SEATTLE, June 27, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PFM Group, the nation's leading provider of independent financial and investment advisory services to state and local governments and non-profit entities, announced today that it has acquired SDM Advisors, Inc., a leading independent financial advisory firm in the state of Washington and a respected service provider throughout the Pacific Northwest. Susan Musselman, SDM Advisors President, will join PFM as a Director, and her colleagues Fred Eoff and Johanna Roodzant will also join the firm. They will work with PFM professionals already active in the Northwest and will continue to serve clients from PFM's office in Seattle, WA, which will now have ten employees.
SDM Advisors was initially formed in July 1996 as Susan D. Musselman, Inc. and has a strong reputation for providing comprehensive and independent financial advisory services to a wide array of municipal and governmental agencies in the Northwest. Clients in Washington State include counties, cities, utilities, school districts, housing agencies and special purpose districts. SDM Advisors also serves most of the State's public universities, is advisor to the Office of the State Treasurer for its successful Lease Purchase Program, and is on the financial advisory team for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission.
Susan Musselman, the firm's founder, has over 30 years of experience in public finance, primarily in the Northwest. She assists all types of clients with general obligation, revenue and assessment-backed financing needs. Susan has extensive experience with competitive, negotiated and private placement methods of bond sales, and has assisted clients with financial planning, credit strategies and policy development.
Fred Eoff has 35 years of experience in public finance in the Northwest and nationally. He has also served a broad base of clients with general obligation, revenue and assessment-backed financing needs, and has particular expertise with multi-family housing, project finance, and revenue-backed financings. His clients include the Washington State Convention Center Authority, the Nevada Housing Authority, and several municipal entities, among others.
Collectively, SDM's professionals represent over 70 years of experience in a broad spectrum of banking and public finance, with deep knowledge of the areas of general purpose municipal finance, public housing development financing, higher education and economic development finance.
"We are absolutely delighted to have a trusted professional with Susan Musselman's background, great reputation, and knowledge base join PFM," said John H. Bonow, PFM Managing Director and CEO. "SDM is a natural partner for us, as they have proven that they share our culture of providing independent advice with the highest ethical standards and delivering outstanding customer service to clients throughout the Northwest," he noted. "The acquisition of SDM reaffirms PFM's continued commitment to growth in Washington State and the region, and enables us to bring an expanded range of financial services to SDM clients while we expand our services in this region even further."
"This alliance not only enhances PFM in the Washington State marketplace, further bolstering our presence in the Northwest, but also strengthens our client service capabilities throughout the region," explained PFM Managing Director Peter Miller, who heads up PFM's financial advisory practice in the West. "PFM has a long and distinguished history of serving clients in the Pacific Northwest, and even turned to John Bonow, who headed the Seattle office, as the firm's CEO a year ago. Most important, we see this as an excellent opportunity for Susan and Fred to bring their experience and knowledge to bear in a way that will enhance the services available to all PFM clients in the region. At the same time, we feel that the expanded resources that PFM, as a national leader in municipal finance, can offer to existing SDM clients provides them with added value as well," Miller concluded.
Ms. Musselman expressed similar enthusiasm for joining PFM Group.
"PFM is a firm that has always recognized the value of independent advice and has fostered the highest levels of integrity," she said. "That is the foundation upon which I built SDM's practice, too, and it is an outlook embraced by Fred and Johanna as well. We believe that the combination of the talents and resources of our group with the PFM personnel in Seattle, together with our commitment to high quality service, will put us in the strongest position to serve and grow our client base together. I am confident that our knowledge of the region will help PFM continue to build its presence in the Pacific Northwest, and I look forward to our work together," she concluded.
The PFM Group of companies includes Public Financial Management, Inc., (PFM) the top-ranked municipal advisory firm in the nation, providing independent financial advisory services to a broad base of local, state, and regional government and non-profit clients throughout the United States. PFM is a registered municipal advisor with the SEC and the MSRB under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, and has been ranked number one nationally in debt transactions for the past fifteen years in a row, advising on almost $600 billion in total debt in more than 12,000 separate transactions during that period. The firm is well-respected for providing clients with independent advisory services free of conflicts in their dealings with the capital markets in the fields of Higher Education, Public Power, Transportation, Environmental Utilities, Healthcare, General Municipal and Management & Budget Consulting, among others. In addition, at March 31, 2013, PFM Asset Management LLC (PFMAM), a part of the PFM Group of companies, had $46.7 billion in assets under management for state and local governments and non-profit institutions, and provided non-discretionary advice for an additional $31.3 billion in securities. PFMAM is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. For over 33 years, PFMAM professionals have specialized in providing fixed income portfolio management for separate accounts, emphasizing a conservative, low-risk and disciplined approach to research and portfolio construction. Other major areas of expertise at PFMAM include separately managed bond portfolios and multi-asset class portfolio management, as well as investment advisory and consulting services in OPEB and pension management. PFM Group currently has more than 470 employees providing exemplary customer service from 33 locations across the U.S., including Seattle, WA and Portland, OR.