HSBC's Chris Norman is not your standard City highflier. Devoted to cycling the length and breadth of exotic countries in his spare time, he's also found time for some impressive deal-making along the way Words by Tony Glove.
As head of leveraged debt at HSBC's London office, it is Chris Norman's job to keep a cool head, whatever the prevailing climate in the credit markets. It's a job that has recently become markedly more difficult - the easy access to credit that fuelled much of the year's mergers and acquisitions boom has been replaced by the much-publicised credit crunch.
Certainly, it is a time for cool heads. After nearly 20 years in the business, Norman has the experience to ensure his clients receive a considered approach. Unflappable in demeanour, he could hardly be more different to the standard cliché of a City high-flier. He values 'performance' more highly than 'show' and drives to HSBC's London headquarters at Canary Wharf in a 12-year-old Mercedes, which he describes as "a reliable old banger". But he does have his extravagances - his bike is an imported Italian De Rosa racer that cost £6,000.
Given Norman's passion for cycling the Tour de France course, his beloved road bike - which has the lightest frame permitted under the rules of the competition - is a necessary expense. He takes the amateurs' race he competes in, along the toughest and most mountainous stretches of the infamous route, very seriously. But like many successful people, he thrives on the next - potentially tougher - challenge.
This has led him to take on longer routes, such as the 1,600-kilometre bike trek between Bangkok and Phuket (in Thailand) and the 1,750 kilometres that separate Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi (in Vietnam). However, it seems that even Vietnam is now old hat. "It's becoming too touristy," he says. "Cambodia is more interesting to me at the moment." It appears the latter's rich historic culture, combined with its troubled recent past and grim legacy of unexploded land mines, adds an extra frisson to an already gruelling climate and extremely challenging cycling conditions.
Norman's wanderlust is a recurring theme. He left boarding school to spend two years abroad. "It was a great time in my life," he says. "As well as seeing a lot of test matches and the Americas Cup, I got to travel widely. It was a very exciting time."
He then returned to London, where he opted for employment - a job at Samuel Montagu, one of the grand dames of the pre-Big Bang City of London - over university. He has no doubts that this was the right choice. "I was lucky enough to see the end of an era in the City, arriving just before the Big Bang and the introduction of electronic trading, which changed the old Square Mile for ever," he says.
"It was a very different world back then, filled with long lunches and no shareholders to answer to," he fondly recalls. "Making money sometimes had to play second fiddle to having a good time."
Norman's working environment has changed beyond recognition in recent times. Today his offices are on the 25th floor of HSBC's skyscraper headquarters in London's Docklands, a building which, together with its neighbour Canary Wharf, has stamped the power and might of the 'new' London onto the capital's skyline.
He manages a team of 20 that is expected to complete a total of 40 deals this year. Norman and his team worked with August Equity on the management buy-out (MBO) of Planit Holdings, a provider of design and manufacturing software for the engineering, woodworking, stone and retail industries. The management wanted to free themselves from the time-consuming discipline of half-yearly reporting to the City to concentrate on software development and growing the business. Most recently, Norman worked on August Equity's MBO of Lifeways Community Care, a market-leading provider of supported living for people with complex needs.
Norman absorbed some key lessons from his early days in the City that are equally valuable today. For instance, the ability to develop personal relationships has proved invaluable in keeping up with the accelerating speed of today's dealflow. This applies as much to private equity investors like August Equity as it does to the management teams of the businesses that are using debt to expand and grow.
"Private equity firms bring us the deal and we judge whether it is right for us," he explains. "We also apply our own analysis while working with sponsors. But we are very reliant on financial sponsors - guys who have good track records like August Equity."
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