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  • Seller
  • Buyer
  • Type
  • Date Announced
  • Seller AUM
  • First Institutional Securities, L.L.C.
  • RBC Dain Rauscher Inc. (Royal Bank of Canada)
  • Securities and Investment Banking
  • December 4, 2002
  • N/A

Seller Details

First Institutional Securities, L.L.C., located in West Paterson, New Jersey, is a full service broker/dealer that focuses primarily on selling investment grade fixed income securities to institutional clients throughout the United States, and to high-net-worth individuals primarily in the New York metropolitan region. The company’s institutional client base includes commercial banks, savings and loan associations, trust departments, insurance companies and money managers with investable assets ranging from less than $100 million to over $6 billion. Through its retail division, the company offers a full range of investment products and services to high-net-worth individuals, small- to medium-sized corporations, bank trust departments and investment advisors located primarily in the New York metropolitan region. Currently, the company has over 40 full-time brokers. FIS is one of the top ten broker/dealer purchasers of bank qualified tax-exempt municipal bonds nationwide in the secondary market.

Buyer Details

RBC Dain Rauscher Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, is the parent company of RBC Dain Rauscher Inc., the nation's ninth largest full-service securities firm with more than 2,000 financial consultants and 6,000 employees. The companies serve individual investors and institutions, through offices coast to coast, and capital markets and correspondent clients in U.S. and international markets. Founded in 1909, RBC Dain Rauscher is a member of the New York Stock Exchange and other major securities exchanges, as well as the Securities Investor Protection Corp. Royal Bank has been an active acquiror in this sector, having purchased Dain Rauscher and Tucker Anthony Sutro.

Transaction Summary

RBC Dain Rauscher added to its institutional fixed income capabilities by acquiring FIS, a high quality firm with minimal client overlap. FIS's niche was serving smaller financial institutions, which have traditionally been hard to penetrate. The purpose of the transaction for FIS was two fold: (1) to provide a succession and liquidity plan for the senior principals and (2) to partner with a larger organization that possesses the resources and strategic relationships necessary to the acquisition of additional institutional and retail clients.

Royal Bank of Canada has increased its U.S. presence through the acquisition of securities firms Dain Rauscher and Tucker Anthony Sutro. In the process, RBC has created the ninth largest broker-dealer in the U.S., and the transaction with FIS represents a continuation of the company’s pursuit of further growth in the securities industry.

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