Newport Beach-based O’Connor & Company Securities, one of the county’s largest municipal bond underwriting firms, has been acquired by Dallas-based Southwest Securities Group Inc.
Southwest Securities paid an undisclosed sum to acquire O’Connor, a broker-dealer firm engaged in origination, sales and trading of taxable and tax-exempt municipal bonds.
In public finance, O’Connor has a strong presence in Orange County and California. In its 18-year history, the firm had underwritten more than 400 bond issues and raised more than $6 billion from the market. The firm was started in 1983 when William O’Connor and other principals struck out on their own from the municipal finance department of Shearson/American Express.
Southwest Securities is a holding company that offers a broad range of investment and financial services through its subsidiaries. By buying O’Connor, Southwest Securities will get an entry into California’s public finance market.
