Gleacher boss pockets £4.5m

Dresdner Bank defector Tim Shacklock bagged £4.5 million last year as his team of boutique bankers who make up Gleacher Shacklock — many of whom used to work for the erstwhile German giant — doubled profits.

Latest reports and accounts for 2007 show that Gleacher Shacklock made profits of £16.8 million in the year which saw the end of the mergers and acquisitions boom.

Shacklock, its founder, was paid more than a quarter of those profits according to the accounts. He launched the firm with several defectors from Dresdner Kleinwort, the City-based corporate finance arm of Dresdner Bank whose future is now uncertain after the takeover of Dresdner by fellow German giant Commerzbank.

Speculation has been rife that senior executives at Dresdner Kleinwort are plotting a management buy out of the corporate finance arm. Others, however, believe the financing for such a venture would be difficult.