Deutsche Bank teams up with Craigs

Deutsche Bank AG is merging its New Zealand investment banking team with Craigs Investment Partners Ltd, the 29-year-old NZ firm the German bank has a stake in.

The two firms will merge their corporate finance teams over the next few weeks into a new entity named Deutsche Craigs Ltd that will be a wholly owned unit of Craigs. Deutsche Bank has had a 49.9 per cent stake in Craigs since 2010 and will keep its stake in the NZ firm, founded in 1984 by Neil Craig. The two firms worked together this year on the initial public offering of Z Energy Ltd.

“Deutsche Craigs is the natural progression in a three-year partnership,” JT Macfarlane, executive chairman, Deutsche Bank Australia and NZ, said in a statement. “This further integration should cement our ability to deliver the best of NZ to the rest of the world and vice versa.”

Deutsche Bank NZ will continue to operate a lending business as well as a trading and sales business that will operate in fixed income, currencies and commodities. A new NZ country chief for this business, says Deutsche Bank, will be appointed soon.

Apart from NZ$840 million IPO of Z Energy, Craigs and Deutsche Bank are also working on the IPO of Meridian Energy Ltd. Last year the two firms worked together on the NZ$525 million share sale of Fonterra Shareholders Fund.