Washington Research Group, a group of investment research analysts that provides research to institutional equity investors and was most recently owned by now-defunct MF Global, has been acquired by Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago and New York- based financial services firm with more than $125 billion in assets under management.
Washington Research Group is composed of 14 research analysts and three support staff, all of whom have been hired by Guggenheim and will remain in Washington, D.C. They started their first day of work for the new firm today, a spokesperson for Guggenheim said. Guggenheim had no comment on to whom they will report.
The hiring is part of Guggenheim's plan to expand its research team, the spokesperson said.
"This is a transformative event for the equities business of Guggenheim Securities as we build out our research capabilities," Alan Schwartz, Executive Chairman of Guggenheim Partners, said in a statement.
Guggenheim has been adding headcount in the past seven months; it announced in March it would hire up to 150 proprietary traders by March 2013.
Guggenheim is the tenth owner in 37 years of Washington Research Group. Past owners include Drexel Burnham Lambert, which went bankrupt in 1990, and the Stanford Financial Group, which was run by R. Allen Stanford, who's been charged with running a Ponzi scheme.
Write to Julie Steinberg at Julie.Steinberg@dowjones.com
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