Former UK Chancellor Osborne among Robey Warshaw team splitting $37 mln

Tryg A/S

16/12/2022 11:44

By Iain Withers
       LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Boutique investment bank
Robey Warshaw shared 30 million pounds ($37 million) of profit
between its four partners in the year to March 2022, with former
British finance minister George Osborne taking a slice of the
lucrative pot for the first time.
    Robey Warshaw's profit was flat on the prior year when the
pandemic dealt a blow to dealmaking and was shared between the
firm's partners in pay and profit share, according to company
accounts reviewed by Reuters on Friday.
    Robey Warshaw has established itself as a key adviser to
FTSE 100 firms such as HSBC and Vodafone since it was founded in
2013 by dealmakers Simon Robey, Philip Apostolides and Simon
Warshaw.
    Osborne - who has held a variety of roles since leaving
government including editor of newspaper the Evening Standard -
joined as a fourth partner in April 2021.   
    The bumper payouts for the tiny advisory firm shows how some
smaller so-called 'boutique' investment banks are thriving,
although the accounting period runs up to before the market
chaos sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.    
    The company's highest-paid partner - widely reported to be
former Morgan Stanley dealmaker Simon Robey - made 17.2 million
pounds in the year, compared with 20.1 million pounds
previously.
    The bank had just 13 employees, unchanged on the prior year,
which were paid a total of 7.7 million pounds, down from 7.9
million.
    Deals during the reporting period included advising insurer
RSA on its 7.2 billion pound takeover by Canada's Intact and
Denmark's Tryg.
    More recent roles include advising HSBC  HSBA.L  in its
defence against a break-up push by its biggest investor Chinese
insurer Ping An and advising Vodafone on the planned 6 billion
pound sale of part of its stake in Vantage Towers.
    Robey Warshaw also represented an investment group led by
American businessman Todd Boehly on the 4.25 billion pound
takeover of Chelsea Football Club in May, with Chelsea fan
Osborne playing a key role in winning the mandate, according to
a source familiar with the matter.
($1 = 0.8218 pounds)
 (Reporting by Iain Withers, Additional reporting by Lawrence
White, Editing by Louise Heavens)
 ((Iain.Withers@thomsonreuters.com;))