founders of AllianceBernstein's Autonomous research quit ahead of SocGen venture

Alliancebernstein Holding LP

30/01/2024 16:40

(Rewrites, adds context and details in paragraphs 4-6 and 8-10)
    By Tommy Wilkes and Mathieu Rosemain
       LONDON/PARIS, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The three co-founders
of AllianceBernstein's  AB.N  Autonomous research unit have
quit, ahead of the U.S. investment firm merging its equities
business with French bank Societe Generale  SOGN.PA .
    Stuart Graham, a highly regarded banks analyst who joined
AllianceBernstein in 2019 after it bought the financial
sector-focused research firm he co-founded, is leaving in March
to take a six-month break from work, he told Reuters. 
    The other two co-founders of Autonomous, Ed Allchin and
Manus Costello, are also leaving, Graham said in an email.
    Costello was named last week as Standard Chartered's global
head of investor relations, starting in April, while Allchin
will hand over his responsibilities by April. Reuters has
emailed Allchin and Costello for comment.
    The departures will be a blow to SocGen and
AllianceBernstein as they look to close their joint venture,
which combines SocGen's expertise in equities trading with
Bernstein's in research, in the coming months.
    Announced in late 2022, the deal was expected to close by
the end of 2023, but in an amendment to its registration
document last August SocGen said it expected it to close in the
first half of 2024, citing pending regulatory approvals.
    AllianceBernstein did not respond to a request for comment.
SocGen had no immediate comment.
    Graham has been one of the best-known bank analysts since he
founded Autonomous in 2009 after leading European banks equity
research at Merrill Lynch. He previously covered banks at JP
Morgan and HSBC. 
    Bernstein CEO Robert van Brugge told clients in a previously
unreported memo in December that Geoff Elliott would take over
from Costello as Director of Research, Andreas Vollmer from
Allchin as Head of European Sales and Access, and Chris Cant as
head of European Banks Strategy from Graham.
    Autonomous will continue to operate as a separate
subscription product with its own research team once the joint
venture is launched this year, according to the memo seen by
Reuters. 

 (Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Mathieu Rosemain
Editing by Iain Withers and Mark Potter)
 ((thomas.wilkes@tr.com; +44 (0) 7769 955711;))