Cazenove (stock broker)

Cazenove is a British stockbroker, founded in 1823 by Philip Cazenove, with a long and illustrious history. Although the firm refuses to comment on its relations to the Royal Family, it is widely assumed that it is the appointed stockbroker to Her Majesty The Queen. Until recently it was one of the UK's last independent investment banks and one of the last to remain a private partnership. The Partnership was well-known for its 'blue-blooded' reputation and its complete aversion to publicity but was one of the most successful brokers and corporate advisers in London. Its reputation suffered a knock in 1986 when the company's star corporate financier, David Mayhew, was arrested as part of the investigation into the Guinness/Distillers merger. Cazenove famously refused to bow to pressure to dismiss Mayhew and made a rare public statement stating not only that they expected Mayhew to be exonerated but also that their own, internal investigation had uncovered no wrong-doing.The investigation was carried out by the London firm of solicitors Simmons & Simmons and paid for by Cazenove. The regulators found nothing strange about this. In the end all charges against Mayhew were dropped before the trial reached court. The scandal did Mayhew's career no harm - he is now Chairman of Cazenove and is still regarded as of one the most influential corporate advisers in London.

In 2000 Cazenove & Co announced its intention to dissolve the Partnership and float on the London Stock Exchange. The company duly incorporated and raised funds from institutional investors but the company's ambition to list publicly was ended by poor market conditions in the UK in 2001 and 2002. The company continued to perform well in 2003 and 2004 and could have continued as a plc with an internal market in its shares but in November 2004, Cazenove and JPMorgan Chase announced they had reached an agreement that JP Morgan would buy a 50% in the stockbroker with a call option to buy the remaining 50% stake over the next 5 years. This followed months of leaks in national newspapers about the company's future most of which are assumed to have come from former Partners keen to see a return on money invested at the initial fund-raising in 2001.

The last Cazenove to work for the company was Bernard Cazenove, formerly head of the fund management business, who retired in December 2004 just before the merger took place. Bernard is a direct descendent of the founder of the firm - he is Philip Cazenove's great-great-great-grandson and his father and great-grandfather were also partners.

The bank had a turnover of £251.4m ($452m) in 2003/04 and is comprised of three entities:

*Cazenove Private Equity (now disposed of and renamed Esprit)
*JPMorgan Cazenove, a joint venture, established in 2004, combining Cazenove's investment banking operations with JP Morgan's UK investment banking business
*Cazenove Capital Management, which handles £7.6bn in assets

Cazenove Asia Limited is the regional office of Cazenove in the Asia-Pacific region with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore.

External links

* [http://www.cazenove.com/ Cazenove & Co.]
* [http://www.jpmorgancazenove.com/ JPMorgan Cazenove]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-1357404,00.html The last Cazenove leaves The Bank]