urbanSTL

^One more acquisition of this size and Post will enter Fortune 500 territory.

This would be a big pickup for Stifel and the fact that they would have to reconcile a large employee count. Gone Corporate you out there? Any insight if this happening?

Stifel in talks to buy Stern Agee, report says

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 6bc23.html

arch city wrote:If it goes through, I know it wouldn't necessarily mean jobs for St. Louis, but it sounds to me as if Stifel eventually could use a signature tower downtown.

A deal like this could end up in some new jobs for STL, as back office functions would have to be ramped up in order to support the new advisors and other personnel.

Below, watch this very interesting exchange on the potential merger of Stifel and privately-held Sterne Agee.

Would this be a merger/acquisition or "rescue"?

Although Birmingham-based, Stern Agee is actually being controlled out of New York City.

Watch: Bloomberg Video

arch city wrote:it sounds to me as if Stifel eventually could use a signature tower downtown.

But where could they possibly fit a signature tower that's adequately convenient to their current location?


Sounds like this could be a good move for everyone involved: Stifel, Stern Agee, Birmingham, and St. Louis. This deal would be consistent with Stifel's strategy of purchasing struggling or stagnating brokerages (i.e. Thomas Weisel, KBW, and Knight).

Back in 2012 Stifel was in a heated battle with Raymond James for Morgan Keegan, a Memphis-based brokerage with a strong fixed-income business. I think both SF and RJ stated how they intended to keep a large corporate presence in Memphis. Raymond James ended up being the top bidder, and now has their fixed income business headquartered in Memphis. So, clearly Stifel has strongly considered the value of a bigger presence in the South. I think this deal is more likely to mean Stifel having a major office/presence in Birmingham, than an influx of jobs to St. Louis. But it still can't hurt for it to continue to grow.

roger wyoming II wrote:^ Do we know the additional capacity the current Stifel-owned HQ can handle? Is a need for a new tower (or even additional leased space elsewhere so soon after their purchase of their existing digs realistic in the next few years?

edit.... or another way of putting it, is Stifel a potential Centene for downtown? (WFA is another company I have some hope could announce plans for a new tower.)

Jacobs Engineering and Trizetto take up parts of floors 1-4 of Stifel's building. Were they to eventually relocate - hopefully elsewhere downtown - it would free up a good deal of space there.

^
That's actually Legg Mason's building.

This is Stifel's building in Baltimore:

Stifel announced the acquisition of Sterne Agee this afternoon: CNBC Report

Looks like the distressed/bailout angle may have some truth to it, since the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Stifel is purchasing it for $150 million in cash and stock (less than 5% of Stifel's market cap).

^ PD outlined recent deals and it does seem it went on the cheap but have no clue how it is valued

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... b1402.html

Stifel's last major acquisition was in 2012, when it bought smaller rival KBW Inc. for $575 million in cash and stock to create a middle-market investment bank.

In 2010, Stifel bought San Francisco-based investment banking boutique Thomas Weisel Partners Group for $300 million in stock.

Mallinckrodt announces a $2.3 billion acquisition. Here's the Reuters article: Mallinckrodt to buy private drugmaker to expand in hospitals

Edit: By my count, because of the tear its stock has been on in the last 6 months and Merck (German) buying Sigma Aldrich, Mallinckrodt is now the fourth largest publicly traded company in St. Louis by market cap. It's only behind Express Scripts, Monsanto, and Emerson, and is about 10x the size of Brown Shoe .

Murray Energy purchased a "controlling interest", which is not necessarily a total acquisition. I can't imagine Chris Cline giving all of his company to another.

A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest.

In a complex deal structured to minimize tax costs, Dow Chemical will be selling (although the businesses will be merging) a significant portion of its Chlor-Alkali business to Olin.

This should be good news for Olin. The market is responding very positively.

Reuters Report

Although Dow will own 50.5% of Olin, they've stated that, "At the end of the day we will have nothing to do with running Olin other than that we will send three board members and put them on their board."

The combined company will easily be Fortune 500, with $7 bil in revenue.

^ I assume that Cleveland, TN would be a little nervous too. Can easily see a situation where everything gets picked up and they set up shop outside Atlanta for a tax deal as well as be closer to the airport and its multiple direct flights everywhere including over seas.

Here's the story from the Post:

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 427ee.html

Winchester comprises about 34% of Olin's revenue before the announced merger, and will comprise about 11-12% after. Even if it were spun-off, Olin would still be solidly in the F500.

Not that it's any reason to hold onto a business, but Winchester is a historical part of Olin, going back over 80 years. It's also the company's primary diversification outside of Chlor-alkali. But I suppose it'd be the most likely candidate to raise capital if they want to pay down increased debt stemming from the acquisition. I could see how recent liability concerns and public scrutiny stemming from the Sandy Hook massacre, and other highly publicized shootings would lead companies to rethink their exposure to the arms and ammunition industry - on the other side, the multi-year military contracts have to be pretty attractive.