    
In March 2002, Stephen L Schechter established Schechter & Co. Limited, a London based specialist investment bank and financial advisory firm, servicing the debt capital and leasing requirements of a select group of clients. The company is regulated by the FSA in the United Kingdom and has built extensive relationships with institutional investors worldwide.
For nearly 45 years, Mr. Schechter has led the private placement of debt and equity securities for hundreds of companies and is widely credited with pioneering the cross border private placement.
In August 2007, Schechter & Co. Limited completed a $475 million dual currency transaction for Venture Production plc; believed to be the largest cross border private placement out of Europe in 2007.
Since the company's inception, transactions have already closed in three different currencies. The biggest compliment a business can receive is when clients return for repeat business. We are proud that we have performed multiple financings for many of our clients and our most recent transaction is a testament to this. Schechter & Co. Limited recently completed a €44.7 million monetisation of a five year sponsorship agreement from a subsidiary of OAO Gazprom for the benefit of the German soccer team, Schalke 04; our second transaction for the club. In 2002 we closed an €85 million securitisation for Schalke 04, raising an aggregate total of €129.7 million for the client.
Other recent deals include a €35 million private placement for Mühlhan, a marine surface protection company in Germany, a £16 million lease financing for the trailer fleet of British based logistics company, Wincanton plc, a $70 million issue for Hunting PLC in the oil services sector, a £117 million dual currency, twelve year note issue for Serco Group plc, $82 million for Sunstar Inc., the Japanese dental care company, private placements for Manchester City and Norwich City football clubs, the leveraged buyout of Heckler & Koch Beteiligungs GmbH from BAE Systems and lease financings for Eli Lilly Limited, Serco Group Plc and Hagemeyer NV in sterling, euros and dollars respectively.
Before founding Schechter & Co. Limited, Mr. Schechter served as Managing Director of Lazard Brothers & Co., Limited and Lazard Frères & Co. LLC. While at Lazard, Mr. Schechter was Co-Head of Debt Finance and Advisory Group and Group Head for all aspects of cross border debt and lease financings and UK domestic debt placements and leasing. His transaction highlights include raising $435 million for Anglian Water Services (the largest cross border private placement from the UK during 2001), $265 million for Blue Circle Industries, four football securitisations - Leeds United, Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City and a rolling stock lease financing for Serco plc's Australian subsidiary, Great Southern Railway.
Prior to joining Lazard, Mr. Schechter was Managing Director & Head of International Debt Capital Markets at Schroder & Co. Inc. and Director & Head of Marketing, Financing Division at J. Henry Schroder & Co. Limited where he was a General Partner of the predecessor firm, Wertheim & Co., joining as a Vice President in 1975.
Mr. Schechter was ultimately responsible for all cross border debt financings and various leasing and PFI structures, including the solicitation, structuring and marketing of debt products to clients and targets. He was directly responsible for relationships with institutional investors. While at Schroders, Mr. Schechter completed in excess of seventy cross border private placements totalling over $8.0 billion, and more than two hundred domestic private placements including, in 1999, $250 million for Schroders Plc itself. Mr. Schechter has developed a UK domestic private placement market, having placed eleven sterling transactions to date, including £70 million for the Defence Helicopter Flying School, £60 million for Stakis plc and £55 million for the stadium expansion of Newcastle United PLC, in addition to arranging private placements out of Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Finland, Canada, France, Belgium, Barbados and Bahamas.
Beginning his career in 1963, Mr. Schechter has nearly 45 years of experience in the London and New York private placement and leasing markets. Mr. Schechter has placed over $10 billion of cross border debt and lease financing for hundreds of companies in a wide range of sectors and has been credited as 'the father of the cross border private placement' by Corporate Finance Magazine, having completed the first transaction in 1977. |
Schechter & Co. Limited