YET MORE defections this week from the Bloxham private client business that is due to transfer to Davy in May.
I’m told that Vincent Jennings (based in Limerick), Mick Dunne, Shane O’Toole, Ruth Lambkin, Joy Callendar and Daniel Kiely have all decided against moving to Davy and have resigned in the past couple of days.
As of last night, at least four of them were heading in the direction of Dolmen, with sources indicating that all six could yet end up there.
Last weekend, it was reported that Peter de Montfort, the head of Bloxham’s Cork office, and Maura O’Neill, a wealth development manager, were defecting to Goodbody.
This would make it eight out a team of 27 that have chosen not to make the move to Davy’s head office in Dawson Street.
A spokesman for Davy said it was “always anticipated” that there would be some departures from the Bloxham team before the transfer of the business. However he said the transaction was still on track and has been “positively received” by clients.
“Virtually all of the [Bloxham] clients are expected to transfer across in May,” the spokesman added.
The Bloxham business has annual revenues of €6.5 million and assets under management of €540 million. Davy is paying up to €10 million to buy the business.
The defections to Dolmen also hint that the long-mooted acquisition of the Irish stockbroker by US-based Cantor Fitzgerald is close to being completed.
This courtship has been under way for more than a year.
As one of the smaller stockbrokers in town, Dolmen was viewed by industry watchers as being particularly vulnerable to the shockwaves created in the sector by the economic slump here and by the global financial crisis.
Accepting the warm embrace of an international player, such as Cantor, seems logical and would certainly add some spice to the market here.
It is hard to imagine that the Bloxham crew would jump ship to Dolmen if they were not assured of its future prospects and therefore the expectation is that the deal with Cantor could be completed in the next couple of months.
