George Osborne collects share of £30m after record profits at City advisory firm

The former Tory chancellor George Osborne has collected a share of a £30m pay pot after the City advisory firm Robey Warshaw reported record profits. Osborne was one of three partners to share in the sum at the Mayfair-based boutique investment bank, which advises FTSE 100 and US clients on major corporate deals. The former ministerjoined the firm in April 2021, eight years after it was co-founded by Simon Robey – the banker knownas the City’s “trillion-dollar man”for working on mega-deals. Robey is believed to have taken the biggest slice of the firm’s £70m pre-tax profit for the year to March, withfilings at Companies Houseshowing that the highest-paid director received £40. 5m for the financial year. While the firm did not detail pay for the remaining trio of bankers, Osborne is believed to be among those sharing the remaining £30m. It is a notable hike on last year’s pay, when the former chancellorshared a £28m pay pot with three fellow investment bankersincluding Simon Warshaw, an heir of the Molton Brown beauty empire, and Philip Apostolides. The £70m pre-tax profit was a record high for the firm, more than double the £31. 8m recorded a year earlier. That will have included income from clients such as the Abu Dhabi-backed Red Bird IMI, which launched a unsuccessful bid to take control of the Telegraph newspaper. That account was led by Osborne, who previously served as editor of the Evening Standard after leaving government. Robey Warshaw also counts the insurer Direct Line among its clients, having advised the business as it rebuffed multiple takeover attempts this year. That includesa £3. 3bn offer from Avivathat was rejected by Direct Line bosses on Wednesday evening. The account has been led by the firm’s newest partner, Chetan Singh, who joined after the investment bank’s last financial year. The firm also worked for Microsoft during itstakeover of Activision Blizzard, and has counted Vodafone, HSBC and National Grid among its clients. Robey Warshaw declined to comment on its latest set of financial results.