When Brett Olsher launched a METALS AND MINING investment banking practice for Deutsche Bank back in 2001, the sector was regarded as a backwater compared with merger hot spots like financial services and telecommunications. But in retrospect Olsher’s timing couldn’t have been better.
A global commodities boom has unleashed a surge of deal making in recent years. Last year metals and mining was the second-most-active M&A sector, after finance, with $537 billion worth of deals, or 11 percent of global merger activity, according to data provider Dealogic. In 2001 the sector accounted for just 4.8 percent of global M&A volume, with deals worth $82.5 billion. Olsher has been at the heart of the action, advising Luxembourg-based steelmaker Arcelor on a $33 billion offer from Luxembourg’s Mittal Steel in 2006, helping British-Australian mining group Rio Tinto carry out a $76.2 billion takeover of Canadian aluminum group Alcan last year and, currently, assisting Rio in its defense against a $165 billion bid from Australian rival BHP Billiton. Deutsche recognized the banker’s pivotal work in April by promoting Olsher to co-head of global mergers and acquisitions, alongside consumer goods banker Henrik Aslaksen.
The 47-year-old Olsher, the New York–born son of a Polish-Jewish display-window designer whose family emigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s, attributes his success to his experience as a metals trader. “To get traction with clients, you’ve got to step into their shoes when you are giving advice,” he explains. “If I can do that better than some of my peers, it’s because I’ve been on the operating side of this business.”
Olsher于1981年参加了足球奖学金大学，并在足球奖学金上设立了学校守门员，并在1981年举办了132次救球。他毕业于次年作为法国，意大利和会计学位的足球全美。在纽约工作三年后，他在价格水上所的会计师之后，他搬到了佛罗伦萨作为意大利钢铁制造商Lucchine集团的金属贸易商，为意大利Serie的小联盟联盟联盟联盟队联盟队的职业足球。他于1988年回到纽约，以帮助他的哥哥，迈克尔，跑奥尔赫金属，一个小金属贸易，加工和分销业务。1996年与他的兄弟一起携带更大的野心，并在1996年与他的兄弟一起参加了J.P. Morgan的金属和矿业分析师。在短短六个月之后，银行将他送到伦敦，以启动欧洲的覆盖范围。2001年，他与摩根银行家合作，向英国矿业公司Billiton与澳大利亚的BHP为350亿美元;Olsher认为价格被设定为从煤炭到石油的所有东西都升起，从而产生肥沃的整合气候。在这笔交易结束后不久，德意志银行的迈克尔·科尔斯（Deutsche Bank）的迈克尔·科尔斯（Deutsche Bank）的迈克尔·科尔斯（Deutsche Bank）的迈克尔·福尔斯宣称，他询问他是否想领导银行的新金属和采矿团队。奥尔赫没有犹豫。
“J.P. Morgan was a more established platform in investment banking, so it would have taken me a longer time to get the same kind of chance,” he explains. “I am not afraid to take risk.”
In addition to working for BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto over the years, Olsher helped Xstrata build itself into a global mining power, advising the Swiss company on a £1 billion (then worth $1.6 billion) London IPO in 2002 that helped finance its £2.5 billion buyout of the coal assets of Glencore International, based in Zug, Switzerland. Deutsche broadened his brief to cover natural resources, including oil, in 2003.
“就像最好的bankers, Brett gives his clients ideas as well as the courage to act on them,” says one chief executive who regularly hires Olsher to advise on acquisitions. “Working with him has helped us settle doubts and carry through on bold plans.”
Thanks to Olsher’s mettle, Deutsche Bank, No. 25 in global natural resources M&A in 2001, with ten deals worth $1.6 billion, rose to sixth place last year, with 20 deals worth $199.6 billion, according to Dealogic. In his new role as co-head of M&A, Olsher says he is determined to see Deutsche be in the top five consistently; it currently ranks fourth in global M&A overall after a seventh-place finish last year. “We’ll achieve our goal the same way we have in the natural resources area,” he says. “That means getting to clients early with value-added ideas, differentiated thinking and flawless execution.”