Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., L.L.C. (www.sbsco.com), the nation’s #1 ranked MBE municipal finance firm and a Top 5 ranked MBE corporate underwriting firm, announces a realignment of its ownership structure to create the preeminent black, Hispanic & woman owned firm on Wall Street. Joining the ownership are Hon. Henry Cisneros, a former mayor of San Antonio and former HUD Secretary; Hon. William C. Thompson, Chief Administrative Officer and Managing Director of Siebert Brandford Shank, and former New York City Comptroller; Sean Duffy, SBSCO’s Managing Director of Institutional Sales, and Victor Miramontes, previously CEO of North American Development Bank. Co-founder Suzanne Shank will become majority owner of the firm and hold the title of Chairwoman and CEO.
Since its founding in 1996, SBSCO has transacted more than $2 trillion for significant infrastructure financing across the country as well as bond and equity transactions for major corporate clients. The company’s product and service offerings include municipal bond underwriting, corporate debt and equity underwriting, investment banking and execution services for many of the largest Fortune 500 companies.
The firm was founded in 1996 by the late Muriel Siebert, the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, together with Suzanne Shank and now retiring chairman Napoleon Brandford III. The transaction will include the acquisition of Siebert Financial Corp.’s (SIEB) ownership interest in SBSCO.
The new owners joining Ms. Shank in the partnership are:
• The Hon. Henry G. Cisneros – Mr. Cisneros became the first Latino mayor of San Antonio from 1981-89 and the first Latino to be elected Mayor of a major city in the 20th century. He also served as the 10th U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1993-97). He was President and COO of Univision from 1997 to 2000 before forming American City Vista, now CityView, an investment management and development firm and Cisneros Asset Management Company. He serves on the boards of Univision and La Quinta.
• The Hon. William C. Thompson – Mr. Thompson has served as Chief Administrative Officer/Senior Managing Director of SBSCO since 2014. He was also formerly the 42nd Comptroller of the City of New York, that city’s chief financial officer, from 2002-2009. Prior to that, Mr. Thompson was President of the New York City Board of Education from 1996-2001.
• Sean Duffy – Mr. Duffy serves as Managing Director and head of Institutional Sales and Trading. Mr. Duffy is a 34 year municipal finance veteran and top tier industry producer having served with firms including Paine Webber, Loop Capital, Printon Kane and William E. Simon & Sons.
• Victor Miramontes – Mr. Miramontes has over 25 years of experience in investment banking and finance, beginning in the public finance sector, starting up and serving as CEO of the North American Development Bank, as a founding partner of Cisneros Asset Management Company and finally as a co-founder and Vice Chairman of CityView.
“I am pleased to continue to build upon the legacy that Muriel, Napoleon and I started in 1996 when we founded the firm,” said Ms. Shank. “It is significant that as we enter the 20th anniversary year of the firm, our municipal and corporate clients continue to reward us with major transactions for our proven superior structuring, pricing and distribution capabilities and our deep pool of employee talent. With our new, dynamic ownership and realignment, the firm is poised to have an even greater impact.”
“I am optimistic about the role that a strengthened SBSCO can play in advancing the public financing of needed infrastructure and essential public facilities in our country,” said Mr. Cisneros. “I am proud to be able to invest in an entity that has amassed a distinguished record of quality service over decades and to join a team whose principal assets are its capable financial professionals. I know from personally having worked in every state in our nation that there is immense work to be done and I am certain that SBSCO has the capacity to do its part to build the nation’s future.”
“Since I’ve been with SBSCO, we have grown bigger, better and stronger,” said Mr. Thompson. “With our new ownership structure, we will not only continue to provide the high level of service our clients have come to expect, we will build on our past success and create an even better future. As one of Wall Street’s top tier firms, we have already set a high standard and with these changes we will be even more competitive moving forward. I am so proud to be a part of this ownership team.”
“I am thrilled to be a part of this ownership group and I know that our firm is going to continue to be a leading force on Wall Street,” said Mr. Duffy. “SBSCO has been at the center of some of the biggest and most important corporate and municipal infrastructure investment transactions in this country and this enhancement to our ownership will build on that record of success.”
“I am excited and honored to team up with Suzanne and the great team that SBSCO has assembled,” said Mr. Miramontes. “I am confident that Henry and I will add new opportunities and perspectives for the firm. It is my goal and hope that together we will all take SBSCO to an even higher level of client service, profitability and growth.”
“I’ve had two key long term objectives in my career. One was to build a top 10 Wall Street firm, and second was to successfully transition it to the next generation, creating a legacy firm that maintains its industry leading presence,” said Mr. Brandford. “I am proud that Henry Cisneros will join the ownership alongside CEO Suzanne Shank, former New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Victor Miramontes and SBSCO’s head of sales and trading, Sean Duffy. This dynamic leadership will propel SBSCO as America’s preeminent African-American and Hispanic financial firm.”
SBSCO earned the distinction in 2010 of becoming the first minority-owned firm to rank among the top 10 senior managers of municipal bonds, as ranked by Thomson Reuters. Since 1998 the firm has been ranked as the #1 minority and woman owned municipal finance firm.With dual headquarters in New York and Oakland, CA, SBSCO maintains 17 offices nationwide including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Antonio, Seattle, St. Louis and Washington, DC.
