Investment Dealers' Digest reports “McDonald Culture Lives on in Cleveland”

October 4, 2004

Investment Dealers’ Digest magazine reported in a prominent two page story the formation of Western Reserve Partners.  “The integration of investment-banking boutique McDonald Investments Inc. into KeyCorp may have become final last year, but the original boutique lives on to a group of McDonald veterans who wanted to recreate the culture of their former employer in a new investment bank.  The result:  Cleveland-based Western Reserve Partners LLC, whose five partners formerly ran their respective departments at McDonald.  The new boutique, which emerged in July, is designed to serve middle-market companies with $25million to $500 million in annual revenue.”

Ralph Della Ratta is quoted as saying that a large number of middle market companies are underserved, especially in the region Western Reserve covers-the Midwest, western New York and western Pennsylvania.  “We want to get back to the advisory-driven roots of the old McDonald, to really go after that midmarket.”

The article points out that “The bank plans to focus on the industrial, consumer and real estate sectors.  The bankers will offer advice on M&A, bankruptcies and restructuring, and help companies raise capital in private placements.  With no trading research or underwriting, the bank will be conflict fee, Filippell says.”

Michael Feuer, former chairman of OfficeMax Inc. and now president of Max-Ventures is quoted as saying “There is a tremendous void with no major firm focusing on that market segment.” 

Robert Reffner, partner at Brouse McDowell law firm, is quoted as saying “M&A transactions consist of two elements, strategy and implementation, which require a range of skills. … To bring to bear judgment on strategy, that’s to me where the table gets set … On the implementation side, they don’t give any Nobel Prize in M&A.  It’s about getting large teams to work together and achieve a great result. … All deals vibrate at some point when they reach the speed of sound, and that is when the M&A professionals earn their keep.  All of this requires skill and judgment-of which these guys have plenty.”

IDD points out that “At Western Reserve, the former McDonald bankers say they can now focus on the smaller companies they have always covered, and with the kind of intense client focus that is hard to achieve in larger banks.  “We just want to bore in like a laser beam on servicing the middle market,’ says Filippell.”

The complete IDD article can be accessed through www.iddmagazine.com.