Macquarie Group Ltd

The Macquarie Group was founded in 1969 as Hill Samuel Australia, acting as a subsidiary of Hill Samuel. The company started out with only three employees: Christopher Castleman, Bill Clarke, and Stan Owens, who would become the company’s first CEO. The company grew quickly during its inception, becoming profitable after just a single year of trading. In 1971, the company would secure Australia’s biggest mandate, a $60 million financing for John Lysaght Australia. The firm would continue to grow organically, pioneering initiatives in the international gold and foreign exchange markets and establishing Australia’s first cash management account. In 1985, the company would operate as Macquarie Bank Limited, adding stockbroking capabilities in the same year. The company would expand internationally starting in 1989, opening offices in London, and later in New York, Hong Kong, and Beijing. The 1990s would see the company’s expansion into infrastructure investments, have IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange with an approximate $1 billion market capitalization, and the acquisition of Bankers Trust’s Australian division. Macquarie Group would then launch infrastructure funds in the early 2000s including the Korea and European Infrastructure Funds. The company would continue to grow and acquire companies such as Cook Inlet Energy Supply and the Asian cash equities division of ING Group. The current group company, Macquarie Group Limited, would be created as a non-operating holding company in 2007. The company, now acting through its subsidiaries, would then establish the Macquarie Bank International in UK and launch a series of emerging market infrastructure funds in Russia, India, Philippines (the first in the country), and a real estate investment trust in Mexico. Through these efforts, the company has grown to become the top infrastructure asset management in the world. The company currently employs approximately 15,000 people and has offices located in 28 countries worldwide. Macquarie Group holds a total assets under management of over $370 billion, bringing in yearly profits of approximately a billion dollars.