Citi Names Asia Pacific Distressed Assets Head

Vanessa Doctor

11 March 2010

Citi has hired John Liptak for the newly created role of head of Asia-Pacific distressed and special situations with effect at the end of March, the company said in a statement.

Mr Liptak has 17 years of experience in the industry, for 12 of which he specialised in these markets. He is a partner at Tribridge Investment Partners, a Hong Kong-based alternative investment firm. Prior to that he worked in special situations and distressed debt at Bank of America, managing a team of 11.

In his new Hong Kong-based role, he will be responsible for both Japan and non-Japan Asia, with particular focus on trading, market making, structuring, sourcing and distributing through the Citi credit salesforce. He reports to Naresh Narayan for the Japan operations and to David Rosa for Asia ex-Japan.

The country, along with the US, has been touted to experience the biggest rise in distressed asset sales in the first quarter of this year, according to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Strengthened sector activity in the country is a priority for Citi as it seeks to take a larger share of Asia's continued and predicted growth over the next years.

Citi has the largest foreign bank branch network in Japan with 28 branches and 9 mini branches throughout the country.