- Proposal to win $3.4 billion deal touted securitization record
- Bank now No. 2 Texas muni underwriter in wake of new GOP laws
Jefferies Financial Group Inc. may not seem the obvious choice to handle what is poised to be the biggest municipal-bond deal ever in Texas.
It’s not one of the largest Wall Street banks, nor is it a top-five player in the nationwide muni market. What’s more, the nearly $13 million fee that Jefferies proposed for handling the $3.4 billion offering wasn’t even the lowest. Several larger banks, including Morgan Stanley and UBS Group AG, asked for a smaller payment.
But Jefferies’ ultimately successful pitch to win the deal — which also touted its deep expertise in complicated bond structures — contained a point that many other large, national banks couldn’t put in their proposals: It has never run afoul of new, Republican-backed state laws seeking to punish Wall Street for limiting its work with the fossil fuels and firearms industries.
Bloomberg Markets
By Amanda Albright and Danielle Moran
August 11, 2022