“You need to first prove yourself, which I did for six years before joining Rothschild & Co in 2008. And then, the system has to accept you. Because we have very talented people running our business in an entrepreneurial and autonomous fashion with obvious involvement from the family. This cocktail makes it powerful. The last thing we would do is impose someone from the family,” said the 45-year-old executive chairman. He is the only shareholder from his generation actively involved and hopes his younger cousins will join in the future.
Visiting India after six years to mark Rothschild & Co’s silver anniversary in the country, he emphasised that family involvement does not necessarily mean holding an executive position. “There are different ways to get involved — it is not necessary to be an executive; you can also be a very active shareholder. We do have active family shareholders of Rothschild & Co, which means that I am not on my own.”
The Rothschild family’s connection with India dates to 1881 when they helped finance the railway network between Kolkata and Mumbai.
“It’s unbelievably refreshing to be back because you can witness the pace of growth. What strikes me the most is the mindset. From where I am sitting in Europe, there’s a little bit of doom and gloom, particularly at the moment, but in India, people are driven, ambitious, passionate.”
Capitalising on this optimism, Rothschild & Co is exploring expansion into wealth management in India, a segment that significantly contributes to its global revenues. “Our wealth management business has been predominantly focused on Europe, and we still believe that we can grow quite substantially in that region. But as we demonstrated last year by opening an office in Dubai, and given that we already have boots on the ground in India with an established franchise and strong client relationships, it could make sense to explore wealth management here,” said the father of four.
Though Rothschild & Co has been in India longer than some other global financial services firms, it currently offers only advisory services for M&As, and financing transactions. However, the Indian management claimed that in terms of deal volumes, the firm would be among the top 10. “From a deal value perspective, a lot of our deals are private transactions and they don’t get disclosed. Hence, they are not captured in M&A industry databases.”
The firm has expanded from five bankers at inception to 35 professionals, marking one of the largest headcounts for an independent investment banking firm in India. Comparing this to the Middle East, where its workforce grew from 10 to 60, de Rothschild expressed optimism about doubling the headcount in India.
