Investec picks Leeds for Northern growth

The bank has appointed Dan Sheahan to lead the operation. He joins from PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was a senior director in the Leeds office.

In the past the bank has advised wealthy clients based in the North, but the new service will offer advice to companies.

​Andrew Pinder, Investec’s head of investment banking, said: “We are responding to the scale up opportunities in the North. We’ve invested in the North for a long time and we’ve seen increasing opportunities.

“We wanted to get closer to the clients and supply a fuller range of services.

“Our rivals are good at selling a company, but wouldn’t know how to IPO (float a company) or they can IPO but not sell the comp-any.

“Business owners can talk to us and we’ll provide them with the right solution. No-one has provided that total suite of services.”

He said that Leeds was chosen as the base for the North as it is under-penetrated and “ripe for opportunities”.

Mr Sheahan said: “This is a very exciting opportunity. Investec is a high profile name, partly due to the sponsorship of the cricket and the rugby.”

The new operation will work on both sides of the Pennines, using Investec’s existing infrastructure in Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester.

​Investec will be going up against N+1 Singer, which also provides businesses in the North with a full-service offering from its offices in Newcastle and Leeds.