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A boutique investment bank founded by former Goldman Sachs bankers is laying the groundwork to expand in the UK with two senior appointments, the latest firm aiming to cash in on the recovery in dealmaking.
Ardea Partners, founded in 2017 and led by Chris Cole and Don Truesdale, is among a crop of independent financial advisory businesses moving in to work on big takeovers.
Based in New York, it has about 80 employees. It is now building out its London office with the recruitment this month of Sir Ian Cheshire, who is chair of broadcaster Channel 4 and property group Land Securities, as a senior adviser.
Cheshire will work alongside roughly 30 staff in the London office, including Simon Lyons, a former PJT Partners and UBS banker who is now co-head of Europe for the business.
Cheshire, who was also chair of department store chain Debenhams and chief executive of DIY group Kingfisher, said: “if the business builds as we hope then it makes sense to make more hires.”
The appointments come as more boutique banks hire senior figures from the public and private sectors, including Sir Stephen Lovegrove at Lazard, one-time UK national security adviser.
In the UK, boutique operations have risen in prominence, including Robey Warshaw, which this year hired JPMorgan financial institutions banker Chetan Singh as its second external partner, after former Conservative chancellor George Osborne.
Boutique banks have taken almost 40 per cent of takeover advisory fees in the first six months of the year, the third-highest share since the London Stock Exchange Group started tracking the market.
That topped the combined 35 per cent earned by the so-called bulge bracket banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
The top-performing boutiques were Centerview Partners, Lazard, Evercore and Rothschild, with boutiques winning a combined $5.2bn of fees in the first half of the year.
While that figure was slightly down from the previous year, the trend shows boutiques gaining on their larger rivals in the market.
Ardea has advised on financial services deals including Generali’s purchase of Conning and Mubadala’s acquisition of Fortress Investment Group.
It has also worked on deals in other sectors, such as advising the Canadian miner Teck when it received an unsolicited takeover proposal from Glencore.
Ardea’s other European co-head is Julien Petit, who was previously at Goldman Sachs. Other partners in London include Glenn Earle, Nigel Robinson and James Del Favero.
Ardea declined to comment.
