Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., a Stifel Company, is an investment banking firm headquartered in New York City, specializing exclusively in the financial services sector. KBW's primary business lines include Research, Corporate Finance, Equity Sales and Trading, Equity Capital Markets, Debt Capital Markets, and Asset Management.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
Subsidiary
IndustryInvestment Banking
Founded1962 (1962)
HeadquartersAXA Equitable Center
New York, New York, United States
Key people
Thomas B. Michaud, President & CEO
Revenue $425.9 million (2010)[1]
$26.6 million (2010)[1]
Total assets $699.7 million (2010)[1]
Number of employees
585 (2010)[1]
ParentStifel Financial
Websitewww.kbw.com

The firm provides a broad range of services to corporate clients such as banking companies, insurance companies, real estate and REITs, broker-dealers, mortgage banks, asset management companies, and specialty finance firms as well as to the institutional investor community. KBW's research analysts cover more than 600 companies in the financial services industry globally.

The company, which was founded in 1962, currently has nine offices in the United States as well as an office in London. In 2013, KBW was acquired by Stifel Financial, a financial services holding Company, for $575 million.[2] KBW has advised on 65 percent of all bank M&A since 2017. [3]

History

The firm was founded in 1962 by Harry Keefe Jr., Gene Bruyette and Norbert Woods. The three founders previously had worked together at Tucker, Anthony & R. L. Day.[4] Beginning in the 1950s, Keefe had been one of the first Wall Street research analysts to focus on bank stocks, which later became the specialty of the firm he co-founded.[4] Norbert Woods died in 1972 and the firm was led by Keefe and Bruyette through the 1970s and 1980s.[5]

Under Harry Keefe, the firm advised on several mergers that helped form large regional banks in the 1980s. The firm advised on a series of deals that created the Bank of New England out of smaller banks in Massachusetts and Connecticut. KBW also advised on the creation of SunTrust Bank from a group of Florida and Georgia based banks. In 1985, KBW negotiated the merger of Wachovia and First National Bank of Atlanta.[6] In 2005, the firm was sole adviser to Bank of America in its takeover of MBNA.[7] More recently, in 2019, KBW advised Chemical Financial on its $3.6 billion merger with TCF Financial [8] and Prosperity Bancshares on its $2.1 billion acquisition of LegacyTexas Financial Group.[9]

Harry Keefe left the firm in 1989 after a business dispute with his associates and founded his own money management and consulting firm.[4] By 1990, KBW had transitioned management of the firm from the original founders to a new group including Charles Lott and James McDermott.[10] Gene Bruyette retired from the firm in 1991. James McDermott was later convicted of violating insider trading rules in 2000 by providing stock tips to a girlfriend.[11]

Thomas Michaud was named President and Chief Executive Officer of KBW in October 2011, having served as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer since September 2001.

Initial Public Offering

In November 2006, KBW completed a $100 million initial public offering of stock.[12] The firm was traded on the NYSE under the ticker 'KBW'.[13]

Impact of September 11

The company's prior New York headquarters was located on the 88th and 89th floors of the World Trade Center's South tower at the time of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Out of the firm's 172 New York employees, 67 died as a result of the attack when the South tower collapsed.[14] Among the employees killed in the attack were the firm's co-CEO Joseph Berry, CFO Jeffrey Fox, as well as several notable research analysts Christopher W. Murphy, David Berry, Dean Eberling and Thomas Theurkauf.[15]

Prior to September 11, the firm had been engaged in discussions with BNP about a possible acquisition.[15] The firm has held an annual 9/11 memorial service and also maintains a charitable fund it set up to help victims' families.[15]

On July 25, 2018, the New York City medical examiner announced that the remains of another employee killed in the attack, 26-year-old Scott Michael Johnson, had been identified using methods of DNA analysis that were not available in 2001. Johnson worked as a securities analyst for the company.[16]

See also

References
  1. 2010 KBW Annual Report
  2. Company Overview on Businessweek
  4. Harry Keefe Jr., 79, Innovator In Investments in Bank Stocks. New York Times, March 14, 2002
  5. Keefe Takes on the Big Leagues. Euromoney, June 1986.
  6. Keefe, a Pioneer Dealmaker, Still Going Strong at Age 70. American Banker, December 14, 1992
  10. Keefe Bruyette & Woods Chooses a President. New York Times, October 04, 1990
  11. Apologizes to his family. New York Daily News, August 04, 2000
  12. Bruyette & Woods files $100 mln IPO
  13. IPO of KBW
  14. sep11:Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, Inc. for a list of September 11 victims.
  15. A Battered Firm's Long Road Back . Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2011
  16. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/nyregion/9-11-victim-nyc.html
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