Rothschild investment banker Roger Wood explains why those new infrastructure funds are hot on utilities.
Richard Stavros is executive editor at Public Utilities Fortnightly.
He was quite literally the toast of last year’s EEI Finance conference. Using his bank’s diverse resources (Rothschild vineyards in France), he arranged an unforgettable wine tasting that was a big hit with utility executives.
And utility execs should raise a glass for another reason. Roger Wood, the head of Rothschild’s Power & Utilities Group in North America, is one of the few true white knights on Wall Street. Whereas many banks have developed businesses that can conflict with their utility clients’ interests, Wood says Rothschild’s bankers “live and die by providing long-term independent advice.”
British born and Oxford educated, and bearing a slight resemblance to Sean Connery’s James Bond, Wood in 2005 joined Rothschild, the legendary investment house that funded Wellington’s armies, the Gold Rush, and the Suez Canal, for starters. He previously was a banker with Citigroup and J.P. Morgan.