Clayton Brown's Milwaukee office sold to Griffin Kubik on heels of Dain deal.

CHICAGO -- A Chicago-based securities firm acquired Clayton Brown & Associates' public finance office in Milwaukee last Thursday the same day Dain Bosworth Inc. announced an agreement to acquire Clayton Brown.

Nelson D. Civello, Dain Bosworth's executive vice president and director of the firm's fixed-income group, said Friday that the Milwaukee office was sold by mutual agreement between Clayton Brown and Griffin Kubik, Stephens & Thompson Inc., and with the consent of Dain Bosworth.

David Thompson, president of Griffin Kubik, said his firm acquired 10 to 12 investment bankers and support people who were working in Milwaukee for Clayton Brown, as well as the office itself.

The sale of Clayton Brown's Milwaukee office came on the heels of Minneapolis-based Dain Bosworth's announcement that it has a definitive agreement to acquire Chicago-based Clayton Brown for an expected cash price of $25' million.

Thompson said the expected change in ownership played a part in the move.

"The pending change in ownership at Clayton Brown caused people in Milwaukee to reassess their positions. They began looking at other alternatives," Thompson said.

Civello said Dain Bosworth agreed to the sale, made for the assumption of liabilities and cash, because there wasn't "a strategic fie' between Dain Bosworth and the Milwaukee office's "style of business ."

However, the loss of the office does not mean Dain Bosworth is not seeking to do business in Wisconsin, according to Civello. He said the firm intends to restaff an office in Milwaukee and will cover the state in the meantime with personnel from its Chicago and Minneapolis offices.

Griffin Kubik, which already has a small office in Brookfield, Wis.. will merge the two offices under the management of investment banker Tom Lawrence, Thompson said.

"We plan to aggressively pursue public finance in the state of Wisconsin," Thompson said. "We see it as a natural complement to our distribution prowess." Meanwhile, Civello and other Dain Bosworth officials were in Clayton Brown's Chicago headquarters on Friday talking to employees about the acquisition, which still requires approval from Clayton Brown's employee stockholders and regulators. The deal has already been approved by the boards of directors of Dain Bosworth and its parent company, Inter-Regional Financial Group, which also owns Dallas-based Rauscher Pierce Refsnes Inc.

Civello said the acquisition is expected to be completed on Oct. 7. A slowdown in fixed-income business this year was a factor in Clayton Brown's decision to be acquired, according to Clayton Brown, the chairman of his namesake firm.

Brown and Civello have said that some layoffs are expected, mostly in the back-office support operation.

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