Tucker Anthony was an independent investment banking and

brokerage firm A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

based in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2001, the firm was acquired by

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...

and was then merged with the bank's

Dain Rauscher Wessels Dain Rauscher Wessels was a brokerage and investment banking firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm traced its origins to a number of smaller regional securities firms founded in the 1920s and 1930s. In 2000, Dain Rauscher Wessels was a ...

subsidiary to create RBC Dain Rauscher. At the time of its acquisition, Tucker Anthony was 14th largest brokerage firm in the U.S. with 990 account executives working from more than 80 offices across the country. The firm had a particular presence in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic including New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia as well as a strong presence in California.Royal Bank of Canada Agrees to Acquire Tucker Anthony: Highlights for the Investor Community
RBC Investor Presentation, August 1, 2001

History

The firm was founded in 1892 as Tucker & Anthony Bankers by William A. Tucker and S. Reed Anthony with offices at 50 State Street. Other early partners included Phillip L. Saltonstall, Nathan Anthony and Chauncey Eldridge. In 1942, the firm merged with Burr, Gannett & Co., an old Boston-based firm. In 1956, Tucker Anthony merged with R.L. Day & Co. In 1982, the firm was acquired by

John Hancock Financial John Hancock Life Insurance Company, U.S.A. is a Boston-based insurance company. Established April 21, 1862, it was named in honor of John Hancock, a prominent American Patriot. In 2004, John Hancock was acquired by the Canadian multinational li ...

. During its ownership by John Hancock, the firm was operated as a division of John Hancock Freedom Securities Corporation, a holding company that also owned Sutro & Company, a San-Francisco investment management and brokerage firm founded in 1858. In 1996, the management of the firm led a

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loan ...

of what was then known as Tucker Anthony Sutro from John Hancock with the support of the

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firm

Thomas H. Lee Partners Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. is an American private equity firm based in Boston investing in middle market growth companies across financial technology and services, healthcare and technology & business solutions. History Founded in 1974 by ...

. In 1998, Tucker Anthony completed a $120 million

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

, going public on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2001, after operating as an independent firm for five years, the firm was acquired sold to the

and merged with the Canadian bank's recently acquired subsidiary

.ROYAL BANK OF CANADA IS BUYING TUCKER ANTHONY SUTRO
New York Times, August 2, 2001 Tucker Anthony was the predecessor of

TA Associates TA Associates, founded in 1968, is one of the early modern-era private equity firms in the United States. The firm leads buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies. TA invests across five industry groups: technology, hea ...

, the private equity firm which was established in 1968 and spun-out in 1978.

References

Business Broker In Florida
Truforte Business Group. January 25, 2021

Boston Business Journal
Tucker, Anthony & Company, 50 State Street
The Boston Stock Exchange. Ayer Publishing, 1975 {{Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada Brokerage firms Defunct financial services companies of the United States Financial services companies established in 1892 Financial services companies disestablished in 2001 Former investment banks of the United States Private equity portfolio companies 1892 establishments in Massachusetts 2001 disestablishments in Massachusetts