William Hopper

William Hopper, who is the younger brother, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1929. A modern linguist by training, he has been an investment banker for over 40 years, beginning his career as a financial analyst at W.R. Grace & Co. in New York, then becoming personal assistant to Sigmund Warburg at S.G. Warburg in London where he now lives.

As a Director of Morgan Grenfell in London, he pioneered the Dragon Bond Market in East Asia in 1976 with a fund-raising for the European Investment Bank (ranked by Institutional Investor as ‘Deal of the Year’) and launched the first Eurobond issue for an East European country (Hungary) in the same year.

William was chairman of the placement agents, WJ Hopper & Co. Limited, until March 31, 2009, in which capacity he helped entrepreneurs to raise capital to invest in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Founder Chairman of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London, he is still a member of its Executive Committee. He entered the Guinness Book of Records by spectacularly winning a ‘safe’ Labour Party seat for the Conservatives in the first elected European Parliament (1979-1984).