Fresh fears for WM jobs after ‘sale meetings’

Published on Monday 27 May 2002 01:00

THERE are continuing doubts today over the future of 900 staff at the WM Company at Crewe Toll in the Capital, after further reports it is to be sold to the highest bidder.

The company failed to respond to requests for clarification today, as reports suggested the "for sale" sign is set to appear over its front swing doors.

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank and its owner, is reported to have already held talks with potential trade buyers including Mellon Financial Services, State Street, Northern Trust, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, Bank of New York, and BNP Paribas.

According to reports, one possible bidder 3i, the venture capitalist, ruled itself out yesterday. 3i is known to be keen to move into financial services to balance its technology heavy Scots portfolio.

WM provides back-office functions for fund managers by specialising in custody, investment administration and performance measurement. It is just the type of subsidiary that Deutsche Bank is now believed to be keen to offload. It acquired the WM Company when it bought Bankers Trust in 1999.

WM was founded by Wood Mackenzie in the mid-1970s to provide support information and services. It was later hived off as a separate business before being bought by Bankers Trust in 1987 and then Deutsche in 1999. WM has clients in 33 countries and other offices in London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

Almost a quarter of the staff in Deutsche’s research department were fired last week as part of the worldwide redundancy programme involving 365 jobs in the equities division.

City bankers are said to be shocked that Deutsche, which has managed to avoid large-scale redundancies in its investment banking operations, had acted so dramatically. The bank said the job cuts were part of an attempt to slash 1.25 billion off costs by the end of next year. It is already cutting 9000 jobs in its retail banking operations.

News of a possible sale is likely to raise concern about WM jobs in the Capital, even though it is thought a number of companies would be interested in buying the knowledge-based operation.

Firms already established in Scotland, including State Street and HSBC, are planning to expand in the areas WM covers and might want to take over.