• French bank CIC and M.M.Warburg & CO combine forces in Investment Banking in order to expand the offering for corporates in Germany and France
• Cooperation to start with Research, Equity Brokerage and Equity Capital Markets (ECM)
• Cooperation provides especially small and medium-sized corporates with access to a broader investor base

CIC, a fully owned subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, is to cooperate with the private bank M.M.Warburg & CO in the area of Investment Banking. The long-term orientated cooperation will kick off with the distribution of the research services of M.M.Warburg & CO in France as well as in the USA and Canada. The offerings of CIC and M.M.Warburg & CO command strong competitive positions in their relevant countries, especially among small and medium-sized companies. Warburg Research, for instance, as the market leader in its segment, covers more than 200 German companies with focus on small-cap and mid-cap shares.

The cooperation also extends to Equity Brokerage and Equity Capital Markets. In the future, M.M.Warburg & CO and CIC intend to introduce Debt Capital Markets and Structured Products to their combined offering. Banque Européenne du Crédit Mutuel (BECM), subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, in charge of the German corporate market will support the cooperation.

“The strategic cooperation with CIC will benefit small and medium-sized companies in particular – with our offering they increase their opportunities on a broader investor basis,” says Dr. Peter Rentrop-Schmid, Partner at M.M.Warburg & CO. With the EU guideline MiFID II, it is mainly the smaller exchange-listed companies that have fallen behind as regards equity research and investor contacts. “Right here is where our offering starts,” according to Dr. Rentrop-Schmid. “For these companies, it is especially important to have comprehensive access to the capital market”.

“For CIC, the cooperation with M.M.Warburg & CO is an important step. Indeed, Germany is the second domestic market of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale thanks to TARGOBANK and BECM. Together, with our subsidiary CIC Market Solutions Inc., we shall improve our offering for corporates and investors in a demanding environment. Traditional ‘Mittelstand’ companies are core in our strategy”, says Philippe Vidal, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at CIC.