Fabrizio Cerina (born in

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

) is the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of international investment banking group Crédit des Alpes.

Career

Cerina began his career by acquiring a 34% stake in Banque de Participations et de Placements, Geneva. He later sold it to Lebanese buyer Al-Mashreg Bank. He spent the majority of his career in Geneva (CH) and London (GB). In 1982 he acquired Attel Bank, in which he invested CHF1.5 million (US$1.53 million), eventually listing the holding company on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in 1987 at a value of approximately CHF130 million (US$132.6 million). In the 1990s Cerina was dubbed "a banker and a gentleman" by Swiss and international press when, as the controlling shareholder of Attel Bank, he voluntarily refunded clients out of his own pocket after a rogue trader caused losses amounting to CHF45 million (US$46 million). The trader stole money from clients, as well as dealing in unauthorized junk bonds and

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

securities. Cerina merged and developed the business into Crédit des Alpes, an investment bank that advises on large international transactions. The bank put together the US$4.2 billion acquisition by

Vivendi Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

(VIV:FP) of Brazilian broadband market-leader company GVT in 2009 — then the largest world's telecoms deal.

References

External links

Crédit des Alpes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerina, Fabrizio Living people Swiss bankers Year of birth missing (living people)