Caz set to cede power to JPMorgan
BLUE-blooded stockbroker Cazenove is set to sell the remaining 50 per cent of its business to joint owner JP Morgan, in a bumper deal that will spark multi-million pound windfalls for its veteran former partners and star-performing current staff.
Under the terms of a joint venture struck by the pair in 2004, JP Morgan has the right to buy the remaining half of Cazenove – which was originally founded as a partnership over 180 years ago – by February next year.
The two firms are now understood to have virtually sealed an agreement which will see JP Morgan offer around or just over 500p per share for the 50 per cent stake, valuing the combined entity at roughly £1.88bn.
At that price, JPMorgan Cazenove chairman Sir David Mayhew, will net an £18m payout. Finance director Michael Power is in line for £9.5m, based on share ownership figures in the firm’s 2008 report, and head of equities Alan Carruthers will get £5m.
Ex-Barclays finance director Naguib Kheraj, drafted in as chief executive last year, and Ian Hannam, the firm’s star dealmaker, are also in line to receive hefty payouts.
Among the veterans who will share in the lucrative windfall, many of whom are now retired, are Bernard Cazenove – the last family member to hold a senior role at the firm – former vice-chairman John Paynter, and ex- chief executive Robert Pickering.
Cazenove was valued at £700m at the time of the original deal, while the firm’s shares – which trade on an internal market twice a year but were suspended after the summer to prevent speculative trading – last traded at around 245p in April.