DirectBooks has had BMO Capital Markets, Blaylock Van, and American Veterans Group join its bond issuance platform.
These recent additions increase the total number of underwriters on DirectBooks to 31, including five diversity underwriting firms, and complements a community of 375 institutional investors. The core offering now consists of investment grade, emerging markets, high yield, and sovereigns, supranationals & agencies (SSAs) issuances across USD, EUR and GBP markets.
BMO Capital Markets offers a global syndicate presence with operations in Toronto, New York, London and Dublin, further extending the global reach of the DirectBooks underwriting community. The addition of Blaylock Van and American Veterans Group represents an expansion of diversity firms joining as underwriters. As part of its mission, DirectBooks focuses on shared goals with the communities we serve, which includes a commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in financial services.
“DirectBooks welcomes BMO Capital Markets, Blaylock Van and American Veterans Group as we continue to fulfil our goal of broadening our global community of underwriters,” said DirectBooks CEO, Rich Kerschner. “We are proud of our momentum and strength through diversity, and we continue to work hard every day to advance our mission of evolving the global financing markets.”
“At BMO we’re always looking for opportunities to meet the market needs of our clients in a way that offers them the deepest value and the most efficiency,” said Sean Hayes, head of US Debt Syndicate. “We are focused on driving progress toward positive change in global markets and joining the DirectBooks underwriting community means providing leading digital experiences in the new issue process to our clients.”
“Blaylock Van is committed to working closely with our clients, on the platforms that best suit their needs. We are thrilled to join the broker-dealer community on DirectBooks, and we are keen to be part of the positive change that the DirectBooks platform is bringing to the industry,” said Eric Van Standifer, president and chief executive officer, Blaylock Van. “With over 32 years of experience serving as an underwriter spanning Bookrunner and Co-Manager roles, we recognise that enhanced new issue communication is essential for underwriters and investors alike. We are excited about the possibilities this partnership will bring to our clients and to our business as a whole.”
“Joining the DirectBooks platform improves our workflow and provides American Veterans Group customers with the best-in-class level of service they’ve come to expect,” said Jared Kurtzer, AVG’s managing partner. “With its easy, efficient and transparent order message routing to the new issue market, DirectBooks levels the playing field for smaller firms like ours, enabling us to deliver the same stellar service and communications capabilities to clients that lead managers do. DirectBooks is a great platform and we’re excited to join.”
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