will be the main platform to provide Philippines local equity brokering services to Jefferies.

“This co-branding agreement allows BPI Securities to access major institutional investors abroad. Our research is now published abroad under the BPI Securities/Jefferies co-brand,” BPI Securities managing director and chief executive Michaelangelo Oyson said in an e-mail.

Under the arrangement, BPI Securities was able to bring a number of Philippine corporations such as Max’s Group and Integrated Microelectronics Inc. (IMI) to see global institutional investors.

“We plan to bring more Philippine (corporations) to see large institutional investors in the US, HK, Singapore, UK and Scandinavia,” Oyson said. “This relationship expands the client footprint of BPI Securities to include online retail, high net worth individuals, (corporations), domestic institutions and foreign institutions.”

Over the past two years, Jefferies also formed similar alliances in Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam to broaden the firm’s equity research offering to its global client base. These alliances now include 90 analysts covering more than 660 companies in the region.

The alliance with BPI Securities is seen part of the American investment bank’s bid to strengthen its Pan-Asia equities business to meet the needs of global institutional clients.

Jefferies, which has been operating for more than 50 years, is a leader in providing insight, expertise and execution to investors, companies and governments. It provides a full range of investment banking, sales, trading, research and strategy across the spectrum of equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, futures and commodities, as well as wealth management, in the Americas, Europe and Asia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Leucadia National Corp.