HilltopSecurities hires 12 from Prager as it expands in New York, California

HilltopSecurities Inc. has hired 12 municipal bond veterans from Prager & Co. LLC to join its public finance group in New York and California.

Prager filed to dissolve as a firm with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Dec. 20, and Dallas, Texas-based HilltopSecurities stepped in and hired the banking team, which will strengthen its municipal presence on the East and West coasts.

The bankers will be based in New York, San Francisco and Sherman Oaks, California.

The team includes Fred Prager, David Hetz, Rochelle Powell, Ian Prager, Colin O’Neill, AJ Prager, TJ Sheehy, Colin Walsh, Bjorn Foster, Augie Harrigan, Michael Dymond and Sam Sheppard.

“This is a relationship business and they have great relationships — and the reason you have great relationships is because you’re good at what you do,” said David Medanich, co-head of public finance at HilltopSecurities.

HilltopSecurities

The bankers were all hired individually, David Medanich, co-head of public finance at HilltopSecurities, told The Bond Buyer.

“It wasn’t an acquisition,” he said, adding that there were many different reasons for hiring the bankers and keeping them together as a team.

“We’ve talked over time with them, maybe six months to a year, about doing something like this, and then we got to the point where it made a lot of sense for them to join us,” he said. “This gives us more of a presence in both New York and California.”

Medanich noted that the muni bond industry is based on people and performance.

“This is a relationship business and they have great relationships,” he said. “And the reason you have great relationships is because you’re good at what you do.”

Founded by Fred Prager in 1987, Prager & Co. became one of the country’s leading providers of public finance services for higher education institutions. She also has experience in other sectors including healthcare, public government and non-profit organizations.

“We are excited to welcome such a well-rounded team of municipal finance professionals whose deep experience serving higher education institutions and other public entities is expected to enhance our public finance efforts across the country, said Brad Winges, president and CEO of HilltopSecurities.

In the 2022 ranking of municipal financial advisors, HilltopSecurities came in third, working on 482 deals worth $22.67 billion, a market share of 7.4%, according to Refinitiv data. As a managing underwriter, Hilltop ranked 18th, doing 159 deals worth $3.9 billion, a market share of 1.1%.

In addition to advisory and municipal underwriting, HilltopSecurities offers services such as asset management and reinvestment, hedging and structuring strategies, discount arbitrage, ongoing disclosure and other forms of advisory work.

“We do a bunch of different things that Prager didn’t really have the capacity to do,” Medanich said. “They saw it as a platform where they could really take advantage of their expertise and their knowledge and their relationships — and we felt the same way. That’s what brought us all together.”

Fred Prager will become a senior managing director at HilltopSecurities based in New York City; he has more than 40 years of experience. Before founding Prager & Co., he managed the West Coast public finance business of LF Rothschild & Co.

“We are excited to join such a respected firm with its proven leadership and long track record of success in the industry,” Fred Prager said in a statement.

Hetz joins as senior managing director in New York; he also has more than 40 years of experience. He was previously managing director and CEO at Prager and previously served as vice chairman of Cain Brothers & Co. and co-founder and managing partner of Cutlass Capital.

Powell joins as managing director in New York; she has more than 25 years of experience. Prior to working at Prager, she was a senior vice president in the public finance department of Greenwich Partners.

Ian Prager joins as managing director in San Francisco. He joined Prager in 2005 and prior to that, he spent several years with Lockheed Martin.

O’Neill joins as senior vice president in New York; he has more than 25 years of experience. He began his career at Morgan Stanley and worked with his Connecticut-based firm of registered investment advisors.

AJ Prager joins as senior vice president at Sherman Oaks; he has more than 15 years of experience. He began his career at Bear Stearns and also worked at Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Sheehy joins as senior vice president in New York; he has more than 15 years of nonprofit and municipal finance experience. Prior to Prager, he worked for Yuba Group, Loop Capital Markets and Morgan Stanley.

Walsh joins as senior vice president in New York; he has more than 20 years of experience. Before working at Prager, he was senior vice president in the education and nonprofit group at Wells Fargo. He has also worked at public finance group Fitch Ratings and at Allied Irish Bank.

Foster joins as vice president in San Francisco; he has more than 25 years of experience. Prior to working at Prager, he owned a web development company and worked in a variety of roles with digital media companies.

Harrigan joins as assistant vice president in New York. Prior to working at Prager, he was director of business information technology for Universal Music Group in Los Angeles.

Dymond joins as assistant vice president in New York. Prior to Prager, he was an economic consultant at the Analysis Group.

Sheppard joins as assistant vice president in New York; he has more than five years of experience. Prior to working at Prager, he was an associate at S&P Global Ratings.

“We think this team will be an incredible addition to what we do,” Medanich said. “It really helps us on the East Coast and the West Coast as well. You don’t often find bankers of this quality that you can approach as a group. It was a good deal actually.”