I first came across Eric Anstee as an Ernst & Young-trained accountant drafted in as finance director of Eastern Electricity ahead of its privatisation in the early 1990s. A lot has happened since then; Eastern, which he ran with John Devaney (now in the news at National Express), was sold to Hanson, and he assisted in the break-up of the Hanson empire.
He ran City broker Old Mutual for a while and was in charge of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Anstee, no relation to Nick Anstee, by coincidence taking office today as Lord Mayor, is now head of a team at City of London Group.
This used to be best known as a PR company headed by mining veteran John Greenhalgh and the vehicle retains a couple of million of pounds invested in mining. “It’s got about £8 million net assets,” Anstee tells me. “They have been looking for someone to come on and develop a strategy and I think the timing is right.
“There’s a lot of opportunity with the banks retreating,” he says. In particular, the business will look at investing in professional practises such as lawyers and accountants. “It gives me the opportunity to build something from a fairly low base. And it’s a great name.”