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Philly's PFM is top US muni advisor

Will a drop in bond sales hurt John Bonow's top line?

    by Joseph N. DiStefano
    Published 
Philadelphia-based, expansion-minded PFM (Public Financial Management) was the busiest municipal-bond adviser in the US last year, helping raise $39.6 billion in 757 sales, Thompson Reuters reported today. 

Second-largest by number of deals was FirstSouthwest, with 614 deals worth $18.3 billion; No. 2 by value was Pulbic Resources Advisory Group, with 119 mostly larger deals worth $20.85 billion.

Municipal borrowing is expected to shrink as property tax revenues continue to fall over the next year or two. Longtime (newly-retired) boss John White and new chief executive John Bonow have told me private-investor-backed PFM has kept big by buying smaller competitors (even as defectors have started their own firms), and branching out into other public financial-advisory businesses, such as privatization/asset sales. 
    JN
    Joseph N. DiStefano