| Type | Subsidiary of Regions Financial Corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Founder(s) | Allen B. Morgan, Jr., James Keegan, Robert Gooch, Jr., Joseph C. Weller |
| Headquarters | Morgan Keegan Tower Memphis, Tennessee, USA |
| Key people | John C. Carson Jr., Chief Executive Officer Charles D. Maxwell, Chief Financial Officer R. Patrick Kruczek, President and Chief Operating Officer |
| Revenue | $1.3 billion (2008) |
| Employees | 4,300 (2008) |
| Website | http://www.morgankeegan.com/ |
Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. is the investment banking, securities brokerage, trust, and asset management division of Regions Financial Corporation. The company was founded in 1969 in Memphis, Tennessee and has over 450 offices in 20 states, over 4,000 employees, and over $890 million in equity capital. It is headquartered in the eponymous Morgan Keegan Tower in downtown Memphis.
Since 2001 the company has been a subsidiary of Regions Financial Corporation. After Morgan Keegan was acquired by Regions, Regions' brokerage unit was incorporated into Morgan Keegan. After Regions merged with AmSouth Bancorporation in 2006, AmSouth's brokerage business also became a part of Morgan Keegan.[1] Since the merger, the Birmingham office has become the company's second largest office and is the headquarters location for Regions Morgan Keegan Trust.
Its primary footprint is the southeastern U.S., serving Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. The firm also has retail offices in St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Rockville, MD, as well as institutional offices in Chicago, Boston, and New York City.
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The firm was founded in Memphis in 1969 by Allen B. Morgan, Jr., and James Keegan along with Robert Gooch, Jr., and accountant Joseph C. Weller. Morgan had been with Courts & Co., Keegan was previously an over-the-counter trader at Equitable Securities, and Gooch had been with Kohlmeyer & Co.
At the end of its first year, the company had 13 employees and $614,000 in capital.[2] In 1970, MK secured a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Within three years, MK had set up a fixed income division and opened its first branch office. By 1976, MK had established an investment banking division.
In 1983, the company sold shares to the public through an initial public offering. In 1985, the company stock was listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "MOR" and corporate revenues exceeded $50 million for the first time. Keegan left the firm in 1985.[2]
In April 1984, construction began on the new Morgan Keegan Tower in downtown Memphis, as the old Hotel King Cotton hotel at Jefferson and Front streets was dynamited.[3] Construction was completed in 1985. At 21 stories and 403 feet tall (including the spire), it is the second highest building in Memphis. In a nod to the past, the four giant stone griffins that adorned the former Hotel King Cotton are displayed in the atrium of the MK Tower. [4]
Also in 1985,William W. "Bill" Deupree, Jr., who joined MK in 1972, was named President; a position he would hold until 1996. Deupree also served as a Director of the Securities Industry Association from 1992 to 1995 and on the Regional Advisory Board of the New York Stock Exchange from 1991 to 1995. [5]
In 1988, MK would make its first major acquisition, buying Jackson, Mississippi-based brokerage Geary & Patterson. A year later, MK would make three more acquisitions. It snapped up T.J. Raney & Sons, Arkansas' oldest investment banking firm, and George M. Wood & Company in Montgomery, Alabama, along with Louisiana investment firm of Scharff & Jones. It was also the same year that MK would rank first in nation in underwriting taxable housing bonds.
By 1991, revenues reached the $100 million mark and stockholders equity was roughly $50 million. In just two more years, revenues doubled to $200 million.
The mid-1990s were fast-paced at MK, as its footprint expanded tremendously. In 1992, it purchased Cumberland Securities of Knoxville. In 1993, MK would make two more deals, buying Porter, White & Yardley of Birmingham, Alabama, and Capitol Securities Group of Texas. The next year, MK would make yet another two deals, purchasing J. Lee Peeler & Co. of North Carolina and Louisville-based Commonwealth Securities Group. In 1995, MK bought Trust Company of Chattanooga and renamed it Morgan Trust Company. It was the same year that MK acquired super agent Jimmy Sexton and Athletic Resource Management, a Memphis-based sports agency representing players in the National Basketball Association, National Football League and Major League Baseball.[6] In 1997, it swallowed two more outfits, Atlanta-based underwriting firm Knox, Wall & Co., and investment manager Weibel, Huffman, Keegan.
During the merger frenzy within regional brokerage of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the firm was sold to Regions Financial Corporation for $789 million.[7] Due to his concentration in Morgan Keegan stock at that time of the merger, Morgan remains the largest non-institutional shareholders of Regions, according to Bloomberg. As such, Morgan joined the Regions board of directors and eventually became vice chairman of Regions. He retired from the RF board at the end of 2007.
With the merger of Regions complete in 2001, MK folded the former Regions Investment Company into existing operations, bringing the total financial advisor count to roughly 900. In 2002, MK added two more NYSE seats, bringing its total to five. The seats were estimated to be worth $10 million total at the time.[8]
Following the Regions and Union Planters Bank merger in 2004, MK added more than 70 new satellite locations in Union Planters Banks. MK bought Albrecht & Associates in 2005, which helps sell oil and gas properties. That same year, MK also extended its lease at this namesake headquarters in downtown Memphis through 2015. In 2007, MK absorbed AmSouth Investment Services, as a result of the Regions and AmSouth Bank merger.[9]
In recent years, Morgan Keegan has been bolstering to its investment banking operations. In June 2007, MK bought Shattuck Hammond Partners. In December 2008, it bought Atlanta-based merger advisory firm Burke Capital[10] and boutique firm Revolution Partners, which specializes in middle-market technology companies.[11] In June 2009, it added strategic acquisition specialists with Spectrum Capital Partners. [12]
The firm's day-to-day operations were run by Allen Morgan, as chairman and CEO, from 1969 until 2003. Yet, Morgan retained the chairman's title until his retirement on December 31, 2007. Today, he is the firm's chairman emeritus.
Joe Weller was the Treasurer and chief financial officer since its founding in 1969. He added the title of Corporate Secretary when MK went public in 1983. [13] Upon Weller's retirement in 2006, Charles D. Maxwell was named CFO, secretary and treasurer.
Bill Deupree was president from 1985 until 1996. In 2000, Stephen P. Laffey became president and chief operating officer and G. Douglas "Doug" Edwards as vice chairman. Both retained prior titles, Laffey as president of Equity Capital Markets and Edwards as president of Fixed Income Capital Markets. However, Laffey would leave abruptly roughly eight months later. As a result, Edwards would assume the president title and the COO position was dropped.[14] In 2003, Morgan passed the CEO title to Edwards, who served in that capacity until his retirement in 2008.
On February 27, 2008, John C. Carson, Jr., was named as the third CEO of Morgan Keegan. Carson had been the head of fixed income for the firm since he joined in 1994. Additionally, R. Patrick Kruczek, was named as president and chief operating officer. Kruczek, who joined in 1993, had been the chief administrative officer since 2006.
In November 2009, James A. Parrish announced that he was stepping down as the president of the Private Client Group, which is essentially the retail sales force.[15] Eastern Regional President Richard S. "Dick" Ferguson will succeed Parrish on January 1, 2010.[16]