‘King of mining’ Ian Hannam digs up profits despite industry gloom

Ian Hannam, the former JPMorgan rainmaker who was fined for market abuse, saw profits leap at his new corporate finance boutique, despite a dearth of natural resources deals.

Turnover rose 37% to £7.4 million and pre-tax profits rose from £570,000 to £2.4 million in the 12 months ended March, accounts for Hannam & Partners filed at Companies House show.

Chief executive Neil Passmore, the former JPMorgan colleague of the so-called “King of Mining”, said profits were re-invested by the company’s partners, who include Hannam and veteran City broker Tim Hoare.

The firm’s biggest public deals included advising on the £135 million takeover of Asia Resource Minerals, the Indonesian miner formerly known as Bumi, and Worldview’s equally divisive buyout of Irish oil explorer Petroceltic. Much of its business is raising capital for private clients.

Hannam, a former Territorial Army captain who earned a reputation for arranging huge mining deals including Glencore’s tie-up with Xstrata, was fined £450,000 by the Financial Services Authority in 2012 for giving insider information on Heritage Oil to Kurdistan’s oil minister.

He resigned from JPMorgan in 2012 and bought Strand Partners the same year before rebranding it Hannam & Partners.

Passmore said the business was “in good shape” in a market where “a lot of our competitors blew up last year”, referring to the closure of GMP Securities’ London office and job cuts for Canaccord Genuity.

“In relative terms we’re very happy we’re weathering the downturn and building a brand when others are failing to do so. In absolute terms, I was frustrated that the business stayed stuck in the same kind of modest revenue zone,” he said.

Passmore said trading in the six months since March had been “much better”.