FinnCap staff in firing line after Panmure Gordon bid

Fat cat in the hat: Keen horse racer Rich Ricci runs Panmure

Staff at City stockbroker FinnCap should be ‘worried for their jobs’ as rival Panmure Gordon prepares to snap up the firm, City sources warned. 

Bankers on FinnCap’s equity capital markets (ECM) team – who help businesses to list on the stock market and raise money from investors – could face job cuts if Panmure is successful in its takeover attempt. 

Panmure, led by the colourful former Barclays banker Rich Ricci, revealed last week that it was plotting a swoop on FinnCap. 

Ricci, a keen horse racer who once described himself as the ‘maddest f***** on the planet’, is hoping to build up Panmure and restore his reputation – which was left tattered following the scandals that engulfed Barclays after the financial crisis. 

But two City sources said Ricci was likely to be more interested in some parts of FinnCap than others. 

Panmure has its own ECM team, one source with knowledge of the deal said, and would be likely to make cuts at FinnCap where there were any overlaps. 

The source said: ‘Why does Ricci need all of FinnCap? I would be scared if I was an ECM banker there. Panmure will already have a lot of its own capabilities.’ The jewel in the crown at FinnCap is its mergers and acquisitions arm Cavendish, the source said. 

FinnCap bought Cavendish, founded by Tory peer Lord Leigh, in 2018. It advises businesses which are looking to sell themselves, and has worked on Peach Pubs’ sale to Revolution Bars and Barburrito’s deal with The Restaurant Group. 

Unlike FinnCap’s ECM team, Cavendish also works on deals which have no connection to the stock market – for example sales of privately owned companies to other unlisted businesses or private equity firms. 

As economic turmoil has left stock market investors reluctant to buy in to initial public offerings and fundraisings, experts think it is this private area of the market which will see the most activity over the next few years, as cash-rich companies and private equity firms take advantage of knock-down prices. 

One City analyst said: ‘FinnCap isn’t the business that Panmure wants – it’s Cavendish. That’s where the activity is going to be.’ The analyst added that by buying FinnCap, which has traded on the stock market since 2018, Panmure would also gain a valuable London listing. 

FinnCap declined to comment. It currently employs around 155 staff, but does not break down how many of these work on the ECM team. 

However, a source close to the broker played down any threat to jobs, saying there were few overlaps between the areas covered by ECM bankers at FinnCap and Panmure.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk