Macquarie combines securities businesses to form Macquarie Securities

Macquarie Group today announced that the operating activities of Macquarie Capital Securities (MCS) and the Equity Markets Group (EMG) are to be combined into a new operating group. The combined group – to be called Macquarie Securities – will have approximately 1700 employees of which 1200 are based outside Australia. The two businesses together contributed 28% of Macquarie Group’s profit for the year to 31 March 2008.

Macquarie Securities will operate under the leadership of joint group heads Kim Burke, formerly Group Head, EMG, and Roy Laidlaw, formerly head of MCS, who will join Mr Burke on Macquarie Group’s Executive Committee.

"Macquarie Securities combines two businesses that have been independently successful to deliver a broader equity-product range to better service our combined client base," Mr Burke said.

Roy Laidlaw said: "The new group allows us to deliver world-class equities and derivatives products to clients globally through our existing presence in 25 countries. The combined group will position us for growth as we continue to build up our international operations."

Mr Laidlaw said the strategy to combine the two groups had been developed over the past few months and follows the success of the Alternative Strategies Division, which was set up a year ago as a joint venture between MCS and EMG. The two groups already share the same operational platform.