Ziegler, an investment bank and brokerage that specializes in general and structured municipal finance, is expanding with the addition of three muni veterans from Stern Brothers & Co..
The firm has added Miyun Cho, Terri Smalinsky and Aaron Gadouas as managing directors to be based in Ziegler's Chicago office.
"I am very pleased to have Ms. Cho, Ms. Smalinsky and Mr. Gadouas join our banking team to help us grow our general municipal & structured finance practice," Dan Hermann, senior managing director and head of investment banking at Ziegler, said in a press release.
Recently, the firm also increased its investment banking team with three senior-living finance bankers in its Richmond, Virginia office.
Though Ziegler's expertise spans healthcare, senior living, religion and education, the additions are part of the firm's strategy to broaden its presence in other sectors. Among those areas are public private partnerships, infrastructure finance, real estate development, local and regional general municipal market financing and energy.
"This new initiative will create many synergies and growth opportunities for Ziegler," Kevin Strom, senior managing director and head capital markets said in a press release. "It will allow us to capture new capital sources, expand our high-yield sector financings, as well as our underwriting participation into other general municipal sectors."
Ziegler will be expanding its sales and trading activities by focusing on primary market distribution and secondary market support.
"Their expertise in the general municipal markets and structured finance will be an excellent fit with Ziegler," Hermann said.
Cho was previously a managing director at Stern Brothers, an independent woman-owned investment bank, and has more than 27 years of experience maintaining client relationships in the general municipal market. She has also focused on project finance, healthcare, higher education and not-for-profit sectors. Cho has held a senior or co-managed role on underwriting assignments.
"We are very excited about joining the Ziegler team," Cho said. "We believe that the underwriting and banking platform at Ziegler provides us with a partnership which will allow us to grow our practice to the nationally recognized levels of Ziegler's current business lines."
Smalinsky has more than 30 years of project finance experience and expertise in infrastructure finance. she has led financing teams and has been a financial advisor, senior managing underwriter and a placement agent for more than $6 billion in infrastructure projects.
Previously, Smalinsky was also a managing director at Stern Brothers.
With more than 26 years of capital markets and banking experience, Gadouas brings his knowledge of public, corporate and structured finance to Ziegler.
Gadouas served as vice president at Stern Brothers and is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth.
