BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida-based Raymond James Financial on Monday closed on its acquisition of Morgan Keegan & Co. for $1.2 billion in cash.
The subsidiary that handles fixed income and private clients will be known as Raymond James-Morgan Keegan, and will be based in Memphis.
Former Morgan Keegan chief executive officer John Carson will be head of fixed income as well as president and executive committee member of the parent company.
Raymond James will announce more details on positions and structural changes later this week, according to spokesman Steve Hollister.
Morgan Keegan’s top 12 executives and 98% of financial advisors presented with retention-incentive offers indicated their intent to remain with the combined companies. Some 218 employees, mainly in the equity capital markets and fixed-income groups, began receiving separation notices Thursday, and elimination of positions began with Monday’s closing, Hollister said.
“Our management teams have had preliminary success in their key staff and producer-retention efforts,” Raymond James chief executive officer Paul Reilly said in a statement. “The combined firm will provide our financial advisors and capital markets professionals with the benefits of scale and best practices to better support their clients and help us realize our vision of being the premier alternative to Wall Street.”
The firm comprises 6,500 financial advisors serving 2.4 million accounts in 2,600 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are about $372 billion, with $38 billion managed by the firm’s asset management subsidiaries.
In 2011, Morgan Keegan was the ninth largest municipal underwriter and Raymond James was the 15th largest, according to Thomson Reuters.
Raymond James funded the purchase from Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial Corp. using cash and the proceeds of $350 million in 6.9% senior notes due in 2042, $250 million in 5.6% senior notes due in 2024, and a public offering of 11.07 million shares of common stock.
The previously announced stock purchase agreement for the acquisition contemplated that Morgan Keegan would pay a cash dividend of $250 million to Regions before the closing of the acquisition. However, the parties subsequently decided to defer payment of the dividend until after the closing, resulting in an increase in the book value of Morgan Keegan and the purchase price.
Upon closing, Raymond James received a cash dividend in the amount of $250 million from Morgan Keegan.
Regions’ trust and institutional investment-management businesses are not included in the sale and will operate within the bank’s wealth management organization.
