Contact
Editor
Greg
Wingfield
Greater Richmond
Partnership
23219-1234
Partner
Corporate Growth - Richmond Chapter
Read the Greater Richmond Partnership's other newsletters:
Catalyst: tracking innovation in Richmond, VA's advanced materials/specialty chemicals sector
BioSynthesis: tracking innovation in Richmond, VA's life sciences sector
Logistics: tracking innovation in Richmond, VA's supply chain sector
|
Ewing Bemiss, a small Richmond investment banker, has developed a big national reputation by raising hundreds of millions of dollars for alternate-energy deals.
by Peter Galuszka
Ewing Bemiss & Co., a 20-person investment bank in downtown Richmond, is proof that you don’t have to be big to make a difference. Seemingly out of nowhere, the firm has vaulted onto the national scene as a leading player in the financing of green energy projects. With the closing of a $450 million geothermal deal earlier this year, the company is muscling into the top ranks of Richmond-based deal makers as well.
Located on the 16th floor of an office building overlooking the James River, Ewing Bemiss is one of several small firms that quietly handle mergers, acquisitions and private-equity financings for the mid-cap market. Other regional players that offer discretion as well as expertise include Harris Williams & Co., Matrix Capital Markets Group and a host of smaller firms. Over its 16-year history, Ewing Bemiss has developed niche specialties in health care, transportation and logistics, business services and manufacturing. But rarely did its deals exceed $100 million in size.
done. Then, seemingly overnight, oil prices exploded, the Global Warming controversy gained critical mass, regulators began demanding renewable fuels in utility portfolios, and billions of dollars started flowing into the sector. The deals are flowing into Ewing Bemiss like never before.
A love of Richmond brought the firm together. Founder A. Hugh Ewing III had worked at Wheat First Butcher Singer, the venerable Richmond brokerage, before it was subsumed into the Wachovia financial empire. He left in 1992, joined four years later by Samuel M. Bemiss III who had worked in investment banking in Boston and New York. Besides being alumni of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, both men were Richmonders who wanted to stay close to home.
“We have a national practice but we want to stay here,” says Bacon, who grew up in Norfolk and joined the firm in 1994 after earning an M.B.A. in finance from the College of William and Mary. “We all like Richmond as a place to live and we travel all over.” More.
Brokerage loses three key workers
3 from Wachovia Securities start
Riverfront Investment, to remain in
Richmond
area
By Carol Hazard Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
The top investment leaders and strategists at Wachovia Securities left the brokerage yesterday to start their own investment advisory firm in Richmond.
Rod Smyth, the chief investment strategist; Doug Sandler, the chief equity strategist; and Michael Jones, the chief investment officer, have started Riverfront Investment Group.
They are joined by
Riverfront Investment Group is a registered investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The first day of business is today, Quinn said.
The venture came about as a confluence of events that began with the corporate decision to move the headquarters to St. Louis.
"Richmond is our home -- it's where we plan on retiring and being the rest of our lives," Jones said. More.
Can I Have Fries with
that Credit Card, Please?
Advancing
the trend toward customized credit cards, Capital One
Financial Corporation has introduced a new
"personalized image" feature for its customers.
All Capital One consumer credit card customers now have the
option to visit the Cap One website and upload their own
photo images - family, friends, pets, or a favorite picture
- to be printed on their card, at no cost. "Putting
a personalized image on your credit card is a unique way to
express individual personality and creativity," said
Pam Girardo, spokesperson for Capital One. "This
continues our efforts to empower consumers by putting them
in control of decisions affecting their credit card." More.
Investment Banking Transactions
Alpha
Omega Capital Partners... AOCP served as the financial advisor to W.A. Sherman Co. Inc., a mechanical contractor based in Orange, Va., acquired by Kevin Lader, president of K. Lader Inc., of Midlothian. More.
AOCP served as financial advisor to Mailer's Resource Group Inc., a Richmond provider of pre-sort mail services, in its acquisition by the PSI Group, Inc., of Omaha, Neb. More.
AOCP served as financial advisor to Claudia and Rob Simon, owners of D&R Ventures, Inc. d/b/a USA Baby, which they founded in Chesterfield County 17 years ago, in the company's sale to Stephen and Happy Krickovic, of Richmond. More.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc...
Matrix completed the sale of Riddleberger Brothers, Inc., a mechanical systems installer based in Mount Crawford, Va., to Comfort Systems USA, Inc., of Houston, Tex. More.
Matrix
completed the sale of Paladin Tools, an Oilville, Va.-based
provider of
hand tools and accessories for the communications wiring
industry, to Greenlee, an operating subsidiary of Textron
Inc. More.
Windward Advisors...
Windward Advisors completed the sale of Kids in Focus, a provider of short-term diagnostic and therapeutic services to children in crisis, to Community Alternatives, Virginia, Inc., a subsidiary of ResCare, Inc., of Louisville, Ky.
|
|
Business
Edelman
to Hire 25 in
Genworth
Invests in Institutional Life.
Senior Financial, Inc.,
a venture
investment subsidiary of Genworth Financial, Inc., will
become a minority shareholder in Institutional Life
Services, formed to create an institutional marketplace for
the settlement of life insurance policies. (Dec. 20,
2007) More.
Cap
One Rolls Out New Credit Card.
Capital One Financial Corporation has launched a credit card
that offers small business owners double rewards for travel
and entertainment purchases. Said Cap One executive David
Wasik: “Travel and entertainment is a significant spend
category for many small business owners. As such, we created
the Preferred No Hassle Miles credit card so that our
customers could earn the most rewards where they spend the
most money.” (Feb. 21, 2008) More.
CEFA Launches Data Service. Closed-End Fund Advisors, publisher of a newsletter on closed-end funds, has partnered with Fund Data, a London-based data provider, to develop a weekly, Web-based data service tracking 22 data points in the closed-end fund sector. (April 9, 2008) More.
Hilb Rogal Acquires Talty. Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Company has completed the acquisition of Talty Insurance Agency, Inc., a Colorado insurance company. (Feb. 1, 2008) More.
Hilb Rogal
Buys
Baltimore Firm.
Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Company has acquired Integrated Group
Benefits, a Baltimore-based employee benefits consulting firm that generates more than $1.2 million in
revenue. (Jan. 7, 2008) More.
Burke to Run Anthem in Virginia. C. Burke King has been named president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia, replacing Tom Byrd. King, 44, will manage all of the company's employer health insurance business in Virginia. (April 8, 2008) More.
Dynex Taps Akin. Dynex Capital, Inc., a real estate financial services company, has appointed Chairman Thomas B. Akin as CEO. (Feb. 5, 2008) More.
Genworth
Hires
Corbin.
Genworth Financial, Inc., has
named Amy R. Corbin vice president and controller-principal
accounting officer. She had previously served as Genworth's
global leader of accounting policy. (April 1, 2008) More.
|
