July 14, 2000 -- Memphis, Tennessee -- Morgan Keegan & Company is pleased to announce the opening of its 15th public finance banking office in Richmond, Virginia. James R. Johnson, who joins Morgan Keegan from First Union Securities, will manage the office. W. Randall Dunning, formerly of BB&T Capital Markets (Craigie Incorporated), will serve as assistant manager. Joining the firm as senior bankers are Kevin D. Rotty, Edward Smither, Jr., Ronald W. K. Pang and Melissa McFadden Weicker, all formerly associated with First Union Securities. Additionally, Walter Craigie will serve Morgan Keegan as a senior advisor. Craigie was previously a senior advisor for public finance matters at First Union Securities. He has served The Commonwealth of Virginia as Treasurer and Secretary of Finance and is currently an appointed member of the state's Debt Advisory Committee.
With the addition of the Richmond public finance office, Morgan Keegan now has 15 public finance offices with over 70 banking professionals. The firm also recently opened a public finance office in Charlotte, North Carolina. Stephen J. Schemmel, an experienced housing banker formerly with Alex. Brown and most recently First Union Securities, has joined the Charlotte banking office. Schemmel was previously the chief financial officer of the Wisconsin Housing and Development Authority.
Rob Baird, executive managing director of Morgan Keegan's Fixed Income Banking division believes the public finance industry will continue to favor well-capitalized, experienced regional investment banks such as Morgan Keegan. “The opening of the Richmond and Charlotte public finance offices builds upon our 20-year commitment to providing quality banking services to municipal issuers. The Richmond banking team led by Jim Johnson includes several of the most experienced and highly respected public finance professionals in the industry. We look forward to expanding the firm's very successful public finance practice into the Mid-Atlantic States through these new offices.”
Morgan Keegan & Company is a full service brokerage and investment banking firm with 46 offices in 13 states, including brokerage offices in Richmond and Charlotte. Other public finance banking offices are located in Memphis, Atlanta, Dallas, Little Rock, Nashville, New Orleans, Knoxville, Birmingham, Durham, Montgomery, Houston, Pensacola and Gainesville. In 1999, Morgan Keegan managed 480 bond issues raising a total of $11.6 billion. For the first quarter of 2000, Morgan Keegan ranked 10th nationally for negotiated municipal issues.
Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Company is a subsidiary of Morgan Keegan, Inc., a financial services holding company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: MOR).
