Independent research boutique launches in the UK
A Paris-based independent equity research boutique is planning on mounting an attack on investment banks dominant coverage of the UK market, in the latest example of a new research firm trying to capitalise on rising investor demand for more balanced analysis.
AlphaValue, which was founded in 2007 by Pierre Yves Gauthier, Christophe Rocca Serra and Andre Le Grend, launched its offering to institutional investors in the UK this week, the second launch in a fortnight of a new independent equity research outfit.
Last week Autonomous Research, an independent research boutique founded by two former leading European financials analysts at Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, opened its doors for business, with coverage focused on purely on European banks and insurers.
AlphaValue said it hopes to “revolutionise the equity research industry, which has historically been dominated by investment banks”.
Gabriel D’Assignies, head of institutional sales of AlphaValue, added that the turbulent market and economic environment over the past two years has led some institutional investors to demand more independent and balanced equity research.
“Unfortunately this demand has happened at a time when many investment banks are reducing analyst numbers placing further pressure on the equity research model. It is also fair to say that this traditional model can sometimes lead to biased recommendations as a result of the cross over between broking and research functions,” D’Assignies said.
So far, AlphaValue has 22 analysts and covers 500 of Europe’s largest publicly listed companies. Clients pay €15,000 ($21,369) a year for each user of the firm’s web-based research database.
Pierre-Yves Gauthier, founder and head of research of AlphaValue, said: “We believe there has been and will continue to be a significant shift in the way that research is consumed…Traditional research is neither flexible nor instant.”
--write to dkerr@efinancialnews.com
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