Jefferies buys investment-biz broker Putnam Lovell

Thomas Coyle

21 June 2007

Buyer says PL purchase extends its own reach in the financial-service arena. Jefferies has acquired investment bank Putnam Lovell from Montreal, Canada-based National Bank Financial. Jeffries, a prime brokerage and investment bank, says the deal extends its reach as dealmaker in the financial-service space.

Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed.

Busy, busy

"The acquisition of Putnam Lovell represents a significant opportunity for Jefferies to deepen our Financial Services expertise, and to serve an even broader base of clients as we continue to diversify our firm," says New York-based Jeffries' CEO Richard Handler.

Putnam Lovell's has 21 investment bankers focused on the asset-management, broker-dealer and financial-technology industries in New York, London and San Francisco. The new team complements Jeffries' pre-acquisition financial-service practice, which is strong in specialty finance, transaction processing and other outsourced business services.

Putnam Lovell counts among its past clients Allianz Group, Deutsche Bank, MassMutual, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Prudential Financial. Recent Putnam Lovell transactions include State Street's acquisition of Currenex, the sale of a majority interest in Chicago Equity Partners to Affiliated Managers Group and the sale of AssetMark to Genworth Financial.

Putnam Lovell's managing director Aaron Dorr says he and his partners are "delighted to join Jefferies in identifying and meeting" the investment-banking needs of "growing and mid-sized" financial-service companies.

Jefferies has been in the investment-banking business since the early 1960s. -FWR