MINNEAPOLIS -- U.S. Bancorp said Wednesday that it plans to spin off its Piper Jaffray unit to shareholders.
The plan involves distributing shares of Piper Jaffray company in a tax-free stock dividend distribution. U.S. Bancorp said it expects to complete the spin-off in the third quarter of 2003.
Once the spin-off is completed, Piper Jaffray will be owned 100 percent by U.S. Bancorp shareholders. U.S. Bancorp said it expects to continue to hold a subordinated debt interest in the new company of approximately $215 million.
Following the spin-off, Piper Jaffray will become an independent publicly traded company. Andrew S. Duff, who currently is a vice chairman of U.S. Bancorp and president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray unit, will become president and chief executive officer of the new independent company.
Piper Jaffray has about 3,000 employees and more than 120 offices in 24 states across the country.
In 2002, U.S. Bancorp's capital markets division, which is primarily composed of the Piper Jaffray unit, generated revenues of $737.3 million and contributed less than 1 percent of the overall company's net income, U.S. Bancorp said.
