Boutique Investment Bank Ardea Reportedly Eyes UK Expansion

Boutique investment bank Ardea Partners is reportedly planning to expand in the U.K.

As the Financial Times (FT) reported Monday (July 15), the New York-based Ardea is growing its London office with the recent hiring of Sir Ian Cheshire, who is chair of broadcaster Channel 4 and property group Land Securities, as a senior adviser.

Founded in 2017 and led by Goldman Sachs vets Chris Cole and Don Truesdale, the company is what the FT calls part of a group of “independent financial advisory businesses” moving into the world of dealmaking.

Cheshire, who served as chair of the department store chain Debenhams and as CEO of Kingfisher, said that “if the business builds as we hope then it makes sense to make more hires.”

The report noted that boutique operations in Great Britain have increased in prominence, taking almost 40% of takeover advisory fees in the first six months of the year, the third-highest share since the London Stock Exchange Group began monitoring the market. That’s more than the combined 35% by banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Elsewhere in the U.K. banking sector, PYMNTS wrote last week that the country was seeing an uptick in consumer complaints about their banks.

In fact, complaints about the sector have reached their highest level in at least a decade, the United Kingdom’s Financial Ombudsman Service said.

The total number of complaints leaped from 61,995 during the financial year 2022-23 to 80,137 in the financial year 2023-24, the service said in a news release.

“It’s always concerning when you see cases rise so significantly, particularly when so many people are struggling in the current economic climate,” said Abby Thomas, CEO and chief ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The Financial Ombudsman Service also pointed out that an increasing percentage of complaints are coming from claims management companies and professional representatives, rather than by consumers themselves.

These organizations made up 25% of the cases brought in the most recent financial year, compared to 18% in the previous financial year.

“While they have an important role to play in resolving financial disputes, they can also gain financially from our service without contributing to the running costs,” James Dipple-Johnstone, deputy chief ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said in a news release. “There is sometimes little evidence of due diligence by some representatives to ensure claims they advance have merit.”