Simon Garing, Chi Hung (Raymond) Ngai & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Sydney-based Simon Garing and Chi Hung (Raymond) Ngai, who is headquartered in Hong Kong, shepherd the 15-strong Bank of America Merrill Lynch squad to a second consecutive third-place finish; Ngai also pilots the team that ranks second for coverage of Hong Kong. “We remain bullish on the fund flows into the regional real estate sector,” Garing reports. Demand for housing and office space is rising in developing economies, fueling interest in low-beta real estate investment trusts and developers with high risk-return profiles, he notes. The group is urging clients to overweight Indonesian names and dubs Ciputra Development its top pick in that market. Garing “knows the sector well and how it trades,” avers one investor, while another insists that Ngai is “the most experienced property analyst on the Street — his knowledge is unparalleled.”— Leslie Kramer