NEW YORK & HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jefferies today announced that the firm was named an approved Exchange Participant of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("SEHK"), effective January 31, 2011. With this designation, Jefferies Hong Kong Limited began executing Hong Kong equity orders in Jefferies’ name on Monday, February 7.

“We are pleased to announce this designation, which is the next step in the continued build-out of Jefferies’ Asian equities operation,” commented Michael Alexander, CEO of Jefferies Asia. “We are committed to building our investment banking and securities capabilities in order to extend Jefferies' total client focus, the firm's hallmark throughout its near 50-year history, to institutions and corporates across Asia.”

Last year, Jefferies announced the establishment of a full-service equity sales, trading and research capability focused on Asia, including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan. Jefferies recently announced the appointment of Christie Ju, ranked #1 in the Conglomerate and Real Estate sectors in the 2010 AsiaMoney Analyst Poll, as Head of Hong Kong and China Equity Research, and Cynthia Meng, ranked #4 in the Institutional Investor 2010 All-China Equity Research Team, as Head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Equity Research for Hong Kong and China. These additions follow the appointments of Mr. Alexander as CEO of Jefferies Asia, Nilesh Jasani as Head of Asia-Pacific Research and Chris Shute as Head of Asian Sales and Sales Trading.

Jefferies recently initiated equity research coverage in Hong Kong, adding over 30 Chinese companies to its global equity research coverage. These include companies within the China Property, China Conglomerate and China Consumer sectors. As part of the firm’s ongoing build-out in Asia, Jefferies plans to continue to add analysts and expand coverage accordingly.

Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF), a global securities and investment banking firm, has served companies and investors for 49 years.

Contacts