MAGGIE PAGANO: The City loves a clever rogue

If your name is Bob Diamond or Rich Ricci, there’s only one way to go up: up the money tree.

The two former heads of Barclays, who now run British stockbroker Panmure Gordon, are doing just that with their latest move to merge with rival investment boutique FinnCap.

FinnCap, which is worth around £30 million even after its share jump yesterday, may seem like a relative minnow.

Still, the merger represents a significant step forward for Panmure, giving it access to FinnCap’s specialist expertise, particularly in the high-growth life sciences and technology sectors.

The smaller company is also the number one broker and advisor to growth companies listed on the junior market, AIM.

It is an important link for the future of the city’s capital markets and ensures that the Square Mile maintains its role as the place for start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses to attract new funds, advertise and expand.

In addition, the deal should give the two firms an opportunity to cut costs as business operations and IPOs plummet and tightened fund raising conditions worldwide.

Others have already started the process. Numis, Peel Hunt and Zeus Capital have been cutting staff in recent weeks, while FinnCap has only recently laid off 10 of its 150 employees.

FinnCap has been on its own roller coaster, losing Sam Smith, the charismatic chief executive and founder, after she decided to make a lifestyle change in September, though she remains a consultant. Shares have more than halved in the past year.

That the talks have reached this stage suggests that FinnCap’s biggest investors are on board, and that having such ambitious personalities as these two American bankers – Diamond and Ricci – running the show will give the company some much-needed oomph. .

FinnCap’s investors have a cast as colorful as the one at Panmure. Venture capitalist Jon Moulton, who supported Smith when she founded the company, owns 11 percent. Smith himself has 9.85 percent.

Lord Leigh, former treasurer of the Tory party, has 9 pence. Tech supremo, Vin Murria, who lost her battle over M&C Saatchi, has 10.3 pc.

FinnCap is publicly traded, so if the deal goes through, the new group could get back to the public market via a reverse takeover — neat and cheap.

Such a move also puts Diamond, who owns nearly a quarter of Panmure through Atlas Merchant Capital, and Ricci back in the public spotlight after a painful journey since their controversial departure from Barclays over the Libor rigging scandal.

After Diamond’s Atlas took a majority stake in 2017, it brought in famously obsessive racehorse owner Ricci, who calls himself the “craziest f****r on earth” two years ago to run the brokerage.

Since then, the duo has turned around the loss-making business

It was rumored that Diamond and Ricci were deeply scarred, if not humiliated, by their Barclays experience and wanted the chance to prove and rehabilitate themselves with their peers.

If they are closing this deal to build a serious player in the capital markets, then they may have reclaimed their previous reputation as brilliant, albeit sharp deal makers.

The city still loves a villain, especially if they do good business.

Go ahead for gilts

Relief. The confusion is over. After repeatedly denying reports that it has delayed the start of sales of gold-plated products, the Bank of England has confirmed sales will now continue on Nov. 1.

The Bank was due to start selling gilts on October 31, after the operation was postponed to its original date, October 6.

This was delayed by the emergency bond purchase package to keep the pension funds afloat. But a newspaper report yesterday upset the apple cart as it claimed that the Bank was postponing the sale due to the feverish state of the markets.

That was when the first denial came, with the Bank’s spokesperson using unusually abusive language – the word was imprecise – thus igniting the rumours.

Still, the report was somewhat right. The bank is now going for November 1 because it does not want to launch the sale – also known as quantitative tightening – on the same day as the medium-term budget plan.

I get it? Gold yields on 10-year bonds initially skyrocketed after reports of a slowdown, but fell back below 4 percent after the refusal. That’s the right direction.