2008-10-30 10 h 54 :: citywire.co.uk :: Kaupthing Singer MBO to trigger move into private client market

http://www.citywire.co.uk/professional/-/news/fund-news/content.aspx?ID=319337&Page=1

Kaupthing Singer MBO to trigger move into private client market

By David Campbell | 10:54:58 | 30 October 2008

Management at broker Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Capital Markets have staged a management buyout and Citywire can reveal it will be followed by a move into the wealth management arena.

The company, a separate legal entity from parent Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander which was bought out by Williams de Broe last week, will rename itself Singer Capital Markets.

Staff previously owned 67% of the company. The buyout has been privately funded by staff and management and will continue to work with no external funding or borrowing.

In addition to its traditional core focus on small-mid cap institutional brokerage and support, Singer chief executive Tim Cockroft said he would build its private client base.

‘These are challenging markets but I think they also have the greatest opportunities that I have ever seen, having been through the late 80s and 90s,’ said Cockroft.

‘With the big banks coming out of the market there are lots of chances opening up for a company like ours. We are not reliant on big third party equity funding.’

The company was established in 2006 and has since grown to include more than 70 analysts, brokers and private client relationship managers.

In addition to the brokerage service it now provides to more than 30 UK businesses, Cockroft said it would build further third-party private client asset management relationships and its own in-house banking services.

Parent company Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander was placed in administration to protect clients earlier this month after ultimate parent Icelandic bank Kaupthing was nationalised.
The company continued to operate and was last week purchased as a going concern by investment bank and private client group Evolution Group's Williams de Broe unit.