Plus Markets heads for break-up as rival bidders line up with Icap
PLUS Markets has moved nearer to being saved from closure but is likely to be broken up and sold off to three separate buyers.
Yesterday Plus confirmed it had begun talks over the stock exchange unit with Icap, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, run by former Tory party treasurer Michael Spencer.
More deals could follow, however, after it received expressions of interest in its derivatives and trading solutions businesses.
Hirander Misra, an electronic trading expert and one of the founders of Chi-X Europe, has reportedly held talks to buy Plus-TS. Meanwhile Vijay Angelo, currently a consultant to Plus, and other backers are in talks to buy Plus-DX. A deal could be completed as soon as next week.
Angelo declined to comment and Misra could not be reached.
Plus said it is in talks with Icap about a sale of the stock exchange “for a nominal amount”. The talks are seen as a move by Icap to pay a cut price for Plus’ exchange licence, an attractive asset at a time when global regulators are looking to force more of Icap’s core over-the-counter derivatives markets to use exchanges.
“The primary interest for Icap probably isn’t Plus’s existing businesses, but the opportunity to pick up an exchange license on the cheap,” said Richard Perrott at Berenberg Bank.
Plus said on Monday it was planning to close after failing to secure a buyer, but the deal offers a lifeline to Plus’ 156 listed companies that were facing the prospect of going private or seeking other exchanges.
ADVISERS N+1 BREWIN
N+1 BREWIN
ON Monday it looked like Plus Markets, the stock exchange for small companies, was nearing closure. Now, however, its future looks somewhat brighter. Holding its hand throughout a nervous week has been N+1 Brewin, its nominated adviser and broker, and Wyvern Partners, its financial adviser.
The N+1 team includes Aubrey Powell, Alex Wright and Robert Beenstock.
Powell, an Oxford graduate in human sciences, has worked across a range of sectors including healthcare and technology.
He joined N+1 this year as a divisional director in corporate finance, having spent 14 years at Panmure Gordon and Salomon Brothers, which was later merged into Citigroup.
Wright, educated at Newcastle University, spent nearly four years at Grant Thornton before joining Brewin Dolphin in July last year.
N+1 Brewin was formed when the corporate advisory and broking team of Brewin Dolphin bought its way out to set up a new firm. They established a joint venture with the financiers that backed the buyout, N+1, a Spanish financial adviser and asset management group.
Anthony Gahan, who led the Wyvern team, is a founding member of the firm and previously worked for Lehman Brothers and Flemings.