Scott & Stringfellow Inc. will close its municipal sales and trading operation in Lynchburg, Va., by the end of the year, an official at the Richmond-based firm confirmed yesterday.
The shutdown, which was announced internally Monday afternoon, is the result of a planned consolidation of Scott & Stringfellow's municipal sales, trading, and syndicate desks in Richmond and Lynchburg to a newly built facility in Richmond, said Steven C. DeLaney, senior vice president and director of capital markets at the firm.
Approximately 10 people are currently based in the Lynchburg office, and the closure will result in the elimination of half those positions - primarily back-office and support slots - due to duplication, according to DeLaney.
The firm hopes to either relocate salespeople to the Richmond office or to a retail branch office in Lynchburg.
The remaining staff, made up of traders, will move to Richmond, he said.
Once the relocation process is complete, DeLaney said Scott & Stringfellow will look to hire six institutional salespeople in Richmond to focus on both municipal and taxable bonds, including a producing sales manager.
Those hires will also be made by the end of the year or early in 1997.
Currently, the institutional sales department reports to Edwin B. Horner, head of municipal sales trading and underwriting in Lynchburg.
Horner, however, is now mulling whether or not he wants to relocate, said DeLaney.
Commenting on the consolidation, DeLaney said: "This move is really to position us to take advantage of some of the opportunities that are in the market right now. Some of the recent layoffs at the larger banks provide opportunities."
A number of the institutional salespeople the firm is eying already reside in Richmond, he added. Whether the firm hires additional traders or public finance bankers will depend on the outcome of the sales personnel hire, he said.
"We're currently working with our public finance staff to develop a marketing strategy (for issuers) going forward into 1997," DeLaney said.
The firm currently has five traders and six salespeople between the two offices.
Scott & Stringfellow's presence in Lynchburg dates back to 1984, when it acquired the firm of Horner Barksdale & Co., which had a larger sales and trading presence at the time than its suitor.
"Rather than consolidate the trading operations at that time it was logical to leave that in place," DeLaney explained. Now the situation has changed, he added.
