White shoe seeks blue blood

Will Cazenove's blue-blood culture and exclusive corporate clientele be under threat in its joint venture with JPMorgan? Rivals would like to think so but the two parties are aware of how crucial these features are. What's more, there's nowhere much else for top corporate customers to go. The biggest danger is that the merged firm will cater for so many blue chips in such sectors as mining that conflicts of interest might emerge.

Winters, Mayhew and Pickering: Mayhew
will chair the joint venture which, he claims,
will add to Cazenove’s “relevance”.

THE JOINT VENTURE between JPMorgan and Cazenove will reshape the investment banking landscape in the UK, the second biggest investment banking market in the world, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails.

The impact of the deal will be felt as soon as it becomes effective in the first quarter of 2005. Based on deals so far this year, the new company, with a market share of nearly 40%, would topple Goldman Sachs from the top of the UK M&A league table.

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