Public Financial Management, ranked number two nationally among financial advisers, hasacquired Evensen Dodge, an independent Minnesota-based advisory firm.
Terms of the deal were not released. Evensen Dodge has assumed the PFM name.
Jeanne Vanda, managing director in the Des Moines office of PFM, said PFM has been in anacquisition mode for the last few years and decided to purchase Evensen Dodge to branchout into certain geographic areas. The acquisition, which closed on Thursday, willenable PFM to expand in areas such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Iowa, whereEvensen Dodge has a strong client base.
In Minnesota, Evensen last year ranked third with more than $1 billion of deals and PFMranked seventh with $154 million, according to Thomson Financial. The firm was the top-ranked North Dakota financial adviser. Evensen is ranked second in Iowa compared to PFMat fourth, and is in the top five in Missouri and Wisconsin, far above PFM.
Vanda said both firms had been in talks for about six months as Homer B. Dodge,president and CEO of Evensen Dodge for over 30 years, wanted to divest the business.Calls to Evensen Dodge were referred to Dodge, who was out of town and could not bereached for comment.
"The key is that Evensen Dodge has a good history providing sound financial advice. Italso has a strong client base and personnel, which is a good match with PFM. We willprovide their staff with additional resources to serve clients better," Vanda said.
As part of the acquisition, about 24 people joined PFM, including three as managingdirectors, nine as senior managing consultants, five as consultants, and six inadministration. Managing directors Wayne Burggraaff, Kathy Kardell, both based inMinneapolis, and Myron Knutson, based in Fargo, N.D., came on board. Dodge will becomesenior advisor to PFM's managing directors.
As of May 4, Evensen Dodge was ranked 115th among financial advisers for the first fourmonths of this year, serving as adviser on 39 issues totaling $93.8 million, accordingto Thomson Financial. During the same time, PFM served as adviser on 221 issues totaling$11.1 billion.
Prior to 2002, Evensen Dodge had ranked in the top 10, but dropped to number 12 in 2002.It was number five in 2001 and number four in 2000. The firm suffered a heavy blow inMay 2002 when Richard Tortora, who worked in the New York City office for 10 years, leftto establish Capital Markets Advisors and also recruited a number of Evensen Dodgestaff.
Just weeks prior to Tortora's departure, four financial advisers based in Los Angelesalso left to form a new partnership with Gardner, Underwood & Bacon. The executives wereMark T. Young, Lisa Smith, and William W. Reynolds, who joined as principals. JasonRichter joined as an associate. Since then the firm's rankings have suffered.
Evensen Dodge was founded in 1922 and provided financial advice to state and localgovernment on their capital planning strategies.
