investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
focused on the merchandising and retail sector, with offices also in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
and
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. It was founded in 1971 by Gilbert Harrison.
About
History
Financo was founded in 1971 by
Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...
graduate Gilbert Harrison, who has previously worked with
American Eagle
The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
,
BCBG Max Azria
Max Azria (January 1, 1949 – May 6, 2019) was a Tunisian-Jewish-born American fashion designer who founded the contemporary women's clothing brand BCBG MAX AZRIA. Azria was also the designer, chairman and CEO of the BCBG Max Azria Group,Musta ...
, and
Bear Stearns Merchant Banking
Irving Place Capital, formerly known as Bear Stearns Merchant Banking (BSMB), is an American private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies in the industrial, packaging, consumer and reta ...
. It completed over 140 deals in its first fourteen years. In 1985, the firm was acquired by
Shearson Lehman Brothers
Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonAmerican Express) and became the Lehman Brothers Middle Market Group, still headed by Gilbert Harrison. In 1989, Harrison reacquired the Financo name and re-established the firm independent of Shearson Lehman. In 2020, the firm was acquired by
Raymond James Financial
Raymond James Financial, Inc. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company providing financial services to individuals, corporations, and municipalities through its subsidiary companies that engage pri ...
for an undisclosed sum. The firm still operated under the Financo name within Raymond James.
Financo has regularly hosted a discussion panel during the
National Retail Federation
The National Retail Federation (NRF) is the world's largest retail trade association. Its members include department stores, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, and independent retailers, chain restaurants, grocery stores, and multi-level ma ...
Convention, about topics related to the retail and fashion industries. Their 2011 Annual CEO Panel was hosted by CNBC's Nicole Lapin. Panelists included Dan Schock (
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
), Ben Fischman (Rue La La), Chip Wilson (
lululemon
lululemon athletica inc. (; styled in all lowercase) is a Canadian multinational athletic apparel retailer headquartered in British Columbia and incorporated in Delaware, United States. It was founded in 1998 as a retailer of yoga pants and ot ...
), and Stephen Zangre (
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
).
Structure
The company has two divisions. Investment banking has three departments consisting of: Mergers & Acquisitions, Financo Securities, and Special Situations.
The second division, Financo Global Consulting (FGC), provides business consulting services. Some consultants have previously been employed as Chairman of
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...
, Chairman and CEO of
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
East, Chairman and CEO of
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
, and CEO of Anne Klein.{{Cite web , url=http://www.financo.com/services/consulting/index.php , title=Financo, Inc. – Global Consulting , access-date=2007-09-30 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012143810/http://financo.com/services/consulting/index.php , archive-date=2007-10-12 , url-status=dead