You can’t blame Bain for profiting from a sucker deal, but CRH management should be ashamed.
So should its external adviser on the sale, JPMorgan, which will have earned a tidy packet from its advice.
You might have thought JP would be too embarrassed to return to the scene. But which bank is acting as the global co-ordinator of the float? You guessed it.
Will any of this stop my fund manager putting the Armitage retirement scheme into the IPO? I doubt it.
Bank on London...
When Banco Sabadell’s galleons sailed up the Atlantic coast to buy TSB, most people’s first reaction was “Who?”.
Their second was: “Why?” Today’s knife-edge refer- endum result on Catalonian independence may answer both questions. For Banco Sabadell is named after Catalonia’s second city.
Given the turbulence that could arise from a Catalan split from Madrid, the Banco may well have wanted a potential escape route.
Owning TSB gives the option of moving its global hub to steady old London.
