Euroz plots course on growth path

STOCKBROKER Euroz Securities is moving to new premises to accommodate recent and planned growth in the business.

A major recent initiative was the establishment of a dedicated corporate finance department, headed by new recruits Karl Paganin and Doug Young.

Managing director Andrew McKenzie said Euroz was also planning to expand its dealing desk, with the appointment of a new institutional dealer and an additional seven retail dealers.

The company will next month move to 700 square metre premises in the Quadrant building, just down William Street from its current office in the AMP Building.

Mr Paganin, who was appointed managing director of Euroz Corporate Finance in October, was formerly with corporate advisory firm Churchill Capital and prior to that with Heytesbury.

Mr Young, who joined as an executive director earlier this month, was previously a director and substantial shareholder at DJ Carmichael.

His move to Euroz breaks a 12-year working partnership with Craig McGown, going back to their days together at Resource Finance Corporation.

Mr Young said he anticipated more opportunities at Euroz.

“They have quality transactions, quality dealers and quality research,” he said. “Their business model has been proved in a difficult market.”

Mr Paganin said the company would continue to target “WA-based, mid-cap producing companies”.

The corporate finance department aims to expand Euroz’s involvement in equity capital raisings, as well as moving into advisory work such as identifying acquisition opportunities and helping with takeovers.

“Its remarkable that Euroz has achieved so much in equity capital markets, when they haven’t had a separate corporate finance department,” Mr Paganin said.

“We have the dominant market share in targeted stocks and our aim is to leverage off Euroz’s position.”

The stocks in which Euroz dominates national turnover include Aquarius Platinum, Austal, iiNet, Arc Energy, Equigold and GRD.

Euroz has a distinctive strategy in the WA market as it has the largest institutional desk in Perth with six dealers and a relatively small retail desk with eight dealers.

As a result, 60 per cent of its turnover is with institutional clients.

Mr Mackenzie said Euroz planned to remain a comparatively small organisation, with total staff numbers expected to increase from 28 now to the “mid 30s”.

“We have all worked in large organisations and we don’t want to get like that,” he said.