Berenberg has hired four senior corporate brokers from rival Peel Hunt as the German bank looks to expand its UK business.
John Welch, who heads corporate broking and equity capital markets at Peel Hunt, is set to join Berenberg in a senior role, according to people familiar with the matter.
Michael Burke and Tom Ballard, who joined Peel Hunt in senior corporate broking roles three years ago from Numis, have also been hired by Berenberg. Adrian Trimmings, a partner within Peel Hunt’s consumer, leisure and retail investment banking team, is also set to join Berenberg.
The hires follow Berenberg’s recruitment of Miles Cox, a partner in the M&A division at rival Peel Hunt, into the new position of head of M&A in June.
Berenberg, which focuses on mid-market deals, is in the midst of a fresh push in the UK as it looks to take advantage of dislocation in the City’s broking market.
“We see a significant opportunity in UK investment banking, particularly given that industry consolidation is now taking hold,” David Mortlock, Berenberg’s managing partner, said during its annual results. The bank increased the number of UK specialists in its ranks from 30 in 2020 to 60 last year.
READBerenberg targets UK expansion after broking rivals scale back
Peel Hunt and Berenberg declined to comment.
While standalone corporate brokers have struggled, Berenberg’s status as a bank has allowed it to continue to invest in its UK corporate broking business, which now has 70 clients. It also took on Clayton Bush, a managing director in Liberum’s consumer and leisure investment banking team in September.
The much-anticipated consolidation in the corporate broking sector has picked up pace over the past year. Last April, Deutsche Bank unveiled it was acquiring Numis in a £410m deal, while UK brokers Cenkos and FinnCap merged to create a new investment bank called Cavendish. In January, Panmure Gordon and Liberum revealed that they were merging to create a new firm called Panmure Liberum, with former Barclays investment bank boss Rich Ricci at the helm.
Peel Hunt, which went public in 2021, is one of the few remaining sizeable standalone brokers. It has around 150 clients, according to Adviser Rankings Limited, putting in joint third position at the end of February. It has around 300 employees.
Berenberg is looking to grow again this year, but has still reduced staff amid a dearth in IPOs and M&A work. It cut 85 people in the UK across two rounds of redundancies in 2022. Last year, the bank also cut around 20 employees in the US as it shuttered its mid-market research function there.
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