Thomas Weisel Partners

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc.
Type Public (NASDAQ: TWPG)
Founded 1999
Headquarters San Francisco, California
Key people Thom Weisel, Chairman and CEO
Industry Financial Services
Website www.tweisel.com

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWPGTSX: TWP), also known as TWP or Weisel, is a U.S. growth focused investment banking firm based in San Francisco, California.

The firm was launched in January 1999 by Thom Weisel and other personnel from the former Montgomery Securities. In 1997, Thom Weisel helped to orchestrate a $1.3 billion acquisition of Montgomery Securities by NationsBank.[1] The following year, however, NationsBank acquired BankAmerica Corp, which itself had acquired Technology-based rival Robertson.[1] In the process, senior bankers from Montgomery Securities secured backing from the Silicon Valley Venture Capital community and left to form their own venture: Thomas Weisel Partners.[1]

Thomas Weisel Partners, heavily focused on technology, prospered during the dot-com rise that peaked in its early years. The firm, however, hit turbulent times as technology saw a tremendous downturn. Bolstered by diversification into areas such as healthcare and consumer products, however, the firm survived and continued to operated independently. In search of additional capital, the firm made its debut on the NASDAQ on February 2, 2006 under the symbol (NASDAQ: TWPG).[2]

Following its acquisition of Westwind Partners that closed on January 2, 2008 [3], the firm now offers a broad coverage platform across technology, media, healthcare, consumer products, energy, mining, and real estate.[4] [5] Equity and Debt underwriting and Merger and Acquisition advisory operations are supplemented by Research, Trading, Brokerage, and Asset Management units as the firm operates a full-service investment bank.[4] [5] Various divisions operate out of San Francisco, New York, Toronto, London, Baltimore, Zurich, Calgary, Montreal, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, New York, Portland, and East Palo Alto.[4] [5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c [1]. Brandt, Richard. Capital Instincts. ISBN 0-4712-1417-5
  2. ^ [2]. CBS Market Watch. Thomas Weisel IPO up 30% in debut. 02/02/2006
  3. ^ [3]. CNN. Thomas Weisel Partners Completes Acquisition of Westwind Partners - Announces Appointment of Westwind CEO as President of TWP and Selected Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2007 Results. 01/02/2008
  4. ^ a b c [4]. Thomas Weisel Partners. Retrieved 01/16/2008
  5. ^ a b c [5]. Thomas Weisel Partners Canada. Retrieved 01/16/2008