Remember Cresvale, the one-time high-flier in Japanese convertible bonds and equity warrants? Cresvale was as much of a 1980s success story as Baring Securities. Both companies made huge profits on the back of the Tokyo stock market boom. Baring Securities survives thanks to Dutch courage and sympathy. Cresvale lies somewhere on the Euromarket Boot Hill in a shallow grave.
Don't shed a tear for two of Cresvale's original founders, Steve Burnham and Malcolm Stevenson. Their shareholdings in Cresvale brought multi-million fortunes, an enviable lifestyle and lots of fun around the world. Cresvale parties were famous. To celebrate the opening of the firm's new offices in Tokyo, Burnham and Stevenson hosted one which was said to have cost $1 million for the evening. But the Cresvale founders also timed the downturn in the Tokyo stock market well. They sold out to the European Banque Pallas Stern Group for a sum that required a two-year "working holiday" in Hong Kong for tax purposes. When Banque Pallas allowed Cresvale's business to crumble, Burnham and Stevenson were long gone.
Now the "Cresvale Kids" are back, older but with new ambitions to build a specialist trading powerhouse in Europe.