Last week Ryan Beck announced that it pulled its IPO after it was acquired by Stifel Financial for about $120 mm in stock, including payouts. I previously posted some thoughts on the Ryan Beck S-1 filing. It seems that this is starting to become a common theme in the marketplace - companies looking for funding either privately or on the public markets and then being acquired in the process. I don't have a lot of details in the acquisition, but it seems like a bargain price for the company which in its S-1 filing recorded $250 mm revenue. From the BankAtlantic CEO as quoted in the South Florida Business Journal:
"It was the Stifel track record that convinced us that a primarily stock-based payment was preferable, providing BankAtlantic the opportunity to maximize the return on our investment in Ryan Beck," Levan said. "While we have no immediate plans to sell any of the Stifel stock that we will be receiving and there are limitations on our sale of the stock, we do anticipate gradually reducing our investment, consistent with market conditions and as the combined companies begin to realize the benefits of the consolidation."
Read - we think we will make more money selling Stifel stock because it has a stable trading history versus if we just sold our public IPO stock.
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