An aerial shot of downtown Calgary looks northwest towards the Calgary tower and the new Bow building on the right.Chris Bolin/The Globe and Mail
FirstEnergy Capital Corp. and Société Générale SA have ended a nine-year partnership, with the Paris-based investment bank selling its minority stake back to FirstEnergy for an undisclosed sum.
The alliance helped the Calgary financial services company expand its financing, research and merger and acquisition business to worldwide clients. But it has bolstered its presence on its own with an office in London, and said the two organizations have been "moving in different directions over the past few years."
"We certainly have all the access and reach on our own necessary to be effective in the U.K. and European markets," FirstEnergy chief executive John Chambers said in an email. "SocGen was not materially involved in any of our U.K.-based capital markets or advisory activities."
FirstEnergy was founded 21 years ago by Jim Davidson, Murray Edwards, Rick Grafton and Brett Wilson. The dealer is now 100 per cent owned by employees, as was the case before it formed the partnership with SocGen in 2005, Mr. Chambers said.
Jeffrey Jones