FLEDGLING DUBLIN-based hedge fund administrator Quintillion says it is business as usual at the company in spite of the near collapse of Bear Stearns, its 25 per cent shareholder.
Joan Kehoe, Quintillion's chief executive, tells us there is no "revenue reliance" and "no strategic relationship" between the two. Bear Stearns is simply a passive minority investor. "Like the rest of the world, we will have to wait and see what happens with the JP Morgan deal," she said. "It will have no impact on our business."
Quintillion was set up by Kehoe and other managers in late 2006, with Bear Stearns paying $7.5 million for its quarter share of the business. The US's fifth-biggest investment bank also has the right to purchase an additional 24 per cent equity stake for a "pre-determined" amount, although this cannot be exercised until the end of the 2009 financial year.
Quintillion is providing services to fund managers around the world who are handling about $4.5 billion in client assets. It has 35 staff and plans to open offices in London and New York.
Whether JP Morgan - presuming the deal with Bear Stearns actually makes it across the line - would be interested in continuing to back the Irish business remains to be seen. It will, after all, have bigger fish to fry.
Kehoe is upbeat about the future, regardless of what happens in the US. "We feel we've built the business to the stage where we're capable of standing on our own two feet."
