Merchant bankers advising what’s best for merchant bankers

Source: CartoonStock

About the only thing more offensive than the fees merchant banks charge for raising capital is the spectacle of them crowing about their handiwork.

Jarden merchant bankers Silvana Schenone and Sam Ricketts sang the praises of accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offers (anreos) in a column published in the New Zealand Herald on Wednesday, noting that “Jarden has been part of the shift in how NZ companies approach capital raising.”

Since Jarden sponsors that particular column, fair enough that it read like an advertisement for Jarden.

But in my experience, NZ companies’ directors are led around by the nose by both merchant bankers and lawyers, who are delighted that NZX decided to conform to Aussie rules in allowing anreos here in 2023.

And the merchant bankers and lawyers usually advise boards to choose the option that best suits the merchant bankers and lawyers.