Former non-exec in £9m Arden bid

Stockbroker Arden Partners yesterday revealed it has received a £9 million bid approach from a former director, as tough market conditions spur consolidation among many of the UK’s smaller investment banks.

Arden said former non-executive director Grahame Whateley had made a preliminary cash offer of 37p a share for Arden, a 1p premium to both Wednesday’s and last night’s closing share price of 36p.

Arden – which is run by chairman Howard Flight and chief executive Jonathan Keeling – said that, while trading in the first four months of its financial year had been satisfactory, it had an uncertain outlook for the second-half of the year.

Investment banks have seen less business come through in the way of flotations or mergers and takeovers due to the weak global economy, while smaller banks have found it harder to deal with increasing regulatory costs than bigger rivals.

Such issues have led to a wave of consolidation, with Hoare Govett being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland to US investment bank Jefferies and South Africa’s Investec buying British bank Evolution. Seymour Pierce is also in talks with potential investors.