Oakland, California-based Robert Van Securities Inc. (RVS), a broker dealer, recently acquired New York-City based investment bank Blaylock & Co. Inc. in a merger that could produce a financial services powerhouse. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The new Blaylock Robert Van L.L.C. will remain under black ownership. Eric Van Standifer, 51, who founded RVS in 1991, will be president and CEO. Ronald E. Blaylock, 47, who started his firm 14 years ago, becomes chairman.
The merger will allow the new company to provide additional services to clients. “Robert Van Securities enjoys a leadership position among the most technologically advanced broker-dealers in the country,” says Blaylock, who will focus on strategic business development and corporate relationships. “We were looking to bolster our capabilities in that area, while they were looking to expand into capital markets and corporate finance.”
Adds Standifer: “Blaylock & Co. has one of the most extensive groups of clients in corporate America, and I thought it was just a fantastic opportunity for the two firms.”
African Americans own 90% of RVS and an unspecified majority of Blaylock & Co. RVS will have the controlling interest in the combined new firm, says Standifer, which will be 70% African American-owned.
RVS developed ELROI (Electronic Review of Investments), a Web-based platform designed to assist equity portfolio managers and analysts in stock selection and portfolio construction by tracking and assessing more than 4,500 publicly traded stocks. One of the ways portfolio managers pay RVS is by executing trades through the company. RVS also sold approximately $45 billion of debt offerings from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Home Loan Bank to corporate and municipal customers in 2006.