Bryan Song & team Bank of America Merrill Lynch
The buy side says: “Timely updates and insightful industry knowledge.”
The growing group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch under Bryan Song repeats in first place. Headquartered in Seoul, and currently numbering ten people, the squad reports on more than 90 stocks and continues to add to its coverage universe. Money managers especially applaud the analysts’ May 2011 upgrade of Hana Financial Group from neutral to buy, as a bargain at 37,667 South Korean won, after a deal to wrest a majority stake in Korea Exchange Bank from then-controlling stockholder Lone Star Funds, a Dallas-based private equity firm, was delayed. Song, 42, and his associates argued that the setback was temporary and the deal would eventually close, boosting the Seoul-based banking and securities holding company’s earnings. Good call. The purchase was completed in February, and by the end of March, the stock had leaped to 42,700 won, a 13.4 percent advance that surpassed South Korea’s broad market by 16.5 percentage points. “They have long experience and are very diligent in their research,” proclaims one grateful buy-sider. Song, who joined the firm in 2000 from the Bank of Korea, earned a bachelor’s degree at Seoul’s Yonsei University and an MBA at New York’s Columbia University. — Ben Mattlin