Raymond James Financial has won the bid to purchase Morgan Keegan, putting a top-ten municipal bond underwriter into the hands of fast-growing Raymond James.
St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James bought Morgan Keegan from Regions Financial for $930 million.
Morgan Keegan was ranked ninth among municipal underwriters in 2011, pricing 488 deals worth $9.25 billion and holding a market share of 3.2%, according to Thomson Reuters. Raymond James ranked 15th, participating in 208 deals worth $3.39 billion and grabbing a 1.2% market share.
By comparison, number one ranked JP Morgan did $39 billion in muni business last year.
John Carson, previously the chief executive of Memphis, Tenn.-based Morgan Keegan, will be named president of Raymond James and oversee fixed income and public finance. The public finance business will be centered in Memphis.
In a statement announcing its winning offer, Raymond James said: “Bulwarked by Morgan Keegan’s outstanding public finance group, the merged firm’s advisory and underwriting fixed income practice offers an impressive origination capability to serve municipal and taxable issuers, and rise to a combined league table ranking of eighth.”
The deal is expected to close on March 30.
Regions hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. in early 2011 to find a bidder for Morgan Keegan. St. Louis-based Stifel Financial was the other serious contender in the bidding war.
