Content area
Full Text
Although some still wonder what motivated a bouyant multinational brokerage to pick up the pieces of a drowning local investment firm, former employees of McKewon & Timmins gladly grabbed the life preserver thrown to them in an unexpected deal last week.
First Affiliated Securities announced last week it would acquire the clients, personnel and offices of McKewon & Timmins, which only days earlier announced it had fallen below capital requirements and would shut its doors for good. The resurrected firm opened as McKewon Capital Markets Inc., a subsidiary of First Affiliated.
It included most of the former McKewon & Timmins principals, with the notable exception of Jim Timmins.
At a press conference June 2, the new owner attempted to clarify its motivations. A. J. Bekhor & Co., which only last month finished a deal to buy the San Diego-founded First Affiliated chain of 203 discount brokerages, said the new McKewon Capital entity was purchased to establish a strong West Coast presence.
"When an opportunity presents itself, you have to act quickly. This is rather like a heart transplant. You've got to do it while the remaining body is still alive and then you've got to put it back together again," said Jonathan E. S. Bekhor, chairman of A. J. Bekhor & Co.
None of the involved parties would discuss how much, if any money changed hands in the...