BEAR STEARNS CONTINUES EXPANSION IN ASIA

Bear, Stearns Asia Limited has broadened its structured equity product offering in Asia with three new hires in Hong Kong.

New services include synthetic equity finance, such as equity swaps and other derivative-based instruments, and a synthetic prime brokerage service to handle financing and execution. Dan Azzi joins the firm as a managing director responsible for equity finance trading, synthetic prime brokerage and market access products designed to make entry into Asia's emerging markets easier.