George Osborne takes share of £30m payout at investment bank

George Osborne is one of a trio of investment bankers that have shared a pot of about £30 million after the influential City firm he works for posted a jump in profits.
The former chancellor entered the upper echelons of the banking industry when he joined Robey Warshaw as a partner in 2021.
The boutique business is one of the country’s leading financial advisory firms that is often involved in some of the biggest takeover deals in corporate Britain.
Accounts filed at Companies House show that profits at the group jumped to about £70 million in the 12 months to the end of March, from £31.8 million a year earlier.
The lion’s share of £40.5 million went to a single individual, the filing shows. This is believed to have been Sir Simon Robey, one of the firm’s founding partners who is considered one of the most powerful deal makers in the City.
That left almost £30 million to be split between Osborne and two other partners, Simon Warshaw and Philip Apostolides. Robey Warshaw declined to comment on the accounts.
It is the latest in a string of multimillion-pound paydays that Osborne is likely to have enjoyed since becoming an investment banker.
His appointment to Robey Warshaw raised eyebrows in the City because it marked the first time the business had added a new partner since it was set up by Robey, Warshaw and Apostolides in 2013.
While Osborne previously spent the majority of his career in politics, the firm’s founding trio earned their reputations as bankers working at some of the City’s biggest firms. Robey and Apostolides were at Morgan Stanley and Warshaw was at UBS.
Since setting up on their own, the trio have built the firm into one of the most trusted advisers to some of Britain’s biggest companies. The business was an adviser to SABMiller, the former FTSE 100 brewer behind Peroni, during its $100 billion sale to rival Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2016 in what was the largest-ever takeover of a UK company.
More recently Robey Warshaw has advised Direct Line, the insurer that is fighting off takeover approaches, as well as Abu Dhabi-backed Redbird IMI on its troubled and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to take control of the Telegraph newspaper. Redbird IMI is believed to be Osborne’s client.
Osborne, who is a supporter of Chelsea FC, also advised the American billionaire Todd Boehly on his £4.25 billion acquisition of the club two years ago.
Osborne was elected to parliament in 2001 and spent six years as chancellor, before he was sacked by Theresa May when she became prime minister in 2016. He stood down as an MP the following year and has since had a series of jobs, including a stint editing London’s Evening Standard newspaper. He also previously had a lucrative advisory role at BlackRock, the American group that is the world’s biggest fund manager.
Earlier this year Robey Warshaw added a fifth partner, the veteran banker Chetan Singh, although he joined after the end of the firm’s last financial year.