Paul Howard, Hannes Wittig & team J.P. Morgan Cazenove
The buy side says: “They are a powerhouse team.”
After a year in second place, the J.P. Morgan Cazenove team — jointly led this year by newcomer Paul Howard, 41, Hannes Wittig, 46 — return to the winner’s circle. The seven-member squad represents “the deepest pool of expertise in the sector,” according to one buy-side enthusiast. In May the analysts added Vodafone Group to the firm’s focus list, at 129.50p, making the case that the London-based outfit’s plan to sell noncore assets would help boost its bottom line. Last year, Vodafone announced plans to sell its minority interests in India’s Bharti Airtel, Poland’s Polkomtel and France’s SFR — and in September it sold its stake in China Mobile for £4.3 billion ($6.65 billion). By the end of December, the stock had surged 28 percent, to 165.80p, and led the sector by 11.1 percentage points. Howard, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Durham University in 1991, joined Cazenove in 1996 from accounting firm Arthur Andersen. J.P. Morgan acquired Cazenove Group in January 2010.