Kepler Cheuvreux is an independent European financial services company providing research, execution, advisory, and asset management services.
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 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 services.
2008: MBO and independence
Following Landsbanki's bankruptcy in 2008,
Kepler Landsbanki was bought out by its employees through an MBO (management buyout) 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, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, and
Banca Leonardo, 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, starting in 2011 with an alliance between KCM and
UniCredit in equity brokerage and equity capital markets, at first in
Western Europe and then in
Central Europe and
Eastern Europe starting in 2012.
UniCredit 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 the period 2015 – 2018 Kepler Cheuvreux established strategic ECM & research distribution partnerships with Rabobank for the Netherlands,
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.
2024: Acquisition of Trackinsight
In September 2024, Kepler Cheuvreux acquired a majority stake in
Trackinsight, becoming the company's principal shareholder.
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.
In June 2015, the company signed a partnership with the Asian investment bank CIMB for reciprocal distribution of their research in their respective markets. Since February 2017, Kepler Cheuvreux has been distributing in Europe the equity research of Piper Jaffray, a United States investment bank.
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.
Advisory
Kepler Cheuvreux provides advisory services in investment banking and equity capital markets in conjunction with its banking partners (CACIB,
UniCredit,
Rabobank,
Swedbank, and
Belfius), investment services (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.
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%),
UniCredit (10.3%), Eres (7.7%),
Swedbank (6%), Caisse Des Dépôts (5.2%),
Belfius (5.2%), and
Rabobank (5%).
Governance
Kepler Cheuvreux is a limited company governed by an
Executive Board and a Supervisory Board. The supervisory board and the executive board are chaired by Laurent Quirin and Grégoire Varenne, respectively.
