Ex BP boss Lord Browne to head advisory board at Stanhope Capital Capital
FORMER BP chief executive Lord Browne is to head up the newly-formed advisory board of boutique wealth manager Stanhope Capital, it emerged yesterday.
Stanhope is believed to be lining up Browne to chair the three-man board and to help it attract investors from the worlds of business and charity and the arts, in which he has built up broad contacts and influence.
The firm is also hoping he will help it to boost its international business in countries such as Brazil, China, India and Russia.
Browne left his post at oil and gas giant BP in 2007 and has been leading a UK government inquiry into university funding and student finance for the government.
Stanhope Capital, which is controlled by its management, is an independent investment firm which provides asset management services to substantial private clients, charities and endowments across the world.
Former investment bankers Daniel Pinto and Julien Sevaux set up Stanhope Capital around a group of prominent industrial families and wealthy entrepreneurs from the UK and continental Europe.
Pinto was formerly a senior banker at UBS Warburg in London and Paris concentrating on mergers and acquisitions and was also chief executive of a private equity fund backed by CVC Capital Partners.
Sevaux has more than 18 years’ experience in wealth management and corporate finance and is a former board member of Worms & Cie, the diversified banking and industrial family group which in 1973 founded Permal, a pioneer fund of hedge funds.
Prior to co-founding Stanhope Capital, he was a partner in Lehman Brothers’ private equity group and senior M&A banker in the firm’s New York and London offices.
It claims to be one of the largest private investment offices in Europe representing more than 70 families and institutions.
One of the largest privately-owned United States independent wealth management firms, Bessemer Trust, was an original shareholder in Stanhope Capital.
The firms now maintain a close but arm’s length working relationship and say they continue to co-operate in areas of mutual interest.
It is understood Stanhope currently derives about half its business from the UK and about three quarters from private customers.