Exane BNP Paribas gatecrashed the City’s Oscars yesterday after picking up the gong for best equity research broker in Europe in the annual We Convene Extel Survey.
The French bank came top ahead of UBS, while Morgan Stanley, No 1 for the previous two years, fell to third place. Since 2000, only UBS, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch had taken the top spot.
Jeff Stent, who covers consumer goods at Exane BNP Paribas, was again judged the leading equity analyst.
He should know
A neat tweet from Nick Leeson, the former Barings rogue trader, on Santander’s rescue takeover of its troubled Spanish rival Banco Popular: “Banks are getting cheaper, Barings was £1, Banco Popular only €1.”
Buying a lemon
The ad production house set up by Jamie Oliver in 2014 has been sold to its management. Fat Lemon Productions, based in east London, began by supporting Jamie Oliver Group’s commercial partnerships but soon spread its wings.
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Jane Bolton, one of the co-founders of Fat Lemon, said: “We felt it was the right time to break away and become masters of our own destiny. I don’t know if lemons can fly, but we’re ready to take the plunge.”
What goes up . . .
A rare document relating to the infamous South Sea Bubble episode is set to go under the hammer in America.
The Boston-based RR Auction is selling a document dating back to 1721 signed by Sir Isaac Newton, left, in his capacity as Master of the Royal Mint, addressed to the accountant general of the South Sea Company, of which he was a stockholder.
The lot is estimated to fetch at least $25,000. Although he survived the crash, the experience prompted the scientist to note that he “could calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of the people”.
Business big shot
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Name Nigel Jones
Age 51
Position Non-executive director, Berkeley Energia
Berkeley Energia is working to develop a uranium mine near Salamanca in Spain; Nigel Jones, its latest recruit, may be of use when it finally gets some out of the ground (Marcus Leroux writes). In a 20-year career with Rio Tinto, Mr Jones spent five years selling uranium to nuclear power companies in Europe, North America and Japan.
The Oxford languages graduate will be familiar to many in the City as a former investor relations director of Rio Tinto between 2005 and 2009. He went on to become global head of business evaluation at Rio, working on the flotation of its American coal business. He was also managing director of Rio Tinto Marine, its freight division, before spending two years as head of business development.
Most recently he has been head of private side capital markets for ICBC Standard Bank, the Chinese group, based in London, and a director of Sandown Bay Resource Capital, a mining-focused private equity firm.
Mr Jones lives in Cranleigh, Surrey. He replaces Jim Ross on the Berkeley board of directors.
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Paul Atherley, chief executive of Berkeley, said: “We believe his considerable experience in corporate development and marketing of uranium products will be of considerable value.”