Mercer has named a new head of mergers and acquisitions consulting services to succeed Bob Bundy, who is retiring in April.

Len Gray joined the consultant this week with responsibility for Mercer’s global M&A business, based in New York.

Gray re-joined Mercer in 2003 and was most recently head of the Asia-Pacific region. He was head of the Americas region from 2005 to 2009.

In addition to his new role as global M&A leader at Mercer, Gray will retain his current role as Asia-Pacific regional M&A consulting leader and will continue to work frequently in the region, said the firm in a statement.  

Bundy will remain available to assist with the leadership transition prior to his retirement on April 1, 2012, after a 38-year career with Mercer.

Recent reports point to a rebound in Asian M&A. Despite the global financial crisis, crossborder Asian M&A continued to grow in 2011, according to M&A intelligence service Mergermarket. Compared to 2010, China and Hong Kong recorded a 5.7 per cent increase in M&A activity last year with a total of 693 M&A transactions worth $125.3 billion, 27.4 per cent of which were financial services led. 

A report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch earlier this week showed that around half of the 465 Asia-based chief financial officers interviewed for the report were hunting for an M&A deal this year. 

Deal flow shows little sign of abating. Royal Bank of Canada's global head of wealth, George Lewis, last October announced that the bank's plans to double Asian private banking assets to around $24 billion by 2015, much of which would be achieved through snapping up smaller players.