Morgan Keegan Taps Muni Vet Michael Tierney for New York City Office

Morgan Keegan & Co. has added muni market veteran Michael Tierney to its New York City office. Tierney joined the Tennessee-based firm as a managing director in the tax-exempt group on Aug. 1, the company announced this week. He joins Morgan Keegan after retiring from Goldman, Sachs & Co. in May of 2006 as vice president in public finance and group manager for 15 years. His focus there was on corporate-related municipal financings, transportation, energy, and higher education bond deals. “We are bringing him aboard to increase our New York presence,” said Robert Baird, executive managing director and head of the fixed-income group. “Adding experienced investment bankers to markets where we aren’t heavily represented is part of our strategy, and New York is certainly one of those markets.”It is the second time this year that the firm has added to its numbers in the area. On May 30, Morgan Keegan closed on its purchase of Shattuck Hammond Partners LLC, a New York-based business that focuses on health care banking.As a lead manager overall, Morgan Keegan ranked 11th in 2006 and was at the same spot through the first half of 2007, according to data from Thomson Financial. As for small bond issues, however, the firm took the top underwriter spot for the first half of 2007. In the small-issue category, Morgan Keegan managed 166 issues totaling $868.1 million through the end of June. RBC Capital Markets ranked second as it managed 131 issues totaling $773.1 million in the same time period.“We support the smaller issuers,” Baird said. “But our other strategy is to handle more deals of all sizes. So we are in growth mode and we will continue to add experienced bankers in new regions as well as fortify our existing areas.”Tierney said in an interview yesterday he was looking forward to the challenge.“What has tremendous appeal to me is being part of a terrific firm that wants to expand its footprint,” he said. “The ability to get involved in that was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.