Piper Jaffray

Infobox_Company | company_name = Piper Jaffray & Co.
company_
company_type = Public nyse|PJC
company_slogan = Guides for the Journey
foundation = Minneapolis, Minnesota (1895)
location =
key_people = Andrew S. Duff, Chairman and CEO

num_employees =
revenue =
industry = Financial Services
products =
homepage = [http://www.piperjaffray.com www.piperjaffray.com]

Piper Jaffray & Co. (nyse|PJC), often shortened to just Piper Jaffray or PiperJaffray, is a U.S. middle-market investment banking firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is focused on delivering financial advice, investment products, and transaction execution within targeted sectors of the financial services marketplace. Through its principal subsidiary, Piper Jaffray & Co., the Company serves corporations, government, non-profit entities, institutional investors, and the financial advisory needs of private individuals.

History

Piper Jaffray traces its roots to 1895 when George Lane established George B. Lane, Commercial Paper and Collateral Loans & Co., a commercial paper brokerage, in Minneapolis. In 1913, Piper, Jaffray Co. was established as another commercial paper business by H.C. Piper Sr. and C.P. Jaffray. In 1917, George B. Lane & Co. merged with Piper, Jaffray & Co. to form Lane, Piper & Jaffray.

The firm first obtained a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1931 with the acquisition of Hopwood & Company, which had been devastated by the stock market crash. In 1971, Piper first offered stock to the public and became a publicly held corporation known as Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood Incorporated. Later, in 1986, Piper's common stock began trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol PIPR. In 1997, the firm was acquired by Minneapolis based U.S. Bancorp for $730 million in cash. From 1999 to 2003, the firm was known as U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. In 2003 U.S. Bancorp spun off Piper Jaffray in a stock dividend to its shareholders, and today the company is traded independently under the symbol PJC. In 2006, the company sold its brokerage business to Zurich based UBS for $510 million in cash. The business had approximately 800 brokers at that time.

Piper Jaffray now has 28 offices, with over 1,000 employees serving its capital markets clients.

Operations

The Capital Markets division includes investment banking, institutional sales and trading, and securities research. Focus areas include health care, consumer, financial institutions and technology. The firm is the largest underwriter of municipal bonds in its headquarters state of Minnesota. Piper Jaffray is especially noted for its underwriting of middle market IPOs, convertible securities, and private placements.

In July 2007, Piper Jaffray agreed to acquire Goldbond Capital Holdings Limited, a leading Hong Kong-based investment bank, for approximately $50 million, funding the deal with 90% cash and 10% stock. [ [http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/07/03/piper_jaffray_buys_hong_kongs_goldbond/ Piper Jaffray buys Hong Kong's Goldbond] ] The move aimed to give Piper Jaffray full capital-raising capability, especially for initial public offerings by Chinese companies that want to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Founded in 2003 by chairman and CEO Alex Ko who was previously head of corporate finance at BNP Paribas Peregrine Capital in Asia, Goldbond focused primarily on raising capital for and providing financial advisory services to HKEX-listed companies. It offered corporate finance, sales and trading, equity capital markets and research capabilities, and employed 70 people in HK, Beijing, and Shanghai.

Piper Jaffray is putting a lot of emphasis on China, and it already has an office in Shanghai. In March 2007, it held its annual China growth conference, now in its fourth year, which looked at a broad range of growth sectors including the internet, technology, education, consumer, and solar power.

Piper Jaffray has been active in China since 2003 and is a leading equity underwriter for China issuers listing on U.S. exchanges, with 23 completed deals from January 1, 2003 to June 2007. It has, for example, in February 2007 helped underwrite the $258.8 million initial public offering of JA Solar Holdings Co. in Ningjin, China, [ [http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=113281 JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. Prices Initial Public Offering] ] and in August 2005—the $123.4 million IPO of Baidu.com, often called the Google of China. [ [http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%257BA3EC1109-943C-4114-AD11-11C8F1813599%257D&siteid=google Baidu.com is IPO of the week] ]

Piper Jaffray will now have offices in the world's three most important financial centers—New York, London, and Hong Kong.

Regulator fines

In 2002, Piper Jaffray was fined $25 million by state and federal regulators to settle charges that it provided biased stock ratings. Other firms, such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs were also fined for similar reasons. The firm agreed to make structural changes relating to its research and investment banking program in order to restore confidence in its business. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E4DE153FF932A05751C1A9649C8B63 Piper Jaffray Agrees to Settle Charges on Ratings of Stocks] - The New York Times.]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.piperjaffray.com/ Piper Jaffray Company] website
* [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-12-2005/0003386800&EDATE= Piper Jaffray Publishes 2005 Human Resources Outlook Survey]
* [http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/04/11/ubs_to_buy_piper_jaffray_client_network/ UBS to buy Piper Jaffray client network]