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George Osborne, the former UK chancellor, is among a group of four partners at Robey Warshaw to share £70mn in profits after the boutique advisory firm posted record revenues on rising deal activity in London.
Annual accounts published on Thursday showed that the firm’s best-paid partner, assumed to be former Morgan Stanley banker Sir Simon Robey, was handed £40.5mn for the year to March 31, which would underline his position as one of Europe’s best-paid dealmakers. The other three partners shared a profit pool of £29.5mn.
The payouts came after the 18-person firm reported record turnover of £86mn for the period, nearly double the previous year, while operating profits more than doubled to £69.5mn.
The increase coincided with a rise in takeover activity following a post-pandemic low.
The value of UK mergers and acquisitions climbed 46 per cent in the first nine months of this year to $237bn, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group. That rise has been driven by larger deals, the focus for Robey Warshaw.
Robey Warshaw’s record earnings in its tenth set of annual accounts were driven by high-profile mandates such as advising HSBC on its defence against Chinese insurer Ping An’s call for a break-up, and the telecoms group Vodafone’s effort to separate from its Vantage mobile phone masts business.
The group has also had roles on deals such as advising the UK insurer Direct Line on its defence from a potential takeover by the Belgian group Ageas earlier this year. Robey Warshaw is once again advising Direct Line following an approach by Aviva this month.
Since March, Robey Warshaw has also worked on the Telegraph newspaper’s sale process and advised Keywords Studios on its takeover by the private equity group EQT.
The group has also expanded in recent months making its second external partner hire by bringing on financial institutions banker and former Aviva executive Chetan Singh from JPMorgan.
Osborne, who served as UK chancellor from 2010 to 2016, joined Robey Warshaw as a partner in 2021.
The firm was launched in 2013 and is structured as a limited liability partnership. It is not liable for tax on its profits, with each partner responsible for tax on their own share.
Robey, the former co-head of global M&A at Morgan Stanley, founded the group with former UBS banker Simon Warshaw. Its third founder is former Morgan Stanley banker Philip Apostolides.
Total wages for the firm’s 14 employees climbed to £12.4mn during the year to March, up from £6.7mn a year earlier, according to the accounts published at Companies House.
The filings show that the firm’s highest paid partner earned £40.5mn — up from £20.4mn a year earlier. While the accounts do not name the partner, it has typically been Robey.
Since launching in 2013, Robey has personally earned close to £200mn, according to calculations by the Financial Times.
Robey Warshaw declined to comment.
