Chicago’s Loop Capital Markets LLC, a minority-owned investment bank, beat out JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., to ink its first billion-dollar deal.
“When you crack the billion-dollar category, that’s like an NBA player scoring 40 points in a game,” says Jim Reynolds, founder and CEO of Loop Capital.
The investment bank has been hired as a lead bookrunner in a $1.3 billion note sale for the city of Los Angeles, Crain’s Chicago has reported. Reynolds said that the investment bank’s interest rates and fees in the Loop bid helped secure the deal.
In a statement, Miguel Santana, city administrative officer for Los Angeles, said, “The city of Los Angeles was proud to provide a boutique firm, such as Loop Capital, with the opportunity to serve as senior manager. Their high level of service and expertise resulted in an outstanding outcome for the city.”
Reynolds also said that the firm is working on several other billion dollar deals.
During a roundtable discussion at a previous Black Management Association’s conference, Reynolds, a graduate of Kellogg School of Business, (1982), told the audience that traditional values were a necessity in a competitive industry.
“What I quickly learned was that certainly to be good at what you did was important,” Reynolds said, “but to have relationships with the folks that could get you hired was just as important.”
Reynolds was also one of the first black businessmen to support President Barack Obama’s campaign.
