The firm's founder was a well-known member of the financial community in London and in 1892 H. Panmure Gordon wrote the book Land of the Almighty Dollar, a critical review of the U.S., particularly New York and Chicago.

[4][5][6] In February 2005, Lazard merged Panmure Gordon with a small listed brokerage firm, Durlacher, which had lost money trying to establish a venture funding business during the dot-com boom.

[8] In 2006, the firm entered into a joint venture with the Bank of Scotland, known as Panmure Capital, that provided financing for companies that are close to an initial public offering on London's AIM.

[12] However, subsequently a higher bidder emerged and on 6 August 2009 the company announced the completion of a sale of a 47.1% stake in the business to[13] QInvest, the largest investment bank in Qatar.

[14][15][16][17] Per The Sunday Times, by 2016 London tycoon Mehmet Dalman's flagship investment bank Wealth Management Group ("WMG") was plotting a takeover of Panmure Gordon and had built up a 9% stake in it and had "hatched a turnaround plan for the struggling company".