[ad_1]
“Corporate transaction flows have been significantly lower, and we were being competed heavily by larger firm entering in our space. There has been a dearth of capital raising, that has been apparent for the last year, so the big firms are hungry and have mouths to feed and have moved down the chain.”
Mr Hoffman added that while CCZ Equities had survived the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, the final nail in the coffin was skyrocketing compliance costs and capital requirements.
“The industry in general has been consolidating and not for the better” he said. “We are now seeing broking concentrating in a few hands … last time that occurred you ended with the GFC.
“I think the whole industry is seeing systemic change and consolidation, not just on the broking side but on the fund size as well. I don’t think we will be the last. If we are hurting, I’m sure the bigger guys are seriously hurting as well.”
Roger Colman, one of the founders of the brokerage known as CCZ Statton Equities until December 2021, retired in 2019. More recently, the firm has assisted groups like the Michelle Guthrie-chaired games developer Mighty Kingdom and pet services marketplace Mad Paws with IPOs.
The closure comes amid a shifting broking landscape. The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column reported this week that Perth-headquartered Argonaut has appointed ex-Goldman Sach’s co-head of equities Ben Clifford as managing director in its Sydney office as the firm builds out its institutional stockbroking and research activities.
Another Perth firm, Azure Capital, is also expanding, moving a senior partner, Adrian Arundell, to its Sydney office. Azure has also hired Ben Sloman as a director from Gresham starting in July. Azure opened its Sydney offices two years ago and has since grown it to 14 bankers, including partners Phil Prenc and Harrison Moore.
[ad_2]
Source link