WATERBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2004--Webster
Financial Corporation (NYSE: WBS), the holding company for Webster
Bank, announced today the sale of its majority interest in Duff &
Phelps, LLC, the Chicago-based financial advisory services and
investment banking firm, to a group including management teams from
Duff & Phelps and Stone Ridge Partners and an investor group led by
Lovell Minnick Partners, LLC. Webster will maintain a strategic
alliance with Duff & Phelps, with preferred customer status. Terms of
the sale were not disclosed.
Lovell Minnick Partners, headquartered in Rolling Hills Estates,
CA, will partner with existing management and others to invest a
significant amount of new capital into Duff & Phelps to expand the
business.
"Webster is intensely focused on building our retail and
commercial banking, investment and insurance businesses in southern
New England," said Webster Chairman and CEO James C. Smith. "While
Duff & Phelps is a strong, respected and capable firm, we have
determined that financial valuation and investment banking are not
core businesses. We believe it makes more sense to provide our
customers with Duff and Phelps' valuable services through an alliance
rather than through Webster's majority ownership. We have learned and
benefited from our association with the fine people at Duff & Phelps,
and we expect our relationship to remain strong and mutually
beneficial."
Chester ("Chet") Gougis will remain President of Duff & Phelps,
while Noah Gottdiener, Managing Partner of Stone Ridge Partners, has
been named Chief Executive Officer.
Gottdiener said, "I am delighted to lead this talented
organization and work with my new partner, Chet Gougis, to continue to
build Duff & Phelps' M&A practice and to grow its financial advisory
and valuation business. Duff & Phelps has maintained a stellar
reputation in the financial markets for over 70 years, and we look
forward to expanding its national presence in the under-served middle
market."
"We are excited to invest alongside an experienced management team
in a unique investment banking franchise serving the middle market. We
look forward to working with management and the employees of Duff &
Phelps to continue to build this enterprise," said Jeffrey D. Lovell,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lovell Minnick Partners.
Duff & Phelps offers specialty investment banking and financial
advice with expertise in fairness opinions; middle-market mergers and
acquisitions; private placements; business valuations; intangible
asset valuations; and ESOP and ERISA advisory services.
Webster acquired its majority interest in Duff & Phelps in
November 2000.
Webster Financial Corporation is the holding company for Webster
Bank and Webster Insurance. With $14.6 billion in assets, Webster
provides business and consumer banking, mortgage, insurance, financial
planning, trust and investment services through 119 banking offices,
233 ATMs, a Connecticut-based call center and the Internet. Webster
Bank owns the asset-based lending firm Webster Business Credit
Corporation, the insurance premium finance company Budget Installment
Corp., Center Capital Corporation, an equipment finance company
headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut and Webster Trust Company,
N.A.
For more information about Webster, including past press releases
and the latest Annual Report, visit the Webster website at
www.websteronline.com.
CONTACT: Webster Financial Corporation
Media Contact:
Clark Finley, 203-578-2429
cfinley@websterbank.com
or
Meghan Thompson, 203-578-2287
mthompson@websterbank.com
or
Investor Contact:
Katherine Partesano, 203-578-2295
kpartesano@websterbank.com
SOURCE: Webster Financial Corporation