Officials in Memphis are considering offering incentives to keep the headquarters of Morgan Keegan & Co., and its jobs, in the city if the firm is sold, according to the Commercial Appeal newspaper.
The suggestion to offer the regional investment bank incentives was made by Mayor A. C. Wharton, who said he was concerned about losing the firm’s 1,050 jobs.
“We would look at every way possible to keep their headquarters here,” Wharton told the paper. He did not specify what kind of incentives, or how much the city would consider offering.
Concern that Memphis could lose the firm surfaced in recent days after a resurgence of rumors that a serious offer to purchase Morgan Keegan has been made by St. Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp., which owns Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
Morgan Keegan is owned by Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial Corp., which hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. earlier this year in an attempt to spin off the investment bank.
