Bulge brackets move the outback to the forefront
Brutal competition for asset management
Tapping a growing rich list
It is widely accepted that a bank with no presence in Australia has to acquire to get one rather than hope to build it organically. People can also see the synergies between Lehman, whose strongest suit is debt, and Grange, whose only suit, arguably, is debt. It’s in two other areas that eyebrows get raised: the price paid and Lehman’s ambition to make its buy a full-service investment bank.
Both sides have declined to name the purchase price but it is understood that Lehman paid A$120 million (US$100 million) for Grange, which has both perplexed and impressed people in the Australian banking sector. Founded in 1995,...
