Bear Stearns continued its aggressive push into Europe on Tuesday, announcing that it had acquired Crane Capital Associates, a London-based group which raises money for private equity and real estate investment funds. Crane has offices across Europe, as well as in Tokyo and Melbourne. Bear Stearns executives said the acquisition was part of the bank’s efforts to build its advisory and fundraising business for financial sponsors outside the US. Bear Stearns poached Florian Lahnstein, co-head of German investment banking at UBS, last month and plans to make him senior investment banker for Europe.
