SAN FRANCISCO — Andrew L. “Bud” Byrnes 3d has rejoined his family’s company, RH Investment Corp., as president and chief executive officer.
Byrnes is returning to the Encino, Calif., firm after two years as a municipal underwriter and institutional salesman with Southwest Securities.
He said he is returning to RH Investment at a time when its niche as a specialist in trading West Coast and California municipal bonds has regained importance.
“When the insurance companies simultaneously all blew up, a lot of people had only traded insured bonds,” Byrnes said.
The back to the future world where underlying credit matters plays to the strength of the team at RH Investment, he said.
“We’re all guys who’ve been around 30 or more years — it gives us an advantage because of our historical knowledge,” he said. “We do a fair amount of research on the underlying security, and that’s what makes it fun.”
Byrnes bought the firm in 1989, raising funds by selling his own house and with the help of his parents, who mortgaged theirs.
It was their recent passing that helped lead to his return, he said, because of estate issues that would put him in a position of being registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority at two different firms, something FINRA does not accept.
Byrnes said that helped lead him to the realization that his family’s firm was the place he wants to be.
“We have great a relationship still, but I can’t be in two places at once,” he said.
RH Investment specializes in California and western municipal bonds, working for small institutions, high-net-worth individuals, and dealers without their own trading desks.
“We act as a bond department for a lot of independent broker-dealers,” he said.
Byrnes has worked in the securities industry since graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1978, with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
Before buying RH Investment, he worked at E.F. Hutton, Shearson/American Express, and Cranston Securities. Byrnes has served as president of the Los Angeles Municipal Bond Club, as well as the industry representative on the state treasurer’s Technical Advisory Committee.
