CHICAGO – As two new bankers take their seat on Fifth Third Securities' public finance team, the firm says it's on the lookout to add to its ranks of bankers, sales, and traders as part of an ongoing expansion of its larger fixed-income business.
Tim Reidy and Brian Seedhouse started at the Ohio-based firm last week as senior public finance investment bankers. Seedhouse previously was a managing director at Huntington Investment Company. Reidy was a director at Huntington.
"The addition of Tim and Brian to our team is consistent with our strategy of bringing unique insights and capabilities to help our clients and prospects reach their goals," said Bob Marcus, head of capital markets at Fifth Third.
Reidy will work from Cleveland and focus on local governments and the K-12 education and public utility system sectors. Seedhouse will work from the Cincinnati office and focus on K-12 education, municipal and higher education debt issuers.
The firm's Ohio's presence took a hit recently with the departure of senior banker Andrew Brossart and three others, including bankers David Tiggett and Heather Arling and analyst Laura Hennessey. They moved to William Blair to establish an Ohio presence for the Chicago-based firm.
Fifth Third remains in hiring mode as part of a strategic expansion in fixed income that includes the municipal business with its eye on bankers, traders and sales professionals within the firm's existing footprint of offices and "selectively" outside that footprint, according to Mark Brown, head of fixed income, and John Rolander, group head of municipal finance.
The firm has a staff of about two dozen senior and junior bankers and analysts in its offices in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, East Lansing and Grand Rapids, Mich., Indianapolis, and Orlando. The banking staff is in addition to a team of 30 fixed-income sales professionals and 14 traders whose ranks have grown over the last year.
The firm already has a strong presence in the public education realm and would like to further build out its government sector, higher education, and utility business, Rolander added.
Fifth Third moved up the Midwest rankings last year, cracking the top 10 with its 8th place finish as a senior manager of $1.7 billion worth of deals, according to Thomson Reuters. It didn't make the top 10 cut the previous year. It ranked second among senior managers in its home state of Ohio leading $714 million worth of borrowing and finished fourth in both Indiana and Michigan.
