Former Noble Group duo set up rival merchant bank with focus on IPOs

TWO former employees of merchant bank Noble Group are to set up a rival operation in Edinburgh.

David Ovens and Rory Boyd will launch Inverleith Capital, which is backed by former Noble chief executive and chairman Ben Thomson. The new bank will largely focus on rejuvenating Scotland's moribund listed company sector.

Ovens said: "One of the issues in Scotland is the lack of publicly quoted companies, and the advisory community is to blame. Not many have done IPOs and instead they push M&A products or go down the trade sale route.

"There are lots of firms capable of surviving as plcs and I'd like to see a lot more of those in Scotland. We need to be creative. There's a lot of cash out there, both institutional and corporate, as well as divisions within corporates that need restructuring. There will be enough activity to keep us busy over the next few years."

Noble Group, which merged with London-based broker Execution last year to become Execution Noble, changed its name again to Espirito Santo Investment Bank after the Lisbon-based Banco Espirito Santo acquired a 50.1 per cent stake following the merger.

Ovens says the former Noble Group no longer has "relevance to Scotland" as a merchant bank, although he says the company which has offices around the world will probably continue to offer private client services and structured investment products in the capital.

Ovens and Boyd are among the most recent departures from the former Noble Group in Edinburgh. Others include Henry Chapman and Kathleen McLeay who led a buyout of Noble's fund services business to form NCM Finance in 2009. Paul Jourdan, who ran Noble's VCT funds, took the business with him and started Amati Global Ventures last year.

A spokesman for the Execution Noble Espirito Santo business said the firm remained "utterly committed" to its Edinburgh location and the firm was actively recruiting to replace the recent departures.

The office is still headed by Angus Macpherson, the former Merrill Lynch banker who replaced Thomson as chief executive of Noble Group in 2007. The firm describes itself as a full service investment bank with special focus on mid-cap firms, both as investment opportunities and as advisory clients.

Ovens said Inverleith Capital will target deals between 5 million and 1 billion, and the fledgling firm has an "active sale mandate" in the leisure sector. The merchant bank is seeking offices either in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square or George Street.