Metals adviser set up as steel surges

October 15, 2004

By Peter Marsh and Ruth Sullivan

Booming conditions in the worldwide metals industry have provided impetus for the creation of a new corporate finance group aimed at advising on mergers and acquisitions in this field.

HB Advisers, based in London, is owned by Hatch Beddows, a metals industry consultancy, and is to be run by two senior figures from the financial services and steel sectors.

Guy de Selliers, who has a background in investment banking, is the chairman of HB Advisers, while Rod Beddows, a director of Hatch Beddows, is the chief executive.

Mr Selliers, who has had spells working for the government-owned European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Lehman Brothers and Robert Fleming, said the new business would combine knowledge of corporate finance with an appreciation of the new opportunities arising from mining and metals.

Mr Beddows said HB Advisers was in a good position to provide ideas to clients that are trying to reposition themselves in this field as a result of a “decade-long process of consolidation, globalisation and portfolio restructuring” taking place in metals and mining.

HB Advisers will have seven employees in London. They will liaise with people from Hatch Beddows in the consultancy’s worldwide network of offices including Moscow, Brisbane, Pittsburgh and Beijing.

The firm will be looking to advise on deals in the steel industry, which is going through a period of surging profits driven by strong demand for the commodity in China.
In this environment, steel companies are looking around the world for expansion opportunities, particularly those that provide greater exposure to growing demand for steel in Asia.