Pensacola likely to benefit from presence of Legacy Securities

Legacy Securities Corp., a Southeastern-based investment and merchant bank operating in Atlanta, recently established a presence in the Pensacola Bay Area. "We are excited about the new Pensacola presence. Along with our location in Atlanta, it provides us with increased coverage in the Southeast and a better opportunity to work on behalf of clients throughout the greater Gulf Coast area," said Michael Easterly, chairman and chief executive officer. Chris Battel, president and managing director, will oversee the Pensacola office. He said that Legacy Securities Corp. chose to come to Pensacola for its many entrepreneurial businesses and its beautiful environment. "This is a beautiful city with welcoming folks. It is also an underserved market for companies not having access to investment bankers to help them gain capital and advise on mergers and acquisitions," Battel said. Legacy offers a full range of investment and merchant banking services, including capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and exclusive sales, as well as leveraged buyouts and restructurings to companies throughout the United States. Half of its business is from firms that wish to either sell or recapitalize and the other half is from entrepreneurs seeking to raise private capital. The business focuses on companies with revenues in the $10 million to $250 million range. Battel adds that Legacy clients are privately held businesses leading a variety of industries. Business services and the hospitality, health care, technology and industrial industries are focus areas for Legacy Securities Corp. "For small businesses, typically, access to capital is the most important thing for them and oftentimes what impacts their ability to grow," Battel said. Bryan Clark, founder of Pensacola's High Growth Business Club, is thrilled to see a business like Legacy Securities Corp. in Pensacola. "It's exciting to see more and more venture capital and merger acquisition companies come to the area. That's an important aspect of our local entrepreneurship development," Clark said. Legacy plans to build a strong presence in the Pensacola Bay Area with future goals of hiring local staff and opening a downtown office. "The big thing is we will be able to service a lot of companies here with our Atlanta resources," Battel said. "We don't measure our impact by the number of people that we hire in our own firm but rather the resource that we provide to the city and the entrepreneurial businesses in this region. We'll help Florida, and the Pensacola area in particular, grow entrepreneurial companies, new business to start up, as well as grow successful growth-oriented businesses here," he added. Easterly and Battel formed Legacy Securities Corp. in 1993. The company has completed more than 500 capital raising and mergers and acquisitions transactions.