L. F. Rothschild Sells N.Y. Brokerage

L. F. Rothschild & Co. said Thursday that it has sold its New York brokerage operations to Oppenheimer & Co., marking the latest step in Rothschild’s retrenchment after the stock market crash.

Rothschild said the move was part of its strategy of concentrating on its areas of strength: fixed income, investment banking and equity and arbitrage.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Oppenheimer said Rothschild’s 150 New York account executives would be invited to join Oppenheimer. “We’ve always felt Rothschild’s brokers were among our best competitors,” said Nathan Gantcher, president of Oppenheimer. “They cater to a similar clientele as ours--the high net worth investor who requires specialized products and services.”

Rothschild suffered a net loss of $44 million in October due to significant trading losses in the stock market’s crash. In the nine months ended Sept. 30, the firm had a loss of $248,000, contrasted with a profit of $15.9 million in the year-earlier period.

When it announced its third-quarter results, Rothschild also disclosed that it was de-emphasizing its public finance and municipal bond businesses, trimming 150 workers in the process.

Rothschild officials announced in December that the firm would be restructured and said it anticipated laying off about 40% of the 2,000 employees it had worldwide at the beginning of 1987.

Similar streamlining moves have been taken by a number of major Wall Street firms before and after the October crash to trim operating expenses in the face of increased competition and shrinking profit margins.

Rothschild had engaged in talks with giant Merrill Lynch & Co. over a possible equity investment in Rothschild and the acquisition of its brokerages, but those talks broke down earlier this month.

As of Jan. 1, 1987, Rothschild ranked as the 18th-largest U.S. securities firm with capital of $289 million. Oppenheimer, which has about 2,300 workers, ranked 23rd with $211 million in capital.