CazenoveÆs bank analyst joins hedge fund
As the QueenÆs stockbroker faces an uncertain future in Asia, Grant Chan decamps to join Thaddeus Capital.
Grant Chan, Hong Kong bank analyst at Cazenove, stockbroker to two of BritainÆs royal families û the Windsors and the Beckhams û has left to join Thaddeus Capital, a hedge fund in Hong Kong. He will cover event-driven and special situations in Greater China for financial institutions and corporations.
His departure may augur more changes at Cazenove staff in Hong Kong, who are reportedly in a state of existential quandary. The Cazenove name may disappear from Asia in 2008 to be subsumed into that of JPMorgan, which acquired a 50% stake in the stockbroker in 2004. JPMorgan also has a call option to buy the remaining 50%, hence the new bout of anxiety: not just that the storied brand will go, but that the Cazenove team will then face a duel to the death against JPMorganÆs own analysts, many of whom cover the same turf.
Before joining Cazenove, Chan worked at Bank of China and spent several years at Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong as head of financial institutions research.
He now joins Thaddeus co-founders Charle Peza and Paul Sheehan, former colleagues who were respectively the telecommunications and bank analysts at Lehman Brothers Hong Kong, plus Nick Spratt who joined after six years of equity analysis in Lehman Tokyo.
It does beg the question, how does a Wall Street securities firm feel when a troupe of its prize analysts sashay off to a hedge fund? Is the emptiness in their heart mitigated by the thought that the new hedge fund could be a future cross-selling contact, perhaps for the ever-growing prime broking sector in Hong Kong?
ôYes, IÆd assume that,ö said a spokesperson for Lehman Brothers. ôItÆs great to know the people who are starting up new hedge funds.ö
Thaddeus Capital was established earlier this summer. Its prime broker is Goldman Sachs.
His departure may augur more changes at Cazenove staff in Hong Kong, who are reportedly in a state of existential quandary. The Cazenove name may disappear from Asia in 2008 to be subsumed into that of JPMorgan, which acquired a 50% stake in the stockbroker in 2004. JPMorgan also has a call option to buy the remaining 50%, hence the new bout of anxiety: not just that the storied brand will go, but that the Cazenove team will then face a duel to the death against JPMorganÆs own analysts, many of whom cover the same turf.
Before joining Cazenove, Chan worked at Bank of China and spent several years at Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong as head of financial institutions research.
He now joins Thaddeus co-founders Charle Peza and Paul Sheehan, former colleagues who were respectively the telecommunications and bank analysts at Lehman Brothers Hong Kong, plus Nick Spratt who joined after six years of equity analysis in Lehman Tokyo.
It does beg the question, how does a Wall Street securities firm feel when a troupe of its prize analysts sashay off to a hedge fund? Is the emptiness in their heart mitigated by the thought that the new hedge fund could be a future cross-selling contact, perhaps for the ever-growing prime broking sector in Hong Kong?
ôYes, IÆd assume that,ö said a spokesperson for Lehman Brothers. ôItÆs great to know the people who are starting up new hedge funds.ö
Thaddeus Capital was established earlier this summer. Its prime broker is Goldman Sachs.
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