 | |
| Company type | Corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Investment services |
| Founded | 1800; 225 years ago (1800) |
| Founder | Alexander Brown |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Alex. Brown, a Division of Raymond James |
| Headquarters | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Products | Financial services investment banking |
Alex. Brown & Sons was the firstinvestment bank in the United States, founded byAlexander Brown in 1800 inBaltimore, Maryland. The firm was acquired byBankers Trust in 1997 to formBT Alex. Brown, and then integrated intoDeutsche Bank in 1999 following Deutsche's acquisition of BT. In 2016,Raymond James acquired Deutsche's U.S. private client services unit, operating under the Alex. Brown brand.
Alexander Brown (1764–1834), an Irish linen merchant, emigrated in 1800 fromBroughshane, nearBallymena, inUlster to the United States, settling inBaltimore, Maryland, where he established the firstinvestment banking firm in the U.S.[1] In 1808, the company organized the firstinitial public offering in the U.S., that of the Baltimore Water Company.[1]
In 1810, Alexander Brown was joined in business by his sons,William,George, John, and James, and the firm was named Alex. Brown and Sons, Inc.[2] By the 1820s, Alexander Brown had expanded his business interests intosterling exchange andinternational trade, including tobacco and cotton.[3]
Brown's sons eventually started related businesses in various locations, beginning with William. William founded William Brown and Company inLiverpool, England, which later becameBrown, Shipley & Co. In 1818, John and James startedBrown Bros. & Co. inPhiladelphia. James subsequently opened a branch inNew York City in 1825, a predecessor toBrown Brothers Harriman & Co.[2]
George remained at the firm's Baltimore headquarters, where he took a leading role in the founding of theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1827. Upon Alexander Brown's death in 1834, George became the head of Alex. Brown and Sons, which proclaimed itself "America's foremost international banking enterprise in the nineteenth century."[2]
Following thepanic of 1837, Alex. Brown and Sons withdrew from most of its lending business and chose to focus on currency exchange, investment banking, and international trade.
Some historical records of Alex Brown & Sons are housed in the manuscript collections atNew York Historical.
Alex. Brown & Sons, at the time the oldest privately held brokerage in the U.S., was acquired byBankers Trust in 1997 for between $1.7 billion and $2.5 billion in stock to form BT Alex. Brown.[4]
Less than two years later, in June 1999,Deutsche Bank bought Bankers Trust, along with Alex. Brown & Sons, for more than $10 billion.[5] The Alex Brown name initially survived asDeutsche Banc Alex. Brown, the brokerage services division of Deutsche Bank Securities.
September 2016 marked a new chapter for Alex Brown Wealth Management when it was officially sold toRaymond James.[6] The company provides a range of advisory, brokerage, research, and investment services tohigh-net-worth individual investors in the US. It performs research on more than 2,500 stocks, as well as corporate bonds and foreign securities.
Alex. Brown's chairman in 1998 wasA. B. "Buzzy" Krongard, who was appointed Executive Director of theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 2001.
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