Veteran-Owned BDs Lead CalVet $446 Mil GO Bond Deal

Posted on October 5, 2015 by admin

BrokerDealer.com blog is honored to profile the select Veteran-owned FINRA firms and their respective roles in helping the State of California Department of Veterans Affairs bring to market CalVet’s upcoming issuance of $446 Million General Obligation Bonds (GO).

The following news release has been excerpted, a link to the full news release follows below..

Treasurer Chiang to Sell $446 Million in Veterans General Obligation Bonds

10/1/2015

SACRAMENTO – California State Treasurer John Chiang is announcing the sale of up to $445,700,000 of Veterans General Obligation Bonds.

“California’s Veterans served our state and nation with honor,” Chiang said. “We owe them a debt of gratitude that this bond sale will begin repaying by way of helping our returning service members and their families realize the American dream of homeownership.”

The General Obligation Bonds are being issued to finance home and farm mortgage loans for California military Veterans under the Farm and Home Purchase Program, administered by the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet).

“This is an important bond sale directly aiding California’s Veterans,” said CalVet Secretary Vito Imbasciani, M.D. “I’m proud California offers these bonds as an expression of our thanks to our Veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice. This General Obligation Bond sale will provide CalVet with funding sufficient to offer home loans to hundreds of California’s Veterans.”

The joint senior managers include: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which currently employs more than 10,000 Veterans, Guards and Reservists with a major initiative to increase the hiring over the next several years and Academy Securities, a “post 9/11 DVBE broker-dealer” founded by a U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis graduate. Along with these two firms, the underwriting group will also include investment bank Mischler Financial Group, led by battle-decorated West Point grads and the financial industry’s oldest institutional brokerdealer owned and operated by service-disabled veterans, and Drexel Hamilton, LLC, a full-service institutional broker-dealer that “offers meaningful employment opportunities to disabled veterans in the financial services industry.:

“Bank of America has proudly provided financial services to the U.S. Military for 95 years. With our long history and ongoing commitment to U.S. veterans, we were pleased to be involved in this deal, working with veteran-owned firms in a deal that will benefit former Californian service men and women,” said John Lawlor, head of Municipal Banking & Markets Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, himself a former U.S. Navy veteran, and graduate of the U.S Naval Academy.

“As the financial industry’s oldest and largest SDV-owned and operated firm and rooted in California, our legacy is dedicated to supporting Veteran initiatives. We are therefore honored to continue our long relationship with the State and to have been selected Co-Senior Manager for this CalVet financing,” said Dean Chamberlain, CEO of Mischler Financial Group.

For the full story, please click here

Minority BrokerDealer: Corporate Bond Market Balancing on Knife Edge

Posted on October 3, 2015 by admin

BrokerDealer.com blog update offers weekend reading courtesy of MarketsMuse Fixed Income Department..

“Corporate Bond Market- Balancing on a Knife Edge” is courtesy of extract from the 10.02.15 weekend edition of “Quigley’s Corner”, a daily synopsis of the investment grade corporate bond market and rates trading space authored by Ron Quigley, Managing Director of investment bank and institutional brokerage Mischler Financial Group, the financial industry’s oldest and largest minority brokerdealer owned and operated by service-disabled military veterans. Mischler Financial was selected in 2014 and again in 2015 for the Wall Street Letter Award “Best Research-Brokerdealer”

Ron Quigley, Mgn.Dir. Mischler Financial Group

Blackouts couldn’t be more optimally timed as we experience massive re-pricing in our IG primary credit market. The corporate black-outs are serving as an unplanned, well-timed inherently built-in “kick-the-can” that is necessary in helping us to all buy time as we navigate thru what is perhaps the most unpredictable, treacherous, volatile and uncertain time that our primary markets have experienced since 2008. As one very senior syndicate source told me “the credit markets are sitting on a knife’s edge.” IG spreads are on the whole 44 bps wider at the end of the third quarter according to Morgan Stanley.

Today’s notoriously and unexpected poor employment data was the last thing credit markets needed and it has instigated a massive Treasury rally. Perhaps this is a bit of good news because when both are combined, is a potential high velocity tailwind to credit products from big government bond funds. However, that’s “if” funds want to own credit product and hold it for an extended period of time and potentially wear a negative mark-to-market.

Having said that, the guy-in-the-corner suggests that at some point this weekend, you should put on your favorite song and sing along to it after many shots of tequila. When you get to the point of feeling bad, look at yourself in a mirror and realize that you can begin to feel better with coffee, food, sleep and time but come Monday morning the business model you are used to is about to change. Not adapt; not get better; rather change. The trends in the credit markets that we have seen over the last two quarters are showing no signs of abating, and in some degrees, worsening.

Now please let me introduce the moment you’ve been waiting for..

Syndicate Forecasts and Sound Bites from “The Best and the Brightest!”

I am happy to report that once again the “QC” received unanimous participation from all 23 syndicate desks surveyed in today’s Best & Brightest polling. That includes all of the top 22 ranked syndicate desks according to Bloomberg’s U.S. IG U.S. Investment Grade Corporate Bond underwriting league table that can be found on your terminals at “LEAG” + [GO] after which you select #201 (US Investment Grade Corporates). Their cumulative underwriting percentage is 94.00% of YTD IG dollar debt underwriting which simply means they’re the ones with visibility. But it’s not only about their volume forecasts, rather it’s also about their comments! This core syndicate group does it best; they know best; so they’re the ones you WANT and NEED to hear from.

*Please note that these are Investment Grade Corporates only. They do not include SSA issuance unless otherwise noted.

The question posed to the “Best and the Brightest” early this morning was:

“Good morning! So, this week the massive repricing in primary markets saw average NICs bust out to 54.23 bps; bid-to-covers shrank to an average 2.02x; today’s numbers were BAD; Obamanomics is quite the engine of growth and job creation, China’s slowdown is showing up in our data (ISM Milwaukee posted its worst manufacturing number since the dot com bubble). Spreads are wider on today’s data to start. Lower-for-longer might just be lower forever! The two-part question for today is what are your volume forecasts for IG Corporate supply for BOTH next week AND October? It’s going to be challenging to nail that down but it’s an important survey at this critical juncture. Many thanks, Ron”

……and here are their formidable responses:

To continue reading, please visit Mischler Financial Group’s market commentary section via this link

Veteran-Owned BrokerDealer Mischler Financial Bolsters Structured Finance Group

Posted on July 22, 2015July 22, 2015 by admin

Mischler Financial Extends Structured-Products Team

ABS Market Veteran Patrick Beranek to Lead Effort for Veteran-Owned Investment Bank

Stamford, CT—July 22, 2015—Mischler Financial Group, Inc., the financial industry’s oldest and largest minority investment bank and institutional brokerage owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans announced that Patrick Beranek, a 20-year industry veteran and most recently the head of Asset-Backed trading for Royal Bank of Scotland (“RBS”) has joined the firm’s capital markets division as Managing Director, Structured Products.

Mr. Beranek previously ran asset-backed trading and syndicate for Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. Prior to those senior sell-side roles, Mr. Beranek was a portfolio manager for Federal National Home Mortgage Corp (FNMA). In this newly-created role at Mischler Financial, Mr. Beranek will oversee primary market activities of structured products. He will report to Robert Karr, Mischler’s Head of Capital Markets.

In connection with the latest expansion, Mr. Karr stated, “The ABS market has undergone a dynamic reset during the past several years, creating new opportunities. Given current economic drivers, a longer-term interest rate outlook and the demand for quality, non-core fixed income instruments, we’re confident that Pat will prove instrumental in the course of elevating Mischler’s role in the primary market for structured products and help bring compelling opportunities to our institutional investor base.”

Added Dean Chamberlain, CEO of Mischler Financial, “We are very pleased to add Pat to our team. Having worked with him before, I know that he has a unique skill-set that will further bolster our structured finance capabilities.”

About Mischler Financial Group, Inc.

Established in 1994 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California with regional offices in New York City; Stamford, CT; Dallas, TX; Boston, MA: Chicago, IL, Red Bank, NJ; and Detroit, MI. Mischler Financial Group Inc. is a federally-certified SDVBE and the brokerdealer industry’s oldest minority investment bank and institutional brokerage owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans. Mischler clients include institutional investment managers, Fortune treasurers, public plan sponsors, endowments and foundations by providing capital markets services and agency-only secondary market execution across the global equities and fixed income markets. The firm also provides asset management for liquid and alternative investment strategies. The firm’s website is located at http://mischlerfinancial.com.

CONTACT: For Additional Information:Dean Chamberlain, Chief Executive Officer, Tel: 203.276.6646

Media Contact: The JLC Group

Email: [email protected] or Tel: 203.255.0034

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BrokerDealer Gives Back; $20k Pledge Presented to Semper Fi Fund

Posted on June 15, 2015 by admin

BrokerDealer Gives Back and Pays It Forward; Mischler Financial’s Memorial Day Pledge Yields $20k for Semper Fi Fund

Mischler Financial Group, Inc., the institutional brokerage and investment banking boutique, and the securities industry’s oldest firm owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans presented a check this week to Semper Fi Fund in the amount of $20,000 as a follow-on to the firm’s previously announced “Memorial Day Month” pledge.

Mischler Prez Doyle Holmes (l), Semper Fi Fund VP Wendy Lehtin (c), Mischler CEO Dean Chamberlain (r)

According to Mischler CEO Dean Chamberlain, a U.S. Military Academy alumni and a certified Service-Disabled Vet (SDV), “Our ongoing mission throughout our now, twenty-year history has always been to provide Fortune Treasury and investment management clients with stand-apart capital markets services and by extension, to pay back and pay it forward by sharing the benefits of our success with organizations that are dedicated to supporting service-disabled military veterans and their families in the most productive ways.”

Added Chamberlain, “Semper Fi Fund is exactly the type of organization that we are honored to align with and we’re thrilled that so many of our clients rallied behind our trading desks to express their support of this month-long fund raising initiative.”

The Semper Fi Fund, and its program America’s Fund, provide immediate financial assistance and lifetime support to post 9/11 wounded, critically ill and injured members of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, and their families, ensuring that they have the resources they need during their recovery and transition back to their communities.

Since its 2004 formation led by a group of Marine Corps spouses, Semper Fi Fund has provided more than 93,500 grants, totaling more than $109 million in assistance to over 14,000 of our heroes and their families. Recipients include qualifying post 9/11 Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and reservists with amputations, spinal cord injuries, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), burns, blindness, other physical injuries, or those suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Semper Fi Fund also help spouses and children of active duty service members who face a life threatening illness or injury.

About Mischler Financial Group, Inc.

Mischler Financial Group is headquartered in Newport Beach, California with regional offices in Stamford, CT, Boston, MA and Chicago, IL. MFG is a federally-certified minority broker-dealer and a Service-Disabled Veterans Business Enterprise (SDVBE) that provides capital markets services, agency-only execution within the global equities and fixed income markets and asset management for liquid and alternative investment strategies. Clients of the firm include leading institutional investment managers, Fortune corporate and municipal treasurers, public plan sponsors, endowments, and foundations. The firm’s website is located at http://www.mischlerfinancial.com

Boutique BrokerDealer Makes Memorial Day Pledge to Semper Fi Fund

Posted on May 13, 2015 by admin

Memorial Day Homage Extends Throughout Month of May For

Finra’s Oldest Service-Disabled Veteran owned Broker-Dealer

For Immediate Release

Newport Beach, CA & Stamford, CT, May 12, 2015–Mischler Financial Group (“MFG”), the securities industry’s oldest minority investment bank and institutional brokerage owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans announced that in recognition of the upcoming Memorial Day celebration, the firm has pledged a percentage of its entire May profits to The Semper Fi Fund, a nationwide organization that provides immediate financial assistance and lifetime support to post 9/11 wounded, critically ill and injured members of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, and their families.

Since its establishment in 2004, the The Semper Fi Fund has issued more than 91,500 grants, totaling more than $107 million in assistance to over 13,800 of our heroes and their families. The Semper Fi Fund has been awarded the highest ratings from the leading charity organization watch dog groups, including an A+ Rating from CharityWatch.com, and 4-Star rating from CharityNavigator.com, the very highest ranking only given to 4% of all philanthropic organizations by the nation’s largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. Semper Fi Fund is also considered “a top tier organization” by The Fisher House Foundation, one of the philanthropy community’s most recognized thought-leaders.

Dean Chamberlain CEO and Principal of Mischler Financial Group stated, “Given our firm’s legacy and growing role within the financial industry, we are mindful of the opportunities afforded to us and as such, our core principles are dedicated to continuously give back, support and pay homage to our community of military veterans who have made great sacrifices on behalf of all of us.”

Added Chamberlain, “Our month of May pledge to the Semper Fi Fund is part and parcel to year-round initiatives and we are very proud to include this highly-esteemed organization to the family of veteran-centric groups that can benefit as we succeed.” Mischler Financial Group also supports Fisher House Foundation, Children of Fallen Patriots, Bob Woodruff Foundation and other leading veteran-centric organizations.

Susan Reid, Manager of Donor Relations for the Semper Fi Fund stated “On behalf of our entire organization, and as the wife of an active duty Marine who was injured in Iraq, we greatly appreciate the commitment of Mischler Financial to take care of our injured and critically ill service members and their families.” A full description of the Semper Fi Fund is available via this link

About Mischler Financial Group

Mischler Financial Group is headquartered in Newport Beach, California with regional offices in Stamford, CT, Boston, MA and Chicago, IL. MFG is a federally-certified minority broker-dealer and a Service-Disabled Veterans Business Enterprise (SDVBE) that provides capital markets services, agency-only execution within the global equities and fixed income markets and asset management for liquid and alternative investment strategies. Clients of the firm include leading institutional investment managers, Fortune corporat and municipal treasurers, public plan sponsors, endowments, and foundations. The firm’s website is located at http://www.mischlerfinancial.com