Charterhouse Bank

Charterhouse Bank was incorporated as an investment bank in December 1920.[1] In 1925, Charterhouse Investment Trust was created,[2] with its first sponsored issue being that of International Pulp and Chemical Company in 1926.[3] Charterhouse Investment Trust also started buying department stores in London, floating United Drapery Stores as the holding company for its retail investments in 1927.[4][5] In 1963 Charterhouse Bank merged with S. Japhet and Company, a rival investment bank established by Saemy Japhet (1858–1954), to form Charterhouse Japhet.[6]

A US-based arm, Charterhouse Group, was formed in 1973, but became independent of its parent in the 1980s.[7] In 1981 Charterhouse Japhet acquired Keyser Ullman, a substantial but failing rival.[8] In November 1983, Jacob Rothschild merged his own investment business, RIT & Northern, into Charterhouse Japhet and took a controlling stake in the combined business which was briefly known as Charterhouse J. Rothschild.[9] Rothschild then sold the banking business, still known as Charterhouse Japhet, to the Royal Bank of Scotland in January 1985.[10] From 1985 to 1996 Sir Victor Blank held the posts of chairman and chief executive of the banking business, which reverted to its original name, Charterhouse Bank.[11]

Royal Bank of Scotland sold 90% of Charterhouse Bank (retaining 10%) to two continental banks, Crédit Commercial de France and Berliner Handels- und Frankfurter Bank in February 1993.[12] Crédit Commercial de France acquired Berliner Handels- und Frankfurter Bank in the late 1990s,[13] so consolidating its investment in Charterhouse Bank, but was itself taken over by HSBC in 2000.[14]

In June 2001, the management of Charterhouse Capital Partners, the private equity unit of Charterhouse Bank, completed a management buyout from HSBC to become an independent private equity business.[15] Similarly, in May 2011, the management of HSBC Specialist Investments (later InfraRed Capital Partners) completed a management buyout from HSBC to become an independent infrastructure investment business.[16]