Close Brothers Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Close Brothers Group plc is a British bank based in the City of London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Close Brothers Group is one of the few remaining British merchant banks not to have been taken over by an overseas bank or one of the major British clearing banks. It was founded in 1878 and offers a range of financial services across the areas of asset management, corporate finance, market making and merchant banking, delivered by over 50 independently organised subsidiary companies.
Close Brothers is also the trading name of the bank's corporate finance business which offers advisory services to corporate and institutional clients in four areas: mergers and acquisitions; structuring and raising debt; special situations; and IPO advisory. The firm has a particularly strong reputation in "middle market" transactions (with values up to €500m) where it is one of the most active advisers in Europe on the basis of announced deals. Its special situations team is also highly regarded, having been engaged on high profile financial restructurings such as British Energy and Parmalat.
Close Brothers has expanded its corporate finance business from the UK into France, Germany, Spain and Italy and operates further afield through a series of exclusive alliances with investment banks in other countries, including Harris Williams in the USA and Business Development Asia for transactions involving Asia.
Close Brothers Group had total assets of £4.8 billion at 31 July 2006 and made a profit before tax of £157 million for the year to that date.
It was announced on 29 November 2007 that Landsbanki, a comprehensive European corporate and investment banking services firm, and Cenkos Securities plc, an independent specialist securities firm focused on UK small and mid-cap companies, had joined hands to make a bid for Close Brothers Group with the intention that Landsbanki acquire the banking business while Cenkos acquire the brokerage business.
