The clumsy buy-out of broker IWB
Completely unknown by the outside world, this firm is arranging trades between profesional clients and market makers with the use of voice brokerage : talking all day to market makers and trading desks and try to have them trade with each other. By the way, there’s a world of difference between brokers and traders.
Spin off by IMC
beginner mistakes in negotiations
The group of six brokers told both their management and IMC to be not supportive to the deal. Instead, they opened talks with IMC’s Wiet Pot and agreed to buy IWB themselves. Wiet Pot sold the brokerage twice and was short one IWB : the managers were told their deal was void.
Anyhow, they threw some unfriendly words to IMC’s boss Wiet Pot who returned the favour and threw them out the building. Fired.
IMC lost in court
When you’ve lost it all you can try your luck in the courthouse. In the legal battle between IWB and the two former managers, the latter have won. Judge decided there is at least some ground for the managers to think they had a deal.
More important, the judge felt some pity for them. Going for a management buy-out, and losing the deal, your job and your reputation is a little harsh. The ban on communication on the matter will be lifted. Perhaps a severance package will have to be agreed upon. Guess the fresh independent firm IWB bears the risk to pay their sacked management. To be continued. Court details pretty readable here (in Dutch).
Deja vu all over again
This wasn’t the first time former Goldman Sachs banker Wiet Pot was responsible for messing up a deal during his function as chief of IMC.
Back in 2007 similar things happened with the energy trading department. Someone advised Pot to transform the energy trading desk in a sort of hedge fund.
The head of energy trading refused to do it. He wasn’t offered an attractive deal. Returning from a holiday, he was flabbergasted to learn his trading team had been secretly signed by Pot to form the energy trading fund. They moved a few desks away, and IMC suddenly had two energy trading desks.
To cut a long story short, the fund was never launched and the second energy trading desk lost money and the traders were subsequently fired.
In both deals Wiet Pot has secretly been negotiating at different levels within the same unit. Probably it is legal and allowed. But quoting Walter Sobchack, “Smokey, this is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules”. The man feels he’s omnipotent.
verkoop die hut toch gewoon weer aan dino van es dat is de enige die het (weer) groot kan maken……
Who are these six brokers buying IWB?
Pieter/Marco/Marcel/Barry/Walter/Rein?
Nice guys btw, wish them all the best with their venture.
Difficult times for the brokers these days.
Can I short IWB as well, do I hear a bid?
Wiet Pot is an elephant in a porceleyne fles.
I'm interested in why IMC is selling it – is it making a loss? The cost overheads of sharing the IMC infrastructure would surely be more efficient than it running independently?
Unless the buy-out guys have a cunning plan to expand the business somehow, which IMC wasn't keen on.
For a small op like theirs, scale would be an issue. Unless of course, they had separate accounting lines and IMC charged back overheads to them. Maybe smaller would then be more efficient.
you forget Ramon van Soesbergen
wiet pot also got kicked out of goldman sachs and was fined by the afm for his illegal share dealings at kempen.
one hell of a dodgy guy!!!!!
yes but he came with money to bail out imc so money talks in tough times
250k does not sound like a whole lot of money for IWB. why so cheap?
you mean sheap
Because IWB doesn't have any assets besides the people. And a few phones.
I think Amsterdam trader is a former IMC employee…..
Not true, I'm not Amsterdam Trader.
Not true, I am not Amsterdam trader.
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW37sEkXMMc&annotation_id=annotation_406636&feature=iv
Sniff…
I hate computers too.
stupid dinosaurs… good thing that that comet (screen trading) smashed the world!
Pieter left IWB weeks ago….
imc will be next to go down (i work there!)
@3:32pm
Can you elaborate on that, instead of shouting phrases lacking any constructive facts?
Its the truth and you know it….
@8:09pm
Can you elaborate on that, instead of shouting phrases lacking any constructive facts?
So the new owners of IWB are
Marco/Marcel/Barry/Walter/Rein/Ramon?
Can Rein afford a neck already?
sold sold sold and offered on
IWB has been a sh*thouse for a couple of years now. The last decent year was probably 5 years ago. Rein, Ramon etc are all nice guys but with no backbone whatsoever. If they would have been smart they would have left a long time ago. Now they have to start all over again, with no clients, no lines, no name, no reputation (except a bad one). Good luck. €250,000 is too much for this piece of garbage.
By the way, Jan & Michiel just continued where Ivar & Dino left it – they ruined it for everyone.
@8:09pm
I agree with 10:52am, if you work there and this is what you think of your own company why don't you just show yourself the door?
If you can't see that you must be a pretty bad trader yourself anyway I'm surprised you're not fired already.
And btw, I don't work for IMC but I definitely wouldn't want to have you in my office.
IMC are brilliant – I just got a Google Alert saying "IMC announces Alzheimer's breakthrough" – wow, you guys are multitalented. Time to trade and solve the world's problems! Gosh. 😉
Time to stirr things up in the Amsterdam broker society, who's going to come out on top?
vote now and win !!!
vote
1: for Aespen
2: for Amstel
3: for AFS
2 for sure
4. none of them
none of them do any business
Dutch market-makers are content doing a few 50 lots on screen and shit themselves if they have a strike position greater than 100 lots so there is no call for inter-dealer brokerage in the Dutch market unlike Germany or UK or anywhere else.
@ 12:00pm
Yeah that's right man, you tell'em! Fortunately you are the only big guy that wants to trade 2500 lots or more! Other than those Dutch pussy's!
zzzzzz….zzzzzzz
yeh, because brokers only work with market makers… yeh,wow your knowledge of the broker market is outstanding.
I think brokers have a lot more difficult times these days than traders..
3:51,,,, selling you receive money… hahahah.. u are still as funny….
all very quiet on here, too many guys short the vega and sh1tting their pants ????
gaaaap
we are short vega and making money…..
im long vega im short vega im long gamma im short gamma im making millions they are losing millions
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooring!!!!
short the vega here isnt so bad, its the short gamma and skew u gotta watch!
Let me know when a new article pops up here…
i heard Pieter is the only winner, he was bought out weeks ago, when there was still cash flow…………..
by buying the shop, they lost there backbone. just a screaming client who starts to claim, will blow those guy's out of the market. i think they underestimate the whole operation. time will tell them..
So what’s next?
Can somebody tell how the story ended?
…or is it not finished yet?