Macquarie To Acquire Canadian Investment Bank

Post by Sharat on May 29, 2009 · Under Company News, Equities, International Business News, Mergers & Acquistions · Comment

Australian investment banking major Macquarie Group has agreed a deal to acquire Tristone Capital Global a boutique investment from Canada which specializes in the Canadian energy industry.

The deal is relatively small, valued at C$116 million, with Macquarie paying the privately held firm C$57 million in upfront cash and a further C$59 million in exchangeable shares over five years.

Macquarie has been quietly bulking up its Canadian presence, and with this deal expands its advisory services and equity research capabilities into the oil and gas or energy industry.

Rumours of a deal to acquire Tristone first began making the rounds in March this year. In 2007 Macquarie acquired Orion Financial also based in Canada and has since re branded the company under the Macquarie brand name, and is likely to do the same with its newest purchase.

The acquisition of Calgary-based Tristone “continues the expansion of our advisory and capital markets activities and other related industries including leading pipeline and utility companies who are an important part of our infrastructure business,” Paul Donnelly, chief executive of Macquarie Capital Markets Canada, said in a statement.

Macquarie said the merged operation would give it a bigger presence in vital energy-sector hubs around the world, namely Calgary, Houston, Denver and London, and a presence in Buenos Aires. The merged research platforms will cover about 250 energy-related companies in every major oil and gas basin, it said.

Tristone was established at the start of the decade (2000) by Canadian investment banker George Gosbee. Mr. Gosbee will stay on and will become Chairman of Macquarie’s Northern Hemisphere energy business the company said in a statement.

Mr. Gosbee believes that folding Tristone will give it capital and the capability to handle transactions which were beyond its reach previously.

“I’m going from three trading desks to fourteen,” he said. “I’m going from having minimal capital for bought deals and no capital on the trading desk to a lot of capital; from 180 research names to close to 300, and from 170 employees to 400 in my energy group. That’s powerful.”

Macquarie said most of Tristone’s employees will stay in their current locations and will be joined by some of the buyer’s own staff.

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