BESI To Acquire Execution Noble

Published: 08-Feb-2010

Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento (BESI), the Lisbon-based investment bank of the Banco Espirito Santo (BES) Group, has agreed to acquire a 50.1% stake in Execution Noble, the international investment banking group.

The combined group provides the foundation for a new international player in integrated investment banking services, with a distribution platform and critical mass in key emerging markets including Brazil and India. It is expected to offer a range of products in: corporate finance/ M&A; capital markets; corporate broking; research; corporate access; equities, derivatives and fixed income sales and trading. The new group will also include Execution Noble’s reinsurance distribution platform.

With BESI, Execution Noble’s capital base will be strengthened and the equities and fixed-income teams will be widened to provide an emerging-markets securities franchise and specialised Iberian coverage. BESI will also provide access to an underwriting capability as part of Execution Noble’s equity and fixed income markets offering.

For BESI, Execution Noble provides an international distribution platform and investment banking team, allowing it to operate through the key financial markets of London, New York and Hong Kong. It also enables it to establish an enlarged international securities business, leverage its primary and secondary fixed income and equities presence in Iberia and its primary origination capabilities in Europe and Emerging Markets, in particular Brazil and, increasingly, Africa.

The senior management and staff of Execution Noble will remain significant shareholders in the business. BESI together with Execution Noble will have a combined investment banking headcount of close to 1,000 with offices in Lisbon, London, Madrid, Edinburgh, Dublin, Frankfurt, New York, Boston, Greenwich CT, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Warsaw.

The new board of directors will include, among others, Jose Maria Espirito Santo Ricciardi as its chairman with Nick Finegold (current chairman of Execution Noble) and Luis Luna Vaz (BESI global head of Capital Markets and board member) as vice-chairmen. Simon Brookhouse will continue as CEO. Paulo Araújo from BESI and Angus Macpherson and Charles Ashton, from Execution Noble, will be executive board members.

Mr Ricciardi, CEO of BESI, said: “This acquisition establishes our ambition of becoming a key international Investment Banking player. The transaction will open new opportunities for Execution Noble while preserving its individuality. Execution Noble is complementary to our existing international reach and product suite, developing our distribution platform considerably in terms of Large and Mid Cap equity trading, which in turn will strengthen our Iberian and Emerging Market investment banking and origination capabilities. ”

Mr Finegold, chairman of Execution Noble, said: “The Execution Noble team will continue to have a significant stake in the business and the enlarged firm will, with our new partner’s backing, capitalise on current regulatory economic and political uncertainties to build a new type of investment bank.

"We will have a leading position in some of the world’s most exciting emerging markets, notably Brazil and India, in addition to a strong pan-European footprint. The enlarged firm will continue to leverage its technical excellence with a strong social and moral conscience. We will also benefit from access to BESI’s investment banking expertise and product reach.”

Completion of the offer is subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory consents and the satisfaction or waiver of a number of other conditions customary in an offer of this nature. The offer is being made through Espirito Santo Investment Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of BESI.

Execution Noble focuses on large and mid cap pan-European secondary equities and research, with an established distribution platform across London, New York and Hong Kong. In the latter half of 2009, the group expanded into fixed income and its acquisition of the Noble Group added a primary origination capability which enhanced its ability to compete for M&A and equity capital markets’ mandates.

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