London-based derivatives and structured products brokerage firm Mariana Group has entered into a strategic alliance with United First Partners (UFP), a US based special situations investment & advisory group. The combination of the two firms has resulted in a mid-sized financial services group with a 'strong reputation' in the equities and derivatives space.
Consequently, Mariana's regulated entity has been renamed Mariana UFP and will comprise in excess of 70 professionals in London covering a broad spectrum of financial products and services.
Daniel Hawkins (pictured), co-founder and CEO of Mariana said that UFP brings access to a strong research franchise to complement Mariana's existing macro-economic and derivative strategy offering.
'We are now working towards generating synergies across the group's business lines, and leveraging on UFP's presence in the US,' said Hawkins. 'We are also preparing actively for the transition to Mifid 2 in Europe and feel our enlarged group is well positioned.'
Mariana entered the UK market in 2013 and has brought 85 products to market to date with different issuers including Standard Chartered, Societe Generale, RBC, Morgan Stanley, Commerzbank, and Credit Suisse.
The firm boosted its structured products capabilities in the summer of 2014 following the acquisition of Arbuthnot Latham & Co's structured products subsidiary Gilliat Financial Solutions (GFS), and its visibility in the UK retail market after joining the UK Structured Products Association (UKSPA) in January 2015.
At the end of 2015, Mariana Capital partnered with Lowes Structured Investment Centre (LSIC) and Societe Generale to launch the '10:10 Plan', the first ever 10-year kickout structured product sold in the UK market.
Michael Hadjedj, Co-founder of UFP, said that the strategic alliance will add to UFP's current offering in equities in Europe, as Mariana is a primarily derivatives and structured products brokerage operation, 'with a strong reputation amongst its peers'.
'We believe that our industry needs consolidation and Mariana UFP wants to be at the heart of it,' said Hadjedj. 'UFP's strong niche research offering combined with Mariana's cross-asset execution platform and large market share in the derivatives space is a powerful combination to seize opportunities in our industry.'
Both firms anticipate significant synergies across business lines in relation to the regulatory challenges expected in the years to come, have upgraded their facilities as well as entered into new clearing arrangements in order to give Mariana UFP the tools 'to compete at the highest level'.
In the US, UFP (Securities & Exchange Commission -SEC regulated and member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority -Finra, and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation -SIPC) will continue to operate as a standalone entity, although UFP and Mariana have plans to significantly expand the existing scope of activities in the region, in particular in the derivatives segment.
Mariana has three products available for subscription for UK retail investors including Annual Income Plan - June 2017, 10:10 Plan June 2017 and Step Down Kick Out 10:10 Plan June 2017.
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