[SINGAPORE] Jefferies Financial Group is set to move to a larger office space in Singapore, according to sources familiar with the matter, in a further signal of the Wall Street firm’s expansion drive in Asia.
The firm will move from UOB Plaza, a building owned by United Overseas Bank next to the Singapore River, to a larger office space at Ocean Financial Centre, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Both locations are in the city-state’s central business district.
The move, which will happen in the second half of this year, comes after the firm more than doubled its headcount in Singapore over the past 18 months, one of the sources said.
A spokesperson for New York-based Jefferies declined to comment when asked about the move by Bloomberg News.
Jefferies has been on a hiring spree in recent years, including bringing in about 20 investment bankers from Credit Suisse in 2023 as the Swiss firm was being taken over. The expanded team has helped Jefferies muscle into advising on stock sales as well as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as it competes against entrenched players such as UBS Group and JPMorgan Chase.
Jefferies ranked 14th last year in advising on announced M&A in South-east Asia, from 28th position in 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. For equity, equity-linked and rights offerings in the region, Jefferies improved its ranking to 25th position in 2024, from 37th in 2023, the data shows.
Some recent deals involving Jefferies include SK’s sale of shares in Vietnam’s Masan Group, as well as being an adviser on PT Adaro Energy Indonesia’s spinoff of its thermal coal business in the country.
Jefferies, which is backed by Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, will be moving to the Ocean Financial building, where French bank BNP Paribas has given up some of the multiple floors it has there, Bloomberg News previously reported.
Singapore’s office market has avoided the major downturns seen in other cities, in part due to continued demand for prime city-centre spaces even as traditional major tenants in the tech and finance sectors retreat. Gross effective monthly rent for so-called Grade A space in the central business district rose about 0.5 per cent in the first quarter compared to the prior three months, according to property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle. BLOOMBERG
