Dolmen buys broking arm of BCP for undisclosed sum

Dolmen Butler Briscoe has acquired the stockbroking arm of smaller family-owned competitor BCP for an undisclosed sum.

The deal will see all of BCP's stockbroking clients, thought to number in the region of 12,000, transfer to an enlarged Dolmen, which will have some 20,000 private clients.

BCP's stockbroking staff will also move to Dolmen, which will employ about 100 people in Dublin, Cork and Limerick when the transfer is complete.

BCP, which is majority-owned by its founder Mr David Cullen, will retain a pension, property and fund management business after the disposal.

As part of the transaction, Dolmen, which forms part of the Dolmen Securities Group, will have exclusive selling rights on BCP's successful range of funds and bonds.

Mr Paul McGowan, joint managing director of Dolmen Securities, said the group's majority owner, Munich Re, considered the deal to offer the perfect opportunity to grow the stockbroking business at a time of market uplift.

He described the move as "a major advance" for the Dolmen Securities group.

BCP chairman Mr David Cullen said the sale was in the best interests of the company's stockbroking clients and staff.

"The disposal of our stockbroking business paves the way for BCP Asset Management to focus on the expansion of its investment, property and pensions business," said Mr Cullen.

Both companies, which occupy the second tier of the Irish stockbroking market, have rebuffed any suggestion that the latest transaction could act as a precursor to a full-blown takeover of BCP's business by Dolmen Butler Briscoe.

BCP Group was founded in 1969, with BCP Stockbrokers established 20 years later to deal mainly with personal investors.

Dolmen Butler Briscoe came into being in 1988 when Dolmen Securities merged with Butler & Briscoe, a long-established Dublin broker.

BCP general manager Mr John Calvert said last night that the company's management had decided to sell after recognising that the industry was facing into a period of consolidation.

Discussions on the stockbroking sale, which remains subject to regulatory approval, began at the start of the summer, with a final deal hammered out last weekend.