NASHVILLE, Tenn. and PARIS, April 2,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AllianceBernstein (NYSE: AB) and
Societe Generale (EURONEXT: GLE) today announced the official
launch of Bernstein, a joint venture creating a leading global cash
equities and equity research business. The creation of Bernstein
signals a historic milestone for both organizations, following the
original announcement of the plan to form the joint venture in
November 2022.
Built on a history of industry-leading research, Bernstein
provides institutional investors, corporates and financial
institutions with premier investment insights into North American,
European and Asia Pacific equity
markets, in addition to unparalleled liquidity access and leading
global trading technology. With Bernstein, Societe Generale will
now offer its clients a comprehensive suite of global services
across the equities value-chain, from world-class equity and macro
research to leading agency execution, equity derivatives, prime
brokerage, and equity capital markets offerings.
With over 750 employees serving clients globally, the joint
venture is organized under two separate legal vehicles with a Head
Office in New York covering
North America and a Head Office in
London covering Europe and Asia, complemented by major hubs in
Paris and Hong Kong, and multiple regional offices. The
ultimate objective of Societe Generale and AllianceBernstein is for
Societe Generale to eventually own 100% of both entities after five
years*. Robert van Brugge,
previously CEO of Bernstein Research Services, has been appointed
CEO of Bernstein, with Stephane
Loiseau, previously Head of Societe Generale's cash equities
business, appointed Deputy CEO of Bernstein.
"With Bernstein, a new leader is emerging in cash equities,"
said Slawomir Krupa, Chief Executive
Officer of Societe Generale. "This joint venture illustrates
Societe Generale's capability to develop innovative pathways to
further expand our client offering as we increase our value
proposition for the benefit of our investor and issuer clients,
leverage synergies within our Group, and grow our revenues
sustainably."
"Bernstein's mission has a foundation rooted in servicing
clients with best-in-class research and insights," said
Seth Bernstein, Chief Executive
Officer of AB. "Through this joint venture, Bernstein can continue
to build out a cash equities and research business that seeks to
set the standard for delivering global investment expertise and an
even stronger set of products and services for global clients."
The closing of the transaction has been approved by the relevant
regulatory and antitrust authorities. The new brand capitalizes on
the Bernstein name with a Societe Generale Group byline:
Biographies
Robert van Brugge has
been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Bernstein on April 1, 2024. He has served as the CEO of AB
Bernstein Research Services since 2011. Prior to becoming CEO,
van Brugge oversaw all fundamental
research in his role as the Global Director of Research. He joined
Bernstein Research Services in 2002 from McKinsey & Company
where he was an associate principal. Before joining McKinsey, van
Brugge served as a commercial lender with First Colonial Bankshares
Corp. He earned a BA (with honors) in political science and
economics from Roosevelt University and
an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was recognized
as a Palmer Scholar.
Stephane Loiseau has been appointed Deputy CEO of Bernstein
on April 1, 2024. He was previously
Head of Societe Generale's cash equities business since 2021. Prior
to that he held various positions supervising Cash Equities, Prime
sales and Listed derivatives trading, based out of Hong Kong since 2012. He also served in
London since 2008 as deputy global
head of execution services, and head of cash equity execution.
Stephane Loiseau joined Societe
Generale in 1996 as an international equities trader in
New York, before becoming co-head
of global program trading and electronic services in 2006.
Stephane Loiseau is a graduate of EM
Lyon Business School in France.
* The ability of Societe Generale to acquire additional
ownership will depend on a number of factors, including obtaining
any required regulatory approvals.
AllianceBernstein
AllianceBernstein is a leading global investment management firm
that offers diversified investment services to institutional
investors, individuals, and private wealth clients in major world
markets. As of February 29, 2024,
AllianceBernstein had $745B in assets
under management. Additional information about AB may be found on
our website, http://www.alliancebernstein.com.
Societe Generale
Societe Generale is a top tier European Bank with more than
126,000 employees serving about 25 million clients in 65 countries
across the world. We have been supporting the development of our
economies for nearly 160 years, providing our corporate,
institutional, and individual clients with a wide array of
value-added advisory and financial solutions. Our long-lasting and
trusted relationships with the clients, our cutting-edge expertise,
our unique innovation, our ESG capabilities and leading franchises
are part of our DNA and serve our most essential objective - to
deliver sustainable value creation for all our stakeholders.
The Group runs three complementary sets of businesses,
embedding ESG offerings for all its clients:
- French Retail, Private Banking and Insurance, with
leading retail bank SG and insurance franchise, premium private
banking services, and the leading digital bank BoursoBank.
- Global Banking and Investor Solutions, a top tier
wholesale bank offering tailored-made solutions with distinctive
global leadership in equity derivatives, structured finance and
ESG.
- International Retail, Mobility & Leasing Services,
comprising well-established universal banks (in Czech Republic, Romania and several African countries), Ayvens
(the new ALD I LeasePlan brand), a global player in sustainable
mobility, as well as specialized financing activities.
Committed to building together with its clients a better and
sustainable future, Societe Generale aims to be a leading partner
in the environmental transition and sustainability overall. The
Group is included in the principal socially responsible investment
indices: DJSI (Europe), FTSE4Good
(Global and Europe), Bloomberg
Gender-Equality Index, Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion Index,
Euronext Vigeo (Europe and
Eurozone), STOXX Global ESG Leaders indexes, and the MSCI Low
Carbon Leaders Index (World and Europe).
For more information, you can follow us on Twitter/X
@societegenerale or visit our website societegenerale.com.
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