RBS taps 3 ABN veterans for India investment banking

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), which last year bought parts of ABN AMRO, has named three bankers from the Dutch firm to key roles in its corporate finance team in India, an important battleground for global investment banks as business slows in the west.

Cash-rich Indian companies have become increasingly bold on the global M&A stage, with Bharti Airtel Ltd (BRTI.BO) in talks to acquire South African cellphone operator MTN Group (MTNJ.J) in a deal that could value MTN at as much as $50 billion.

India's IPO market has been shakier as the Sensex .BSESN is off 14 percent since the start of the year, although new issuance is running ahead of last year's levels thanks to Reliance Power's (RPOL.BO) (RPOL.NS) $3 billion January share sale.

"Clearly, the M&A pipeline remains very, very strong," said Madan Menon, who joined RBS last year from rival UK bank Barclays (BARC.L) to head RBS's new global banking and markets business in India.

"The ECM (equity capital markets) pipeline remains robust, but given where markets are, it's not unusual to see that pipeline growing towards the latter half of the year," he added in a telephone interview on Monday.

RBS said it has appointed Manoj Agarwal as head of global corporate finance for India. He is currently based in Hong Kong, where he handles financial sponsors-led M&A advisory in Asia.

RBS also said that Anjani Kumar would head its M&A operations in India, and Dilip Kadambi would head its equity capital markets business in the country. Kumar moves from ABN's M&A advisory group in London, while Kadambi currently works in ABN's ECM business in India.

Also, RBS said Varsha Valecha had joined as a business leader in ABN's India ECM team from local brokerage Enam Securities.

Last week, Barclays hired a team of five bankers from ABN to build up its corporate advisory business, including Frank Hancock, who had headed ABN's M&A and equity capital markets operation in India.

Investment banks battered by the meltdown of credit markets in the west are counting on dealmaking in big emerging markets led by China and India to offset sluggishness elsewhere. Global players such as Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) have been building up their Indian operations.

Menon said vibrant onshore debt funding markets in India presented opportunities.

"Increasingly, I see ... corporates looking to the rupee market as a capital provider of first choice if you will, while G7 and G3 loan and bond markets settle," he said.

The combined RBS and ABN ranks fourth in equity-related issuance so far this year through Monday, Thomson Reuters figures show. It tops the league tables in completed Indian M&A deals, but does not rank in the top 25 on announced but uncompleted M&A.

(Reporting by Tony Munroe; Editing by Keiron Henderson)