Melvyn Boey & team Bank of America Merrill Lynch
The buy side says: “They have the broadest scope and the deepest pool of talent.”
Rising from second place to first is the ten-strong crew at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Captained by Singapore-based Melvyn Boey, who also co-leads the No. 2 team in Gaming & Lodging and pilots runner-up teams covering Indonesia and Malaysia, the analysts track more than 40 Singapore stocks while keeping eyes on an additional 100 throughout Asia. They initiated coverage on Global Logistic Properties in December 2010 with a valuation-based underperform rating, at 2.18 Singapore dollars. In January 2012, after the stock had nose-dived 17.4 percent, to S$1.80, and lagged the benchmark FTSE Straits Times index by 1.9 percentage points, the team upgraded it to buy, citing the developer’s superior earnings visibility and development pipeline. By the end of March, the stock had jumped 22.2 percent, to S$2.20, and trumped the index by 10.2 percentage points. Boey joined the firm in 2006 from J.P. Morgan. The 39-year-old, who according to one client is “smart and responsive,” earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance at the London School of Economics and Political Science. — Ben Mattlin
