PrinceRidge Holdings to Add ICP Capital Markets Business

New York-based ICP Capital, an independent financial services firm with $11bn of assets under management, agreed this week to transfer its domestic and international capital markets businesses to New York-based broker-dealer PrinceRidge Holdings. The transfer will form an international investment banking boutique. The combined firms will operate under the PrinceRidge Holdings brand and will serve investors and issuers in the institutional fixed income markets, according to a press statement from ICP Capital. Under the structure of the combined firms, ICP will will become a partner of PrinceRidge Holdings. The integration of the business is expected to be complete in Q210, subject to regulatory approval. “ICP will significantly enhance the scale of PrinceRidge as we add our client franchise and intellectual capital to a strong business platform,” said ICP CEO and chief investment officer Thomas Priore, in a statement e-mailed to HousingWire. He added: “Our complimentary business lines and philosophical alignment will facilitate a quick integration and the combination of our resources will strengthen our product breadth, operational infrastructure and financial position to provide our institutional clients with best-in-class service and trusted advice.” PrinceRidge Holdings was launched by two UBS veterans, John Costas and Michael Hutchins. Costas and Hutchins ran the Dillon Read Capital Management unit of UBS, which shut down in 2007. PrinceRidge could not return requests for comment before this story was published, but its chairman, Costas, told Bloomberg the transfer is part of a broader move among 180 smaller competitors to merge and streamline into about four or five companies large enough to compete with Wall Street firms. “There will be a tremendous consolidation and a shaking out among these 180 players, and the conclusion we clearly came to is we are stronger together, and can increase the probability of us being one of the winners,” Costas told Bloomberg. Write to Diana Golobay.