Old Mutual, the South African investment house, has closed its UK property brokerage arm as part of a 10% cut across its brokerage divisions.
Will Martin, who has run the group’s property arm for the past five years, was made redundant on Friday. He is said to have already been headhunted by another bank.
Old Mutual has cut its coverage of all smaller sectors, along with chemicals, research and trading.
The news follows Dutch banking group ABN Amro’s decision to move its UK property analysis team to Amsterdam and Paris.
Following the departure of John Gellatly to Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) in September and Mark Youngs move within ABN Amro to cover the retail sector, Amro said there were no plans to replace the London property desk in the immediate future.
The ABN Amro property team will be headed by Remoc Vinck from Amsterdam, alongside Ward Kastrop and Harm Meijer, who will cover the European sector. Philippe Le Troung will cover the French and UK markets from offices in Paris.
EGi News 13/11/01
