Job Description

About the Opportunity Job Type: Permanent

Application Deadline: 30 April 2023

Purpose of your role

The Director, APAC DCM will be responsible for establishing the DCM function in APAC including ownership and oversight of team activities, as well as the strategic build out of the function over time aligned to the ISS strategy and working in close collaboration with the European DCM Team.

The role will partner within the Capital Markets function globally, across the broader investment team and with other key functions such as Trading, Operations, Compliance, Legal and Risk to ensure best practices and consistency of approach are applied across regions and asset classes where appropriate given local market requirements and differing market structures across asset classes. He/She/They will also be responsible for embedding a culture of proactivity, accountability, continuous improvement, robust risk management, and end-to-end process and outcome ownership within the team, working closely with the CAO, Investment Management, and collaboratively with other functions across FIL.

The Director, APAC Debt Capital Markets (DCM) will serve a critical function supporting fund performance by maximising all liquidity opportunities and securing best size, price, and timing for our funds. They will act as the lead contact point for inside matters relating to primary and secondary debt offerings and enable FIL to proactively initiate reverse enquiries and to originate liquidity opportunities through their investment bank, broker, corporate and broader market networks. Given the nature of the markets and investment strategies in APAC, proactively sourcing liquidity and investment opportunities and facilitating analysis on restructurings and distressed situations together working closely with portfolios managers, research, investment legal & trading is expected to be a significant part of the activity of the APAC DCM function. Over time it is expected the scope of APAC DCM activities will evolve with the strategic development of FIL\xe2\x80\x99s public and private market investment capabilities.

The Director, APAC DCM will be the lead point of contact for investment banks and brokers, as well as companies, when dealing with insider matters. Dissemination of inside information and market soundings are heavily regulated areas and inherently high risk for the firm and its employees. The Director, APAC DCM must therefore have expert levels of knowledge and understanding of the relevant regulations as well as deep experience of their practical application. The highest levels of integrity and probity are a pre-requisite for the role. He/She/They will work closely with the APAC ECM Team as well as Investment Compliance and Investment Legal when considering complex or controversial issues around market abuse and insider information, for example in the case of a potential breach of the FIL insider policy. The Director, APAC DCM should maintain a wall crossing new issue pipeline and review it with the investment team to allocate the relevant research resource, discuss terms, and identify new issues where we are likely to have high interest. Keeping complete records of all our wall crossing activities will be essential from a regulatory and internal procedures perspective. This may also give FIL the opportunity to partner with banks and issuers to negotiate terms of new transactions. When new issues become public, the Director, APAC DCM will support the trading desk on deal progress and colour.

The Director, APAC DCM will proactively facilitate the arrangement of block and/or portfolio trades working closely with trading, portfolio managers, research and investment legal. FIL\xe2\x80\x99s holdings in individual debt issuers can be substantial, whether measured by dollar value, as a percentage of the company\xe2\x80\x99s capital structure, as a percentage of an individual debt issuance, or as a multiple of average daily trading volume. Being able to block trade into or out of these holdings with a minimum of market impact is very important. The Director, APAC DCM will be expected to proactively source liquidity opportunities that enable us to transact more efficiently. As well as working closely with trusted counterparts at investment banks and brokers, direct approaches to other sources of liquidity, for example private equity, family offices, companies, and sovereign wealth funds, are an active part of this role. The basis for buying or selling these types of blocks is about transparency and confidentiality and therefore trust at both ends is crucial. It is key to avoid information leakage from either side during what can sometimes be a relatively long period. Accessing liquidity is central to ensuring a superior outcome for our fund holders.

It is expected in the first instance that the Director, APAC DCM will be spending most of his/her/their time, supporting our Fixed Income business. Over time the APAC DCM function will be expected to partner with the Private Credit Team as their investment capabilities broaden and become more global in nature.

To fulfil the role, the Director, APAC DCM will need to have strong relationships with the DCM, Syndicate and Corporate Finance departments of the major investment banks and numerous local and regional brokers with whom FIL transacts business. There are a significant number of relationships required to cover global debt markets and so the ability to work across Investment Grade, High Yield and Emerging Markets DCM teams is key.

As a leading investor in international debt markets, the Director, APAC DCM may be called upon to represent the function at Fidelity with regulators, industry associations and the wider investment community. The Capital Markets role is a unique competitive advantage for FIL and the Director, APAC DCM should work closely with the sales and marketing team where needed to explain to clients how the role supports fund performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Ensure a consistent approach to the DCM build out in APAC in close collaboration with other DCM teams globally.
• Work closely across the Capital Markets team globally to share best practice and develop a consistent approach across the Capital Markets function (considering market structure and investment strategy differences) whilst ensuring local requirements are met.
• Build strong internal relationships with Portfolio Managers, the Global Investment Research team, the Private Credit Team, Fixed Income Trading, Operations, Investment Compliance, Investment Legal, Risk & Audit to ensure effective communication and the delivery of client outcomes.
• Build strong relationships with DCM, Syndicate and corporate broking departments at our major trading partners and with a variety of other smaller broking firms.
• Develop and maintain a process to secure the lowest cost, most timely and most efficient disposal or acquisition of large blocks of debt as an alternative to day-to-day trading in the market by the trading desk. These alternative methods may involve either direct contact between FIL and buyers or vendors of stock to acquire/place significant blocks of stock or direct contact with a company or brokers.
• Control the flow of legitimate inside information into the firm, and its appropriate distribution around the investment team. Maintain adequate records for the purposes of internal risk control as well as external regulator and other interest. Take responsibility for all information relating to primary offerings and use this to maximise FIL\xe2\x80\x99s ability to invest in a timely manner and for the benefit of our fund holders.
• Work closely with and support the trading desk to source liquidity.
• Provide leadership & oversight of APAC DCM activities.
• Take ownership & overall accountability for the delivery of DCM outcomes.
• Build out the APAC DCM team aligned to the strategic requirements of the ISS business across both public and private markets.

• Strong knowledge and understanding of fixed income markets, particularly in new issuance, restructurings, and distressed situations.
• Global experience and a strong track record of working in multiple areas of Fixed Income (IG, HY, EM, Syndicated Loans).
• Proven experience in debt capital markets.
• Expert levels of knowledge and understanding of the relevant regulations as well as deep experience of their practical application.
• Ability to build strong relationships and work proactively in a highly collaborative manner across the Fixed Income and Private Credit teams as well as across other functional teams including research, trading, operations, compliance, legal, risk and audit.
• Excellent business and market judgement.
• Strong connection with, and knowledge of, the investment banking and broker community.
• Knowledge of prospectuses and legal documentation.
• An understanding and experience working in asset management an advantage.
• Ability to build strong relationships and trust both inside FIL and externally.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and organisational skills.
• A proactive self-starter \xe2\x80\x93 shows initiative with an ability to influence and get buy-in from others and achieve results both directly and indirectly through other parties.
• Ability to combine strategic thinking whilst able to identify and focus on important details.
• Experience managing teams.
• Strong execution and solutions mindset.
• High level of risk awareness and strong risk management mindset.
• Adept at operating in a fast paced, changing environment.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguous environments.
• Ability to act as an ambassador for Fidelity.

Fidelity International