Manhattan Investors Buy Irvine-Based Geneva Cos. : Sale: In the past five years, the mergers and acquisitions firm has initiated and closed more of its specialty deals than any other company.

Geneva Cos., a leading mergers and acquisitions company, has been sold by its New York parent company to a group of Manhattan investors for an undisclosed price.

Chemical Bank sold the Irvine firm late Tuesday to investors D.H. Troob & Co., Loeb Holding Corp. and Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

David H. Troob and Kuhn took the posts of Geneva’s chairman and president, respectively.

Kuhn, who has a home in Pasadena and splits time between the West and East coasts, said he will move to Southern California permanently to operate the company. Troob said he will spend most of his time at Geneva. Loeb Holding Corp. is a limited partner in Troob’s company.

As veteran investment bankers, Troob and Kuhn have holdings in many companies they do not actively manage. But they plan to manage Geneva, Troob said, “because this is our business.”

Geneva, which consists of four primary companies, has three offices nationwide and employs about 250 people. As recently as late 1990, the company had 450 employees. The company has laid off many employees as its deals dwindled.

Nevertheless, in the past five years, Geneva has initiated and closed more mergers, acquisitions and divestitures than any other company, based on publicly announced results, Kuhn said.

Geneva expects to be at the top again this year, he said.

Kuhn said he was representing some Japanese companies about three years ago when he was asked to be a speaker at a Geneva-sponsored seminar.

He and then-Geneva Chairman Richard Rodnick later formed a company to advise so-called middle-market companies--ones with no current interest in selling their operations--on how to enhance their market value in case they decide to sell later.

About a year ago, after Rodnick retired, Kuhn began discussions with Chemical Bank about buying Geneva. The Irvine firm no longer fit into Chemical’s operations, and now the New York bank is about to merge with Manufacturers Hanover, another New York banking concern.

Last spring, Kuhn teamed with Troob to complete the purchase. Troob’s company now owns a majority interest in Geneva, but he will not divulge the percentage.

Kuhn, who holds a doctorate from UCLA in neurophysiology but does not practice that profession, said he considers Geneva a unique company because it can serve all the needs of the middle market.

Neither Kuhn nor Troob are too worried about the current economic slowdown. “Revenues have not declined, even though the numbers of (employees) have declined substantially,” Troob said. “Given the base of clients the company has, we’re cautiously optimistic about the future.”