Bo Daniels Returns to Loop

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CHICAGO – Veteran public finance banker Warren "Bo" Daniels Jr. has rejoined Loop Capital Markets to lead the firm's efforts in Georgia and neighboring southern states from a new Atlanta office.

Daniels recently joined the firm as a senior banker and managing director, said Loop's co-founder and chief executive officer James Reynolds. Daniels resigned from PNC Capital Markets ending a more than two-year stint there. He previously worked at Morgan Stanley, a position he took after leaving Loop.

"I've always admired Bo's leadership and ability. He's got that right balance of being a relationship banker and being highly technical," Reynolds said.

Daniels left Loop in 2009 after six years during which he built the firm's public finance banking team to join Morgan Stanley in Chicago. He later relocated to Atlanta from Chicago. Before Loop, Daniels worked as a banker and co-head of the Chicago office at Goldman Sachs. He relocated to Chicago from New York City in 1997 to lead Goldman's Midwestern efforts.

Daniel's departure from Loop in 2009 was amicable and Reynolds said he pressed Daniels to return after recent discussions about the firm's needs and goals going forward.

"We always stayed in touch and have a strong, healthy respect for each other," Reynolds said in an interview. "Bo laid the framework for the firm's public finance business and helped me build the entire infrastructure. He was definitely missed."

Daniels said he enjoyed working at PNC and leaves with great respect for the public finance team there, but decided the move felt right.

"I have always had great admiration and respect for Jim and Loop Capital. It was a privilege to help nurture the seeds that were planted, and to watch them blossom into something pretty terrific," Daniels said. "I missed that so much. I wanted to be part of that again. There is still more growing and work to do."

Reynolds started the qualified minority-owned firm with his wife Sandy and Albert Grace Jr. in 1997 with just a handful of employees. Reynolds had initially concentrated on establishing the firm's sales and secondary trading business. He brought in Daniels, who is African American, when Loop was ready to take the next step and compete for senior manager business.

The firm now employs about 40 public finance bankers and support staff in about a dozen of the firm's offices across the country. In 2002, before Daniels started, the firm ranked 77th in the Midwest and 97th nationally. It ranks 24th in the Midwest so far this year and 19th nationally as a senior manager on $3.7 billion of issuance in 27 deals, according to data from ThomsonReuters. It has done only minimal senior manager work in the Southeast so far this year.

Daniels will lead the firm's efforts in Georgia and other southern states including Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina. The firm had been serving clients there from its Chicago office. Daniels also will work with Indiana and Wisconsin issuers due to his issuer relationships in those states. He will also work on District of Columbia issuance and will work on deals for some "selective, sophisticated" clients. Jana Wesley, based in Chicago, heads up the banking team.

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