Goldman Sachs picks up a broking slot with Autonomy
INTELLIGENT software company Autonomy yesterday announced it had appointed Goldman Sachs as a third joint broker.
Goldman, which now has 11 FTSE 100 broking clients, will work alongside existing brokers UBS and Citi.
The Goldman pitch was headed up by Phil Shelley, the former UBS broker who was recruited in December to help strengthen the bank’s broking business. Shelley knows the company well from his days at UBS.
By appointing a third broker, Autonomy joins the ranks of companies such as Diageo, Tesco and Burberry, who also employ three broking houses to advise them. Earlier this year Burberry added Nomura to its team.
The traditional broking role is not normally the most profitable for investment banks but it can lead to other business and helps to create potentially lucrative relationships with corporate clients.
Goldman has won a few other mandates lately, such as Balfour Beatty and Arm, in a sign that it is taking the broking side of the business ever more seriously.
JP Morgan is still the most successful bank in terms of brokerships, but most of these were acquired when the group bought Cazenove, the City’s blue-blooded stockbroker.