Wells Fargo Securities hired public finance veteran Wayne Seaton to head up its new sustainable public infrastructure group in its New York City office, which will focus on "green" public works projects.
The group will focus on projects designed to use energy more efficiently, such as retrofitting buildings, rather than energy generation, which will continue to be handled by the bank's energy and utilities group, said Wells Fargo head of public finance Peter Hill.
The types of projects will be "infrastructure assets that may complement but may not be directly energy-producing assets," Hill said. They could also underwrite open-space preservation deals, he said.
Attention to green technology "has become more at the forefront in the past couple of years," Seaton said. "I'm just seeing a lot of interest on the part of issuers."
He said that a lot of the green technology projects they expect to go after are "on the cusp" of being developed.
"There are provisions [in the federal stimulus package] that will provide financing opportunities for green technology," Seaton said. "I'm using that as a signal that the market is about to blossom."
Hill said that some of the tools they are looking at for the group that were created or enhanced under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are Build America Bonds, new clean renewable energy bonds, qualified energy conservation bonds, and the increase to $30 million from $10 million for a bond to be bank-qualified.
The new group, which is being run out of the New York City office but will have a national scope, has four bankers and Hill said another is expected to be added in the future.
Seaton joined Wells Fargo from M.R. Beal & Co. where he was head of public finance for four years and worked on deals for clients such as New York City, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, Atlanta, and St. Louis. Seaton has worked as a public finance banker since earning his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1993, including an eight-year stint at Bear, Stearns & Co.
Wells Fargo has senior managed $4.84 billion of bond deals so far this year, ranking 10th nationwide, according to Thomson Reuters. Last year the firm senior managed $12.62 billion and was ranked ninth.
