A new family firm for the Cazenoves

People and; Business

CHRISTOPHER CAZENOVE, the dashing actor currently playing the lead in An Ideal Husband in the West End, has taken a stake in his cousin Bobby Cazenove's newly formed software self-teach provider Cazcom.

This means there are more Cazenoves at Cazcom than at the blue blooded stockbroker Cazenove & Co, which can now boast only one member of the family.

The disenchantment by Bobby's side off the clan with working in Tokenhouse Yard began some time ago, he tells me. Edward Cazenove, a marquis and Bobby's father, resigned from the firm to spend more time following his gentlemanly county pursuits.

"My father took the view that the Cazenoves were an established Huguenot family who regrettably turned to trade sometime in the 17th Century", says Bobby.

At the start of his working life, Cazenove junior was interviewed by his cousin Harry, the former senior partner of the blue blooded broker.

"Can you tell the difference between these two," asked Harry, holding up two tea bags to Bobby's bemused gaze. "One is Earl Grey, the other China tea. This is what you will be doing," said Harry.

Despite this enticing offer, Bobby opted for Kleinwort Benson, which later dispensed with his services when it discovered he was innumerate.

CONGRATULATIONS TO Philip Healey, who together with his wife Susan has sold out of Acquisitions Monthly, the compiler of City league tables which they founded 14 years ago.

Philip is understandably coy about disclosing the size of his payoff, having signed a contract with buyers Thomson Financial Services Europe, which includes a blood-curdling secrecy clause on the vulgar subject of cash.

Philip went to work for the Financial Times straight from school at the age of 17 - "before you had to go to Oxford or Cambridge" - and stayed for 20 years. He then set up a mergers and acquisitions publication with his wife, who was working in investment banking at Bankers Trust. Then they launched Acquisitions Monthly and "got lucky", he says.

"Now I'm 51 and want to move on. I'll stay with the magazine for six months, then I want to get into venture capital and get some non-executive directorships," he says.

His magazine's league tables of investment banks, listing who has done the most numerous and most lucrative corporate finance deals, have become a benchmark for performance in the City. So just for the record, who does Philip personally rate as a top dealmaker?

"There are two," he replies: "John Thornton, who built Goldman Sachs' UK presence in corporate finance in the 1980s virtually single handed, and Guy Dawson, who rebuilt Morgan Grenfell after the Guinness affair."

ANOTHER JOURNALIST off to seek his fortune is Simon Davies, who is leaving the Financial Times to become a smaller companies analyst at ABN Amro.

Simon, who has been with the FT for six years, latterly writing about capital markets, will be answering to Richard Rae, the new head of sales and research, and Mark Brown, head of research.

THE FINAL chapter in yet another sorry tale from the dealing floors at UBS. TJ Lim, once head of fixed income at UBS and regarded by many as a rising star, is off to join Dresdner Kleinwort Benson (DKB).

It's not the first time that Mr Lim's name has been linked with Dresdner. Earlier this year, he hit the headlines when it was reported that he had been negotiating to take himself and some of his team to the German bank, a move that apparently fell apart when the two parties couldn't agree on terms and conditions.

After his initial dalliance with the Germans, Mr Lim committed himself to the new UBS, on the understanding that he would be given certain responsibilities after the bank's merger with rival SBC.

However, when a firm offer of a job in the new bank was finally forthcoming, the remit of the post did not match Mr Lim's expectations. He decided enough was enough, and told the Swiss he would be leaving for pastures new.

Mr Lim stayed with UBS to assist with the integration process, which is more or less done and dusted. He talked to a number of potential employers, so I hear, and had a second, far more fruitful, round of negotiations with the Germans.

He is now to be co-head of global markets at Dresdner, with special responsibility for international business. He also seems likely to be given a seat on the DKB board. And although he is not taking his old team with him to DKB, Mr Lim is bound to run into a familiar face or two in his new offices.

Just last week, Dresdner hired fellow UBS refugee Conor Killeen as head of its global equity capital markets business.