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Ex-Refco Trader Priston Starts New Firm, Shuns Man Group Offer
2006-01-05 09:19 (New York)
By Hamish Risk
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Refco Inc.'s biggest independent
futures trader, Andy Priston, is starting a firm in Montreal with
9 ex-Refco colleagues, after shunning an offer from Man Group
Plc, which bought the collapsed broker's main assets in November.
Priston, 28, is setting up the unit for CFT Financials Ltd.,
a London-based futures trading company. He plans to hire as many
as 15 more traders in Montreal, Priston said in an interview. The
city offers tax breaks to trading firms to attract businesses.
Refco was the fourth-largest U.S. futures broker before its
Oct. 10 disclosure that former chief executive Phillip Bennett
hid $430 million of debt. London-based Man Group, which paid $323
million for Refco's futures business, offered Priston a role
running the broker's trading unit in Montreal, which he declined.
``Man is a big and bureaucratic place, so it takes time to
get things done,'' Priston said. ``Futures traders are very
short-term in nature and so need to be nimble on their feet.''
Lachlan Johnston, a spokesman for Man in London, declined to
comment.
CFT is a so-called trading arcade, a business that rents
space to self-employed traders and hires people to speculate with
the firm's cash. They make money from fees to settle trades and
the charges they levy for the use of their trading facilities.
Priston bought and sold more futures contracts than any
other independent dealer at Refco Trading Services, the London-
based arcade business with offices from Gibralter to Miami,
according to Andrew Duncan, who was chief operating officer at
RTS until September last year. Duncan is now a CFT consultant.
Braveheart
Priston has an estimated wealth of 10 million pounds ($18
million), according to the U.K.'s Sunday Times ``rich list.''
Renowned for the size of his trades, dealers nicknamed him
Braveheart after Mel Gibson's hero in the movie of the Scottish
uprising against English rule.
CFT hopes to attract traders to Montreal because of a 75
percent tax holiday given to firms and employees that trade
international securities in Quebec's largest city, Priston said.
The trading firm is a joint venture with First Continental
Trading LLC, a Chicago-based futures broker that clears, or
guarantees, the company's trades. CFT aims next month to double
the number of independent traders in London to 34, Nick Cella,
26, a partner at the firm, said in an interview.
CFT plans to open an office in Beverly Hills, California, in
the next two months, and then Moscow, Hong Kong and Shanghai to
trade contracts on currencies, interest rates and commodities,
Priston said.
Futures are agreements to buy or sell assets at a set date
and price.
Man sold Refco's European operations in November to Marathon
Asset Management LLC because of an overlap with its own
businesses.
Refco lost staff since it filed for bankruptcy in October.
BNP Paribas SA hired a seven-member commodities trading team from
the broker in December, while investment bank JPMorgan Cazenove
picked up a sales team advising hedge funds on arbitrage
strategies. In November, Refco sued eight former traders and the
firm that hired them, claiming they stole customers.
--Editor: Reierson
<<ATT00634.txt>>
Ex-Refco Trader Priston Starts New Firm, Shuns Man Group Offer
2006-01-05 09:19 (New York)
By Hamish Risk
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Refco Inc.'s biggest independent
futures trader, Andy Priston, is starting a firm in Montreal with
9 ex-Refco colleagues, after shunning an offer from Man Group
Plc, which bought the collapsed broker's main assets in November.
Priston, 28, is setting up the unit for CFT Financials Ltd.,
a London-based futures trading company. He plans to hire as many
as 15 more traders in Montreal, Priston said in an interview. The
city offers tax breaks to trading firms to attract businesses.
Refco was the fourth-largest U.S. futures broker before its
Oct. 10 disclosure that former chief executive Phillip Bennett
hid $430 million of debt. London-based Man Group, which paid $323
million for Refco's futures business, offered Priston a role
running the broker's trading unit in Montreal, which he declined.
``Man is a big and bureaucratic place, so it takes time to
get things done,'' Priston said. ``Futures traders are very
short-term in nature and so need to be nimble on their feet.''
Lachlan Johnston, a spokesman for Man in London, declined to
comment.
CFT is a so-called trading arcade, a business that rents
space to self-employed traders and hires people to speculate with
the firm's cash. They make money from fees to settle trades and
the charges they levy for the use of their trading facilities.
Priston bought and sold more futures contracts than any
other independent dealer at Refco Trading Services, the London-
based arcade business with offices from Gibralter to Miami,
according to Andrew Duncan, who was chief operating officer at
RTS until September last year. Duncan is now a CFT consultant.
Braveheart
Priston has an estimated wealth of 10 million pounds ($18
million), according to the U.K.'s Sunday Times ``rich list.''
Renowned for the size of his trades, dealers nicknamed him
Braveheart after Mel Gibson's hero in the movie of the Scottish
uprising against English rule.
CFT hopes to attract traders to Montreal because of a 75
percent tax holiday given to firms and employees that trade
international securities in Quebec's largest city, Priston said.
The trading firm is a joint venture with First Continental
Trading LLC, a Chicago-based futures broker that clears, or
guarantees, the company's trades. CFT aims next month to double
the number of independent traders in London to 34, Nick Cella,
26, a partner at the firm, said in an interview.
CFT plans to open an office in Beverly Hills, California, in
the next two months, and then Moscow, Hong Kong and Shanghai to
trade contracts on currencies, interest rates and commodities,
Priston said.
Futures are agreements to buy or sell assets at a set date
and price.
Man sold Refco's European operations in November to Marathon
Asset Management LLC because of an overlap with its own
businesses.
Refco lost staff since it filed for bankruptcy in October.
BNP Paribas SA hired a seven-member commodities trading team from
the broker in December, while investment bank JPMorgan Cazenove
picked up a sales team advising hedge funds on arbitrage
strategies. In November, Refco sued eight former traders and the
firm that hired them, claiming they stole customers.
--Editor: Reierson