Looks like LAB is hell-bent on growth:
dailynews.yahoo.com
"Wednesday October 11 9:51 AM ET
LaBranche to Buy McCooey for $286 Million
NEW YORK (Reuters) - LaBranche & Co. Inc. (NYSE:LAB - news), which operates a specialist firm on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites), said on Wednesday it signed a deal to buy rival Robb Peck McCooey for about $286 million in stock in another sign that the share-dealing industry remains hot.
Under the deal, LaBranche would pay 9.7 million of its common shares, valued at about $286 million based on its Tuesday of $29-1/2 on the New York Stock Exchange, plus an undisclosed number of nonconvertible preferred shares for privately held Robb Peck.
Robb Peck runs the sixth-largest specialist firm on the Big Board in terms of listings, and the seventh-largest in terms of trading volume, LaBranche said in a statement. Specialists manage the buying and selling of a stock on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, pocketing the difference between the bid and ask prices.
``The proposed acquisition of Robb Peck McCooey is consistent with our strategy of leading the consolidation of the specialist industry and increasing our market share,'' LaBranche Chief Executive Michael LaBranche said.
The deal is the latest move in a wave of consolidation in the market-making world, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS - news) and Merrill Lynch and Co. Inc. (NYSE:MER - news) recently shelling out billions to expand their share-dealing operations. On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) offered $49 per share to acquire the shares of National Discount Brokers Group Inc. (NYSE:NDB - news), which runs a share-dealing unit, it does not already own."
Morgan |
