Financo, Inc. is a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based boutique

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

focused on the merchandising and retail sector, with offices also in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It was founded in 1971 by Gilbert Harrison.

About

History

Financo was founded in 1971 by

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

graduate Gilbert Harrison, who has previously worked with

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

BCBG Max Azria Max Azria (January 1, 1949 – May 6, 2019) was a Tunisian-Jewish-born American fashion designer who founded the contemporary women's clothing brand BCBG MAX AZRIA. Azria was also the designer, chairman and CEO of the BCBG Max Azria Group,Musta ...

, and

Bear Stearns Merchant Banking Irving Place Capital, formerly known as Bear Stearns Merchant Banking (BSMB), is an American private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies in the industrial, packaging, consumer and ret ...

. It completed over 140 deals in its first fourteen years. In 1985, the firm was acquired by

Shearson Lehman Brothers Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonAmerican Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

) and became the Lehman Brothers Middle Market Group, still headed by Gilbert Harrison. In 1989, Harrison reacquired the Financo name and re-established the firm independent of Shearson Lehman. In 2020, the firm was acquired by

Raymond James Financial Raymond James Financial, Inc. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company providing financial services to individuals, corporations, and municipalities through its subsidiary companies that engage pri ...

for an undisclosed sum. The firm still operated under the Financo name within Raymond James. Financo has regularly hosted a discussion panel during the

National Retail Federation The National Retail Federation (NRF) is the world's largest retail trade association. Its members include department stores, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, and independent retailers, chain restaurants, grocery stores, and multi-level ma ...

Convention, about topics related to the retail and fashion industries. Their 2011 Annual CEO Panel was hosted by CNBC's Nicole Lapin. Panelists included Dan Schock (

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

), Ben Fischman (Rue La La), Chip Wilson (

lululemon lululemon athletica inc. (; styled in all lowercase) is a Canadian multinational athletic apparel retailer headquartered in British Columbia and incorporated in Delaware, United States. It was founded in 1998 as a retailer of yoga pants and oth ...

), and Stephen Zangre (

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

Structure

The company has two divisions. Investment banking has three departments consisting of: Mergers & Acquisitions, Financo Securities, and Special Situations. The second division, Financo Global Consulting (FGC), provides business consulting services. Some consultants have previously been employed as Chairman of

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compan ...

, Chairman and CEO of

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

East, Chairman and CEO of

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began ...

, and CEO of Anne Klein.{{Cite web , url=http://www.financo.com/services/consulting/index.php , title=Financo, Inc. – Global Consulting , access-date=2007-09-30 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012143810/http://financo.com/services/consulting/index.php , archive-date=2007-10-12 , url-status=dead

External links

Financo website

National Retail Federation website

Notes

Banks based in New York City Investment banks in the United States American companies established in 1971 Financial services companies established in 1971 Banks established in 1971 Shearson Lehman/American Express 1971 establishments in New York City