Jarden and Credit Suisse go their separate ways in Australia

Credit Suisse Australia and Jarden call time on their strategic partnership

A 30-year alliance came to an inevitable end on Friday when Credit Suisse Australia and Jarden exited their strategic partnership.

As Euromoney reported in our feature this week, the relationship appeared untenable once Jarden, previously a strong name in New Zealand but with no meaningful presence in Australian investment banking, set about building an impressive roster of senior bankers in a new boutique headquartered in Sydney.

Among them was Chris Tolj, an equities sales trader from Credit Suisse. That hire, and the appearance of Jarden on an equity raising for HomeCo, which is a Credit Suisse client, cemented the sense that the relationship had to come to an end. 

Since May, Jarden chief James Lee had been saying that “the two companies would continue to work collaboratively in the best interest of clients”. But no more.

Today the two appeared to part on good terms. 

“We wish Jarden all the best,” said Richard Gibb, Credit Suisse’s Australia CEO. “We have a long history between us and we look forward to the opportunity to work together in the future.”

Lee said: “Credit Suisse has been a great partner for Jarden and we also look forward to continuing to work on transactions and initiatives that can mutually benefit our clients.” 

UBS sole mandate

In other news, UBS, which was the source of many of Jarden’s bankers including several of its founding figures in Australia, won a sole mandate on a capital raising for Sydney Airport. 

The Australian Financial Review argued this week that the mandate had its roots in an advisory role ex-UBS bankers Matthew Grounds and Guy Fowler were playing for Sydney Airport.

Regular readers will recall that Grounds and Fowler’s activities are being closely watched in Sydney, after they set about building a new venture with Magellan Financial Group’s Hamish Douglass and with Barclays, only to pull back after being warned off hiring a further clutch of UBS bankers.

Some are reading the UBS sole mandate – on a potentially very large deal that would normally involve a larger syndicate – as representing something of a peace offering from Grounds to his former employer. “This is being widely interpreted as Grounds appeasing his former employer and clearing the way for them to proceed with their plans,” one figure at an international bank in Sydney said. Watch this space.