Altium’s origins date back to the early 1980s when the founders of Apax Partners, the private equity group, set up a corporate advisory business operating in the UK, the USA and France. In 1990 the firm expanded by teaming up with an established advisory group with offices in Munich and Zurich and subsequently opened further offices in Athens, Madrid and Milan. This created a powerful integrated network combining the corporate finance activities of the London and Continental European offices.
In 1996 the UK business opened a Manchester office to service the UK regions and, in 1997, extended its capabilities into equity capital markets by the recruitment of key members of the BZW small-cap team. This has been successfully developed into what is now one of the leading small and mid-cap stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange.
Since then Altium has grown its retained quoted company client base, acting for a wide range of corporate clients up to and including companies in the FTSE 250 as well as major Continental European businesses. In the process Altium has raised over £1.1 billion in institutional fundraisings and completed M&A transactions with a total value in excess of £13 billion since 2005.
Today, Altium has nine offices in seven countries, making us one of the most extensive independent M&A and corporate finance businesses in Western Europe.