Kepler Cheuvreux is an independent European financial services company specializing in research, execution, advisory, and asset management services. Kepler Cheuvreux has 12 offices in Europe, 2 offices in the United States, and 600 employees worldwide.

History

1997: origins

Kepler Capital Markets was founded in 1997 under the name Julius Baer Brokerage (JBB), a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss banking group Julius Baer Holding. In 2003, Julius Baer Holding sold JBB to Lightyear Fund, a US

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firm. JBB then changed its name to Kepler Equities, which Icelandic bank Landsbanki acquired two years later in 2005 to develop a diversified financial services company, including equity, bond, and derivative brokerage, corporate finance, debt and credit investment, and investment solutions. Its name changed to Landsbanki Kepler.

2008: MBO and independence

Following Landsbanki's bankruptcy in 2008, Kepler Landsbanki was bought out by its employees through an MBO (

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

) and changed its name to Kepler Capital Markets (KCM). It became independent and focused solely on brokerage activities.

2011: Equity investment by new institutional shareholders

In 2011, the investment firm BlackFin Capital Partners acquired 47% of KCM's capital, bringing together four institutional shareholders:

Caisse des Dépôts Caisse, a French word, may refer to: *Caisse Desjardins, an association of credit unions in Quebec *Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, a road-bicycle racing team *Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a public pension fund in Quebec *Caisse nati ...

, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, and

Banca Leonardo Banca Leonardo S.p.A. is a private and independent investment bank. It operates, directly and through its subsidiaries, in the Wealth Management business in Italy. History Banca Leonardo S.p.A. was founded in Milan in October 1999. In April ...

, whose brokerage and research unit was acquired by KCM.

2011 – 2018: Reshaping of the group and formation of strategic alliances in international markets

The decade was marked by the formation of strategic partnerships allowing the group to develop internationally, starting in 2011 with an alliance between KCM and

UniCredit UniCredit S.p.A. is an international banking group headquartered in Milan. It is Italy's only systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world's 34th largest by assets. It was for ...

in equity brokerage and equity capital markets, at first in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

and then in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

starting in 2012.

acquired a stake in KCM in 2013. Two years later, in April 2013, KCM acquired Cheuvreux from Crédit Agricole CIB and re-branded to Kepler Cheuvreux. In December 2013, Kepler Cheuvreux acquired the activities of Derivatives Capital, a French company specializing in structured products for independent financial advisors and private banks, to create a new independent platform in this market. In the period 2015 – 2018 Kepler Cheuvreux established strategic ECM & research distribution partnerships with

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Swedbank Swedbank AB () is a Nordic-Baltic banking group based in Stockholm, Sweden, offering retail banking, asset management, financial, and other services. In 2019 Swedbank had 900,000 private and 130,000 corporate clients and a 60% market share of ...

for the Nordics and

Belfius Belfius Bank and Insurance, known as Dexia Bank Belgium up until 1 March 2012, is a for-profit PLC founded to meet local authority needs. Belfius emerged from the dismantling of the Dexia group, of which it was part until 10 October 2011, when it ...

for

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. In the same period, the company signed research distribution agreements with

CIMB CIMB Group Holdings Berhad () is a Malaysian universal bank headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and operating in high growth economies in ASEAN. CIMB Group is an indigenous ASEAN investment bank. CIMB has a wide retail branch network with 1,080 bran ...

(

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

), Piper Jaffray ( US) and

CIBC The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; french: Banque canadienne impériale de commerce) is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario. T ...

(

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and

also acquired stakes in Kepler Cheuvreux.

2018: Two new major equity shareholders

Atlas Merchant Capital and Edmond de Rothschild Equity Strategies (ERES) bought out the stake held by BlackFin Capital Partners, giving them an interest in Kepler Cheuvreux in June 2018 of 20% and 7.7%, respectively. However, 40% of Kepler Cheuvreux's voting rights continue to be controlled by its management and employees.

Activities

Research

Kepler Cheuvreux's research activity, which includes analyzing financial securities such as equities and bonds, employs more than 120 analysts and covers more than 1,000 companies in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In June 2015, the company signed a partnership with the Asian investment bank

for reciprocal distribution of their research in their respective markets. Since February 2017, Kepler Cheuvreux has been distributing in

the equity research of Piper Jaffray, a US

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

. In September 2018, the French financial services group exported its research to

with a partnership with

. External surveys such as

Extel The Exchange Telegraph Co. Ltd. (also known as Extel) was created in March 1872 specifically to distribute financial and business information from the London Stock Exchange and other commercial markets direct to subscribers. The company establishe ...

recognize the quality of the firm's research. In the

2018 survey, Kepler Cheuvreux was ranked 1st for Leading

Brokerage A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

Firm – Countries in

, 2nd Best

Broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

for Research (Quoted Companies) and first for Corporate Access.

Execution

Kepler Cheuvreux's Execution activity processes buy and sell orders in financial securities such as equities, bonds, derivatives, warrants, ETFs and convertible bonds. Using an in-house trading platform acquired in 2013, this activity consists of 12 execution offices, 77 experts, and membership of 103 major global markets. Kepler Cheuvreux is ranked second in the “Trading & Execution” category of the 2018

survey and first in the “Overall Outperformer in Algorithmic Trading” and “Best Trading Performance” categories by ‘The Trade’ magazine.

Advisory

Kepler Cheuvreux offers companies advisory services in investment banking & equity capital markets in conjunction with its banking partners (CACIB,

, and

), investment solutions (creation of structured products), debt services (offering liquidity in the primary and secondary bond markets), and specific services to private banks and retail banking networks.

Asset management

In 2018, Kepler Cheuvreux diversified its activities into asset management with the acquisition of an asset management company. Renamed KCI, this entity is responsible for developing two activities: one dedicated to preferred equity (financing in the form of

mezzanine debt In finance, mezzanine capital is any subordinated debt or preferred equity instrument that represents a claim on a company's assets which is senior only to that of the common shares. Mezzanine financings can be structured either as debt (typicall ...

and quasi-equity products) and the other dedicated to private debt in the form of Euro PP and

senior debt In finance, senior debt, frequently issued in the form of senior notes or referred to as senior loans, is debt that takes priority over other unsecured or otherwise more "junior" debt owed by the issuer. Senior debt has greater seniority in the iss ...

Organization

Shareholders

Atlas Merchant Capital and Eres (Edmond de Rothschild Equity Strategies) acquired a stake in Kepler Cheuvreux in June 2018. As an independent company, Kepler Cheuvreux's share ownership was as follows in 2018: Management and employees (25.5%), Atlas Merchant Capital (20.0%), Crédit Agricole CIB (15.1%),

(10.3%), Eres (7.7%),

(6%),

Caisse Des Dépôts Caisse, a French word, may refer to: *Caisse Desjardins, an association of credit unions in Quebec *Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, a road-bicycle racing team *Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a public pension fund in Quebec *Caisse nati ...

(5.2%),

(5.2%), and

(5%). Kepler Cheuvreux's management and employees control 40% of the voting rights.

Governance

Kepler Cheuvreux is a limited company governed by an

Executive Board A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

and a

Supervisory Board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...

. The supervisory board and the executive board are chaired by Laurent Quirin and Grégoire Varenne, respectively.

Locations

Kepler Cheuvreux has 14 research offices worldwide: 12 in Europe (Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Madrid, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, and Zurich) and two in the United States (New York and Boston).{{Cite web, url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=6299918, title=Company Overview of Kepler Cheuvreux SA, last=, first=, date=, website=Bloomberg, archive-url=, archive-date=, access-date=

References

Companies established in 1997