As William Wells is fond of reminding people, Rothschild has been doing business in central and eastern Europe for a very long time.
|
“When anyone asks us how committed we are to the region, we take great pleasure in telling them that our first major investments were in the 1830s,” says Wells, executive vice-chairman for CEE.
Another aspect the firm is keen to emphasize, in an era of suitcase banking, is its extensive physical network in the region. As well as offices in Warsaw, Istanbul and Athens, Rothschild has representatives in Budapest, Bucharest and Zagreb, plus a number of local exclusive affiliations.
This allows the firm to act on mid-market deals that would normally be below the radar of its global investment banking rivals and that are, as Wells notes, not only a good source of revenue but also of local intelligence.
