BANKING / FINANCE : Newport Beach Brokerage Acquires Santa Barbara Firm
Cruttenden & Co., a Newport Beach brokerage firm that has been making moves into investment banking, has doubled its work force and increased business about 33% by acquiring a Santa Barbara brokerage.
Cruttenden has purchased Talley, McNeil & Co., a Santa Barbara brokerage, for an undisclosed price. Both firms are privately held. Cruttenden has 25 employees engaged in brokerage, investment banking, venture capital and research, and Talley, McNeil has 20 employees acting mainly as brokers.
Walter Cruttenden III, chairman of Cruttenden & Co., described Talley, McNeil as “a tremendous retail office in a highly affluent market.”
Talley, McNeil, founded four years ago by Richard Talley and Sid McNeil, will continue to do business under its current name. Talley has joined Cruttenden’s board and executive committee.
The Santa Barbara firm has concentrated on providing specialized brokerage services to wealthy individuals. And that fits perfectly with Cruttenden’s plan to build a bigger firm that can draw more clients into purchasing stock in companies that Cruttenden helps to secure financing.
Some of those companies, such as Emulex Corp. in Costa Mesa, will be on display Feb. 8 and 9 at Cruttenden’s second annual growth stock conference. The conference, which is attended mostly by institutional investors, is designed to showcase public companies whose stock Cruttenden considers to be undervalued.
Last year’s conference drew about 100 people, including representatives from about 35 investment firms. This year, Cruttenden said, he expects close to 300 representatives from about 100 investment firms, who will hear presentations from 41 area firms.
Among the local banking firms scheduled at the conference are CommerceBank in Newport Beach, Eldorado Bancorp in Laguna Hills, Liberty National Bank in Huntington Beach and PNB Financial Group in Santa Ana.
