Michael Hadjedj and Stephane Mardel, the former global heads of the special situations and merger arbitrage desk at Icap in London, have launched an independent international brokerage and advisory firm, United First Partners.
The brokers will lead a London-based team of eight former employees of Icap, the world’s biggest broker of transactions between banks.
UFP’s brokerage services will cover multiple asset classes across the UK, Europe, and the US, with plans to expand into other classes and regions.
The attitude behind UFP is to provide independent research, free of conflict of interest by not providing advisory services such as corporate finance that would restrict any ability to execute customer trades. UFP also works exclusively for its clients by not engaging in proprietary trading.
UFP has also launched the United First Partners Charitable Foundation, with a proportion of all profits generated by both trades and its brokers, every day of the year, going directly to charity.
Hadjedj and Mardel said: “We are excited to provide what we feel is a new, healthier attitude to finance advisory services in the city. We aim to provide our clients with an individual, tailored approach to investment whilst committing to the highest levels of customer service.
“Our partnerships with the Schneider Group and JP Morgan, two highly stable and respectable financial institutions, will help us in our efforts to provide a reliable, trustworthy and valuable service.”
Schneider Trading Associates will provide UFP with trading facilities, while JPMorgan Chase will settle and clear the brokerage’s transactions.
