urbanSTL

Arch City wrote:A gloomy comment from the P-D forums:

"Sad to see St. Louis loose another corporate HQ. Seems that the St. Louis area is on the decline and its happening way too fast. The once proud St. Louis is now nothing more then a 2nd rate back office processing center for Mega-Companies. How sad is that! Where will the good jobs of the future come from. The Gateway to the west is not the Gateway to no Public Corporate HQ’s. It began with Southwestern Bell back in the 80’s and continues today. Thank G-D for companies like Enterprise Rent a Car as they are one of the few bright spots left in our town."

I have news for the poster.....There will be more so brace yourself. Anwyay, with Wachovia having a MAJOR division here, I just don't see this as all bad news. Again, AG Edwards, while a long time institution in St. Louis, was not a F500 company - like May, like Ralston, like SBC, like McDonnell-Douglas. Not that a F1000 loss isn't big, because it is.



But while it is not totally good news, it is not totally bad news either. St. Louis could have been left with a skeleton or shell of a campus. AND there's a good chance for more jobs.



We'll see.

stlmike wrote:Time and time again, mergers happen and promises are made: "Oh, we won't close you down..." Then, a year and a half later: "We're closing you down." Sometimes, at the beginning of a deal, the buyer paints a big pretty picture and then, once things settle in, they quit being the nice guy. I'm not saying that they will screw us over, but I can't blame people for being cynical. I think it's just as bad to be unrealistically optimistic as unrealistically pessimistic.

Arch City wrote:


I have news for the poster.....There will be more so brace yourself.

stlmike wrote:^ That's exactly why so many St Louisans are so down. We hear on this board that "this happens all the time" but wouldn't you like to see it happen in our favor for once?

We lose a regional brokerage and gain a dominating national one. We keep the talent and the headquarters.

This is not simply a loss by M&A.



Saint Louis has just landed the second-largest brokerage firm in the country.

Wow. Really, wow.

The HQ will be at One Jefferson Avenue in Saint Louis, not in VA or NC or even Manhattan. Central operations for the combined entity, much larger than the sum of its parts, will provide for an infusion of top talent (that will fill the recent additions) while increasing the prestige of the region.



Remember, Saint Louis is home to four major brokerage headquarters:

1. A.G. Edwards / Wachovia Securities.

2. Edward Jones.

3. Stifel Nicolaus / Legg Mason.

4. Scottrade.



Today’s merger further increases the strength of the local business cluster, increasing the city’s competencies in the industry, with new people coming in and a wider array of clients and distribution networks. The firm’s main competencies compliment each other, thus making the new Wachovia Securities more powerful than either company solo, and the Saint Louis metro area is stronger with this. Organic growth for AGE would not be able to produce this opportunity for the firm, and AGE was smart to make the deal (doubtful WB would’ve pursued a stock buyout or non-traditional raiding).



Would it have been better for our collective egos if AGE bought out WB?

How would we feel if that happened and the new HQ was in Richmond, VA?



It always hits a little when we watch change like this. However, considering AGE has been a major buyout target since 2000/01, this is as good a deal as we could’ve hoped for. Saint Louis is lucky MWD didn’t buy the company in April 2001 and shuttered much of the local operations, moving talent out of the area like BofA Trust did.



$1.1 Trillion AUM.

15,000 Financial Advisors.

Second largest brokerage operations in the world.

buckethead wrote:I think you're right. It's definitely a pride thing, but I also don't think all the gloomy predictions are just sour grapes. If you look at previous situations like this (not just in st louis), it usually does mean a loss of jobs. Once the company is bought, the first thing the buying company does is to try to integrate them and consolidate services to be more profitable. All the support departments are pared down or eliminated, and any duplicate jobs get axed - from the company being bought.

Wachovia Securities will no longer be based in Richmond....



"We don't know how this will play out," said Tony Mattera, spokesman for Wachovia Securities. "It's too early to be precise about the Imax in the Richmond market."



Daniel J. Ludeman, president and chief executive officer of Wachovia Securities, will retain the title of the combined firm. He will move to St. Louis.



About 3,000 people are employed in the Richmond area at Wachovia Securities. Operations here provide support for all the brokerage offices across the country.