DALLAS – Hilltop Securities, the second-largest financial advisory firm, is hiring municipal professionals to expand its business in Ohio and Michigan.
Heading a new office in Columbus, Ohio, are senior bankers Joseph Robertson and Eric Prall, along with analyst Garrett Patterson. The team moved to Hilltop from Ross, Sinclaire & Associates.
“Hilltop Securities is putting considerable resources into its Midwest origination strategy,” Robertson said. “The firm has everything we need to provide best-in-class origination and underwriting services to Ohio’s issuers in local government, economic development, and the health and education fields.”
Robertson joined Ross, Sinclaire & Associates in 2010. Before that, he was principal at Seasongood & Mayer. Robertson has structured and served as senior banker on 600 note and bond issues with a par amount exceeding $4 billion in his 17-year investment banking career.
Prall was managing director in the Ohio Public Finance division at Ross, Sinclaire, where his clients included state level issuers, counties, municipalities, school districts, institutions of higher education, and health care systems.
Earlier this year, Hilltop added Michigan-based bankers Louis Orcutt, Craig Kahler, Max Hotchkin and analyst Alex Vollmers from Fifth Third Securities.
“The transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service economy in the Midwest has pushed issuers to find innovative ways to rebuild their infrastructure and invest in education and public works projects that support it,” said David Medanich, Hilltop's vice chairman and head of public finance. “The current environment provides an excellent opportunity to add experienced and talented bankers, and we are especially pleased to do so in the key markets of Ohio and Michigan.”
The new hires will provide bond origination and distribution services to K-12 secondary and higher education, economic development and local government issuers, the firm said.
Managing Director John Rolander, based in Cincinnati, also joined the firm from Fifth Third Securities in early 2018 to serve as head of municipal syndication.
“There are a number of states in the Midwest where we’re perfectly aligned to provide origination and underwriting services to middle-market issuers,” Rolander said. “At a time when many firms are visibly reducing their resources, Hilltop Securities remains committed to the municipal marketplace.”
Ranked second among U.S. financial advisory firms behind PFM, Dallas-based Hilltop has expanded nationally since acquiring Southwest Securities in 2016. Formerly known as First Southwest Co., the firm Hilltop Securities is a unit of Hilltop Holdings.
