CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hovde Group, LLC announced today that continued growth and solid execution of its strategic plan helped propel the firm to robust results in 2018, which comes on the heels of strong performance in the prior year. Five years ago, the company embarked on an initiative to provide an expanded suite of services to its client base, adding to its industry-leading bank sector M&A practice and establishing new business lines and platforms toward that end, including capital markets advisory, equity research, and equity sales and trading services. More recently, the firm followed a similar blueprint with the addition of premier industry talent to form a new practice to advise specialty finance companies.
Today, Hovde Group ranks among the top bank and specialty finance sector M&A advisory firms, and is among the leading providers of capital markets advisory and market making services to community banks nationwide, complemented by independent, high quality research from award-winning analysts.
Hovde Group announced or completed 39 M&A transactions in 2018 (3/4 sell-side; 1/4 buyside), for aggregate transaction value of $3.1 billion. The nationwide reach of the company’s M&A advisory practice is evident when considering the geographic distribution of these transactions, including 18 in the Southeast, 8 in the Midwest, 8 in the Southwest, 3 in the Mid-Atlantic, and 2 in the West.
Hovde Group completed 17 capital markets transactions in 2018, including 10 equity deals (2 of which were IPO’s) and 7 subordinated debt transactions, for total gross proceeds of $579 million. As with M&A, capital markets transactions were geographically dispersed, and included 8 deals in the Midwest, 4 in the Southeast, 2 in the West, 2 in the Southwest, and 1 in the Mid-Atlantic. The firm’s largest capital markets transaction of the year – for which it acted as the sole placement agent -- was a $100 million private placement for a bank in Florida.
Hovde Group added new talent in each of its key divisions in 2018, and, looking ahead, will continue to pursue a measured pace of growth and expansion, potentially including new business lines. “We’ve more than doubled the size of the company over the past few years, but we’ve also managed prudently, which positions us to act opportunistically in pursuit of talent when available, at a time when others seem to be pulling back,” said Steven Hovde, Hovde Group’s Chairman and CEO.
Hovde Group also continues to cultivate talent, and reward outstanding performance. The heads of the firm’s three main divisions and members of its Management Operating Committee – Kirk Hovde in Investment Banking, Michael Hedrei in Capital Markets, and Joe Fenech in Equity Research – were appointed as Managing Principals in 2018. Kicking off 2019, the firm appointed Michael Corso as a Principal within its Investment Banking division. “These appointments to the Hovde Partnership are in recognition of outstanding individual performance as well as the success and growth the firm has enjoyed to date. We look forward to their continued contributions, as well as the possibility for continued expansion of the partnership,” commented Mr. Hovde.
About Hovde Group, LLC
For over 30 years, Hovde Group, LLC has been a leading boutique investment bank focused exclusively on the financial services sector. The firm consistently ranks among the bank sector’s top M&A and capital markets advisory firms, is a leading market maker of community and regional bank stocks, and produces high quality research from award-winning analysts.