Serving Clients for Nearly Half a Century

Established in 1962, Jefferies is a full-service global investment banking firm and a leader in providing insight, expertise and execution to investors, companies and government entities. Our firm is a top advisor and underwriter across all industries and a leading provider of securities brokerage services with award-winning research and innovative asset management strategies. Jefferies embodies the now-rare Wall Street culture that delivers creative, entrepreneurial and hands-on solutions that are distinctly client-focused and relationship-driven.

Jefferies Today

The last few years have truly been a pivotal time for Jefferies as the firm has gained market share and built significant momentum by capitalizing on strategic opportunities to expand and diversify on multiple levels and across all business lines. Jefferies' ability to emerge from the financial crisis positioned for growth and diversification can best be attributed to the firm's focus on a strong balance sheet and ample liquidity. Over the last five years, the firm's annual revenue, equity market capitalization and global headcount have all more than doubled, with now almost $3 billion in annualized net revenue, $5 billion in equity market value and over 3,600 employees.

Jefferies has invested heavily in expanding across both products and geographies to better serve our clients. In addition to meaningfully increasing our offering in equities, the business upon which Jefferies was founded, Jefferies now offers deep and broad capabilities across both fixed income and investment banking. Including the acquisition of the Bache commodities business, Jefferies now also has a global futures and commodities offering for clients. Significant investment in talented professionals has also resulted in a full-service European operation supported by nearly 800 employee-partners across all major lines of business, and an ongoing build in Asia now includes approximately 125 professionals, all of which complement the firm's strong U.S. presence.

In a move to further strengthen our firm's significant capital markets business, Jefferies recently created Jefferies LoanCore LLC, a commercial real estate finance joint venture with the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation with $600 million in committed equity. Jefferies similarly strengthened our leveraged lending partnership with MassMutual via Jefferies Finance LLC, increasing the total committed equity capitalization to $1 billion.

As Jefferies approaches its 50th anniversary, our firm is among the top ten in virtually all of our businesses, and is top five in many. With continued growth and expansion, Jefferies remains focused on one key tenet: serving clients.

2000s - Growth, Diversification & Expansion

By adding valuable talent and incremental capabilities across all businesses, the firm was able to leverage its historical strength in the sales and trading of cash equities, converts and high yield bonds to create a significantly expanded client offering. Specifically in trading, Jefferies entered into and gained significant share in the related businesses of equity derivatives, prime brokerage, securities finance and electronic trading, as well as investment-grade corporate bonds, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, government and agency securities, municipal bonds, leveraged loans, distressed securities and emerging markets debt.

Similar growth occurred during the decade in Jefferies' global investment banking platform, where the breadth of industry coverage and product capabilities was significantly expanded through a combination of aggressively hiring senior professionals and established teams, making acquisitions of outstanding specialty firms, and forming joint ventures with world-class partners. While the firm's footprint continued to grow, the additions made during this time period helped to establish Jefferies as a global, full-service investment bank with an expertise in advisory, and equity and debt capital markets activities across the Aerospace & Defense, Business Services, CleanTech, Consumer, Energy, FIG, Financial Sponsors, Gaming/Leisure, Healthcare, Industrials, Maritime, Media, Public Finance, Real Estate/Lodging, Technology and Telecom sectors.

Finally, Jefferies also considerably diversified its asset management business and added innovative products and strategies, including commodities, long/short equities, ETFs and mutual funds. Despite the difficult economic environment of the late 2000s, the firm continued to gain market share and expand a deep and broad client offering.

1990s - A New Era

The 1990s represented a significant period of growth and expansion for Jefferies, when the firm began diversifying trading capabilities to include high yield bonds and launched investment banking, research and asset management efforts. Jefferies' equity trading platform continued to thrive, maintaining the firm's position as a leading trader and provider of liquidity. With a focus on the middle market, Jefferies continued to expand capabilities and geographic reach, moving further into Europe and Asia, and by the end of the decade had established a solid foundation upon which to build.

1960s, 1970s & 1980s - A Foundation in Equities

Jefferies was founded nearly 50 years ago by innovating to meet the needs of institutional investors who were looking to trade large blocks of stock without impacting the market. By leveraging broad industry relationships to match institutional buyers and sellers naturally, away from the exchanges, Jefferies pioneered what came to be known as third-market trading, and quickly became an important player in the institutional marketplace. Over its first three decades, Jefferies flourished as an equity trading firm, expanding modestly and building on a solid foundation and reputation for client service. With a finely-honed expertise in block trading, the firm distinguished itself with a focus on best execution and an ability to provide liquidity in equities. After 21 years of building a block-trading business, Jefferies went public 1983 and established a European presence in 1984.