Wilsons has lured Evans and Partners' Chris Nicolay to lead institutional equities, sources said. 

The stockbroking and advisory firm's staff were made aware of the appointment on Friday and Nicolay is said to start in July.

At Evans and Partners, he was most recently head of capital markets and also had a stint running institutional sales, according to a LinkedIn profile.

Nicolay joined Evans & Partners in 2008 from Goldman Sachs.

Wilsons' current head of institutional equities James Barratt is said to be parting ways with the firm. 

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Listed property fund manager Charter Hall Group is seeking to raise $275 million in an insitutional placement.

Macquarie's equities desk kicked off the deal on Friday morning, seeking to place shares at $5.48 each. 

The offer was at a 19¢ discount to the last close. 

Funds raised were to be used for already identified acquisitions. 

Charter Hall shares went into a trading halt on Friday morning. 

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Asian markets giant Harvest Global Investments is actively weighing mid-to-large cap acquisitions in Australian financial services, sources told Street Talk. 

HGI, an investments behemoth which manages $US110 billion ($147 billion), is said to have on several occasions sent executives to Australia to assess inorganic growth opportunities.

HGI is based in Hong Kong and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harvest Fund Management Co, one of the first asset management companies in China. 

Interestingly in 2011, Harvest was granted an exemption by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission from holding an Australian financial services licence under the Corporations Act but perhaps buying an existing license is the favoured and more timely option. 

The asset management group looks to be creating a global empire after opening a New York office in 2012 and three years later doing the same in London.

While Australia's growing mandated superannuation pot will continue to swell, several ASX-listed fund managers are confronting earnings challenges as fee pressures persist along with the passive versus active management debate. The major banks are also reviewing their commitments to wealth management.

Bankers have at times looked at break-up options for wealth group Perpetual as well as assessed a merger between the company with Chris Kelaher's IOOF. ClearView Wealth, which has life insurance and funds management operations, is now part owned by Japan's Sony Life which is deciding whether to push ahead with an acquisition of the remainder of Crescent Capital's stake.

Elsewhere in financial services, as first reported by this column, Investec is said to be tending to ASX-listed lender MyState as it mulls strategic options for its $1.8 billion Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees unit.

Tasmania's largest financial institution is considering a range of options for the division, which includes funds management, trustee services and financial planning. 

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Another day, another development in the $8 billion Tatts Group takeover. 

After meeting key institutional shareholders, plenty of discussions with lawyers and more than a week in front of the spreadsheets, Tatts' chairman Harry Boon and his advisers Goldman Sachs addressed the wagering and lotteries company's board late on Thursday. 

The topic: Pacific Consortium's $4.21 a share all cash offer for the company, and whether it was good enough to allow KKR, Macquarie and the like to take a closer look at Tatts' books.  

There was no word from either camp prior to publication on Thursday night, however their decision is expected to be known prior to Friday's opening bell. 

However, heading into the meeting, expectations were that the odds favoured Pacific Consortium getting knocked back. Again. 

The debate was all around whether a $4.21 a share bid was capable of being superior to an already board-sponsored scrip and cash deal from Tabcorp. 

Should a knockback eventuate, it would create an outcry from the powerful Pacific Consortium camp and some of Tatts more noisy shareholders.

Either way, the battle for Tatts is far from over. Tabcorp's bid remains subject to competition clearance, allowing Pacific Consortium time to re-think its options. 

Elsewhere in capital markets, former Morgan Stanley prop trader Martin Rosser is back in the game, and will launch his market neutral fund early next week.

The wholesale long short fund, which expects to manage about $50 million in its first year, will invest in Australia, Hong Kong, the US and Japan, though the majority of the investments will be in Australian top 200 stocks.

It's the second fund in the Alium Capital stable, which also houses the Alpha Fund managed by Michael Considine, Jason Rich and Rajeev Gupta. Rosser's fund invests thematically, and will invest as much in short positions as in long.

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More than 20 potential investors in ASX aspirant Zip Industries will head to the Sydney suburb of Condell Park to tour the hi-tech tap business's manufacturing facilities on Friday, Street Talk can reveal. 

It might not be the world's most glamorous destination, but it's an important visit as the domestic roadshow draws to a close. 

Zip management and joint lead managers Citigroup, Macquarie Capital and UBS have been spruiking Zip's investment in capacity and efficiency to support further growth. Fundies will get a chance to judge that for themselves.
 
The JLMs will also seek to lock in anchor investors from offshore early next week ahead of Wednesday's bookbuild. Strong global markets have only helped the cause. 

Private equity owner Quadrant is seeking to raise $385 million to $435 million, which will deliver the company a market cap of $494 million to $561 million.

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