Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is an American

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

company based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and listed on the

Fortune 1000 The Fortune 1000 are the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenues, as compiled by the American business magazine ''Fortune''. It only includes companies which are incorporated or authorized to do business in the United States, and for ...

Investments

The company's major holdings are as follows:

Financial Services

Jefferies Group Jefferies Group LLC is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company that is headquartered in New York City. The firm provides clients with capital markets and financial advisory services, institutional br ...

(100%) - investment banking & capital markets * Berkadia Commercial Mortgage (50/50 joint venture with

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from ...

) - commercial mortgage banking, investment sales and servicing *HomeFed (65% ownership) - Builder of Master Planned Communities, Income Properties, Land Holdings *FXCM (49.9%) - online foreign exchange trading *Foursight Capital (100%) - vehicle finance

Others

HRG Group HRG Group, Inc., formerly Harbinger Group Inc. and Zapata Corporation, is a holding company based in Rochester, New York, having originated from an oil company started by a group including future U.S. president George H. W. Bush. In 2009, it w ...

(23%) - insurance and consumer products * Vitesse Energy (96%) - oil and gas exploration and development * Juneau Energy (98%) - oil and gas exploration and development * Garcadia Holdings (75%, Joint venture with Ken Garff Automotive Group) - automobile dealerships * Linkem (57%) - fixed wireless broadband services * Golden Queen (35%) - a gold and silver mining project * Idaho Timber (100%) - manufacturing *

National Beef Packing Company National Beef is a beef processor headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, that produces fresh, chilled and further processed beef and beef by-products for customers worldwide. The company's main focuses include branded box beef, con ...

(79%) - food producer

History

In 1970, Ian Cumming and Joseph S. Steinberg both graduated in from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

and went to work for Carl Marks & Company, an

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 is ...

. In 1979, they gained control of Talcott National Corporation, sold the James Talcott Factors division, and, in 1980, they renamed the company Leucadia. In 1984, the company made a $61 million profit on its $77 million investment in Avco Corporation by forcing the sale of the company to

Textron Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft, and Cessna brands), and Lycoming Engines. ...

. In 1991, the company acquired insurer Colonial Penn from

Florida Power & Light Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. (formerly FPL Group, Inc.), is the largest power utility in Florida. It is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility company serving roughly 5 million customer ...

for $150 million. In 1997, the company sold the life insurance division of Colonial Penn to

Conseco CNO Financial Group, Inc. (formerly Conseco, Inc. (from Consolidated National Security Corporation)) is a financial services holding company based in Carmel, Indiana. Its insurance subsidiaries provide life insurance, annuity and supplemental he ...

for $460 million and sold the auto insurance division of Colonial Penn to

GE Capital GE Capital is the financial services division of General Electric. The company currently only runs one division, GE Energy Financial Services. It had provided additional services in the past; however, those units were sold between 2013 and 2018 ...

for $950 million. In 1998, the company sold Charter National Life Insurance and Intramerica Life Insurance to

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...

. In 2002, the company received a 44% stake in WilTel Communications Group as a result of a bankruptcy reorganization. In May 2003, the company made an offer to acquire the remaining shares of WilTel Communications Group that it did not already own. In August 2003, after increasing its offer, the company acquired the remaining shares of WilTel Communications Group. In September 2003, the company acquired RehabWorks. In January 2004, the company financed

Pershing Square Capital Management Pershing Square Capital Management is an American hedge fund management company founded and run by Bill Ackman, headquartered in New York City. Company history In 2004, with $54 million in funding from his personal funds and former business part ...

, a

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

managed by

Bill Ackman William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager. He is the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach makes him an activis ...

. In July 2004, the company sought, but failed, to buy a controlling stake in

MCI Communications MCI Communications Corp. (originally Microwave Communications, Inc.) was a telecommunications company headquartered in Washington, D.C. that was at one point the second-largest long-distance provider in the United States. MCI was instrument ...

. In September 2004, the company sold its stake in MCI for a $20 million profit. In 2005, the company sold WilTel Communications Group to Level 3 Communications for a $180 million profit. In 2007, the company acquired ResortQuest International from

Gaylord Hotels Gaylord Hotels is the large convention hotel brand of Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, it consists of five large hotels with a total of 9,918 rooms, along with attached convention centers and one overflow support hotel property, in ad ...

for $35 million. In 2009, the company entered into a 50/50

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with

called Berkadia, which acquired the North American loan origination and servicing business of Capmark Financial Group. In 2010, the company sold ResortQuest International to

Wyndham Worldwide Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations, Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation) is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownershi ...

for $56 million in cash. In 2011, the company acquired a 79% interest in

for $867.9 million. In 2012, the company proposed building a $3 billion

syngas Syngas, or synthesis gas, is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, in various ratios. The gas often contains some carbon dioxide and methane. It is principly used for producing ammonia or methanol. Syngas is combustible and can be used as ...

facility in south Chicago to convert coal and petroleum waste into natural gas; however, the plant never received legislative approval. In 2013, the company merged with

and Richard Handler became chief executive officer of the company. In 2015, the company made an investment in

FXCM FXCM, also known as Forex Capital Markets, is a retail foreign exchange broker for trading on the foreign exchange market. FXCM allows people to speculate on the foreign exchange market and provides trading in contract for difference (CFDs) ...

after FXCM suffered losses due to the appreciation of the

Swiss Franc The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

. In 2016, the company restructured its investment in FXCM. In May 2018, the company was renamed Jefferies Financial Group.

References

External links

{{Authority control Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Publicly traded companies based in New York City Financial services companies of the United States