Charterhouse Bank was a British investment bank.

History

Charterhouse Bank was incorporated as an investment bank in December 1920. In 1925, Charterhouse Investment Trust was created, with its first sponsored issue being that of International Pulp and Chemical Company in 1926. Charterhouse Investment Trust also started buying

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

s in London, floating

United Drapery Stores United Drapery Stores, or UDS, was a British retail group that dominated the British high street from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Early history In 1925, Charterhouse Bank set up Charterhouse Investment Trust. The trust started buying up dep ...

as the holding company for its retail investments in 1927. In 1963 Charterhouse Bank merged with S. Japhet and Company, a rival investment bank established by Saemy Japhet (1858–1954), to form Charterhouse Japhet. A US-based arm, Charterhouse Group, was formed in 1973, but became independent of its parent in the 1980s. In 1981 Charterhouse Japhet acquired

Keyser Ullman Keyser Ullman was a British merchant bank, based in London and founded in 1868. History Foundation Samuel Montagu (1832–1911) and his two original partners in the bank Samuel Montagu & Co., Ellis Abraham Franklin (1822–1909) and Edwin Louis ...

, a substantial but failing rival. In November 1983,

Jacob Rothschild Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, (born 29 April 1936) is a British peer, investment banker and a member of the Rothschild banking family. Now mostly retired, he has held many important roles in business, finance an ...

merged his own investment business, RIT & Northern, into Charterhouse Japhet and took a controlling stake in the combined business which was briefly known as Charterhouse J. Rothschild. Rothschild then sold the banking business, still known as Charterhouse Japhet, to the Royal Bank of Scotland in January 1985. From 1985 to 1996 Sir Victor Blank held the posts of Chairman and Chief Executive of the banking business, which reverted to its original name, Charterhouse Bank. Royal Bank of Scotland sold 90% of Charterhouse Bank (retaining 10%) to two continental banks,

Crédit Commercial de France The ''Crédit Commercial de France'' (CCF, "Commercial Credit ompanyof France") is a commercial bank in France, founded in 1894 as the ''Banque Suisse et Française'' and renamed to CCF in 1917. By the end of the 1920s, it had grown to be the six ...

and Berliner Handels- und Frankfurter Bank in February 1993. Crédit Commercial de France acquired Berliner Handels- und Frankfurter Bank in the late 1990s, so consolidating its investment in Charterhouse Bank, but was itself taken over by HSBC in 2000. In June 2001, the management of

Charterhouse Capital Partners Charterhouse Capital Partners is a London based private equity investment firm focused on investing in European mid-market companies valued between €200m and €1.5bn. The company targets investments across the services, healthcare, specialis ...

, the private equity unit of Charterhouse Bank, completed a management buyout from HSBC to become an independent private equity business. Similarly, in May 2011, the management of HSBC Specialist Investments (later InfraRed Capital Partners) completed a management buyout from HSBC to become an independent infrastructure investment business.

References

{{reflist, 30em Banks established in 1920 1920 establishments in England Banks disestablished in 2000 2000 disestablishments in England Defunct banks of the United Kingdom British companies disestablished in 2000 British companies established in 1920