Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, a leading full-service wealth management, capital markets, and asset management firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania announced today that it acquired HighBank Advisors a leading middle-market investment bank and financial advisory firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland with a presence in Philadelphia. The transaction will strengthen Janney’s leadership in the M&A space and enhance its comprehensive advisory services expertise, particularly in the business services, technology and industrial sectors.
The combined firms will expand Janney’s existing M&A platform by adding six (6) Managing Directors and 11 total professionals to Janney’s Investment Banking group, resulting in a combined total of 51 investment banking professionals. Since 2009, Janney has handled 620 transactions with $85 billion in transaction value. HighBank has completed 47 transactions over that same time-period.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome this highly experienced team of professionals to the Firm,” said Joe Culley, Senior Vice President and Head of Capital Markets at Janney. “This transaction underscores our commitment to expanding our middle-market advisory capabilities and represents an important step toward executing our strategy of disciplined growth. We look forward to leveraging the industry experience, sector knowledge and strategic relationships of our combined businesses to better serve our client base and complement our strong and growing Capital Markets business.”
“By expanding our M&A business within our existing geographic footprint, we are keeping pace with the Firm’s Private Client group, which experienced a record year of growth in 2017,” commented Cliff Booth, Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking at Janney. “The expansion of our M&A business aligns with the interests of many of our private wealth clients who are business owners in need of services related to selling their business or raising capital.”
“It was critical that we find a firm with the right culture, client service approach, values and commitment to excellence in execution. Janney exceeded these objectives,” said Stephen Gaines, Founder and Managing Director at HighBank. “We are excited to join an established and respected firm that is dedicated to providing the highest level of service and advice to middle-market clients.”
HighBank professionals will join Janney offices in both Baltimore and Philadelphia. The acquisition will expand Janney’s industry group coverage to six (6) introducing Business Services to the already established verticals of Basic Industries, Financial Institutions, Healthcare, Infrastructure, and Real Estate. Stephen Gaines will head the combined firms’ Business Services group.
Sheffield Haworth sourced the transaction on behalf of Janney. Blank Rome LLP served as legal counsel to Janney. Gordon Feinblatt LLC served as legal counsel to HighBank.
About Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
Janney provides advice to individual, corporate, and institutional clients. Our expertise includes guidance about asset management, corporate and public finance, equity and fixed income investing, equity research, institutional equity and fixed income sales and trading, investment strategy, financial planning, mergers and acquisitions, public and private capital raising, portfolio management, retirement and income planning, and wealth management. Janney is an independently-operated subsidiary of The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Additional company information is available at www.janney.com.
About HighBank Advisors
HighBank Advisors is a mid-market investment bank and financial advisory firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland with a regional office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. HighBank was formed in 2009 by its founding partner Stephen Gaines and offers a wide range of investment banking, financial advisory and restructuring services. The firm was formed on a mission that clients deserve to have their highest expectations met and to receive higher value for their investments of money and time. The firm executes solely with our clients’ objectives in mind and acts with the highest transparency. www.highbank.com
