Bob Diamond has appointed his flamboyant former right-hand man at Barclays, Rich Ricci, as chief executive of Panmure Gordon, the lossmaking UK stockbroker he bought two years ago.
London-based Panmure has also acquired small-cap broker Whitman Howard, founded by ex-Numis manager, Richard Morecombe. He will join alongside Mr Ricci as president to help turn round the ailing company, according to people familiar with the moves.
Mr Ricci’s hire by his former boss represents a crisis-era reunion for the pair of ostentatious American investment bankers. Known for his love of horseracing, the 56-year-old was a key lieutenant of Mr Diamond at the old Barclays Capital business, which he ran with Jerry del Missier until stepping down in 2013 in the wake of a £290m Libor rate-rigging fine.
Together they were known as the “three musketeers” of Barclays Capital, responsible for the rapid growth of Barclays in the boom years up to 2008, which culminated in a $1.75bn deal to buy Lehman Brothers’s US business out of bankruptcy.
Mr Ricci features regularly in the British tabloids. He famously owned a racehorse called “Fat Cat in a Hat”, and has been photographed at events like the Cheltenham Festival in his signature tweed three-piece suits, dark sunglasses and trilby hat.
Despite taking home £44m in 2010 alone and having an estimated net worth in excess of £100m, Mr Ricci was photographed buying tickets for the EuroMillions lottery in 2012, which had a £92m jackpot. Since Barclays he has invested in a number of financial start-ups and was chairman of currency exchange freemarketFX.
Mr Ricci and Mr Morecombe now face the challenge of turning around Panmure’s performance. Losses surged to almost £24m in the first full year of ownership by Mr Diamond’s investment group, Atlas Merchant Capital, which bought the company for £15.5m at the start of 2018.
Panmure is trying to reinvent itself as a “21st-century merchant bank” offering a broader range of services such as M&A advice and private capital raising in addition to trading and research. The UK stockbroking industry has been upended by Mifid II, European regulation that has disrupted the sector’s traditional business model by banning the bundling of research costs and trading commissions.
This challenges of this shift have been exacerbated by a drought in UK listings due to Brexit. Brokers and bankers fear that the market is facing a prolonged dry period as the coronavirus outbreak depresses global markets, delays investment and scuppers cross-border deals.
The Whitman Howard acquisition will add around 25 small and medium-sized corporate clients to Panmure’s existing 65, and increase headcount to around 170 for the combined group, one person involved said. The price was not disclosed.
Atlas Merchant and its partner — the investment vehicle of the Qatari royal family — have invested £46m in new equity into Panmure since the purchase.
Mr Ricci replaces Ian Axe as Panmure’s chief executive, who has “resigned with immediate effect” after two years in the role, according to a separate announcement.
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March 06, 2020 at 07:28PM
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Bob Diamond names ex-Barclays colleague Rich Ricci new Panmure Gordon CEO - Financial Times
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