A.G. Edwards, Inc. is a financial services holding company; its principal wholly owned subsidiary is A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., which operates as a full-service securities broker-dealer in the United States and Europe. The firm provides securities and commodities brokerage, investment banking, trust services, asset management, financial and retirement planning, private client services, investment management, and other related financial services to individual, governmental, and institutional clients.

A.G. Edwards is a member of the New York Stock Exchange and all other major stock and commodities exchanges.

The firm's global headquarters are located in St. Louis, Missouri. As of February 28, 2006, it had 738 locations in 50 states, the District of Columbia, London, and Geneva. The company serves its clients through its branch-office networks staffed with approximately 7,000 financial consultants.

History

The Company was founded in 1887 when General Albert Gallatin Edwards and his son opened for business in St. Louis. Among the first brokerage firms to go public in the 1970s, A.G. Edwards has since grown from its regional roots into one of the more recognizable brands in financial services.

Today, American television viewers will recognize the A.G. Edwards 'nest egg' as part of the firm's national branding strategy which includes monthly calculation of the National Nest Egg Score, a relative measure of US saving and investment habits.

The company's current tagline is Fully Invested In Our Clients.

Merger and Subsequent Aquisitions

On May 31, 2007, the company announced plans to be acquired by Wachovia Securities in a $6.8 billion deal.^[1]

On September 28, 2007, the company's shareholders voted in favor of the merger with Wachovia. Wachovia has moved the world headquarters of Wachovia Securities from Richmond, Virginia to St. Louis, Missouri. On October 1, 2007, the deal was finalized and A.G. Edwards became a wholly owned subsidiary of Wachovia Securities Corporation.^[2]

During the financial crisis of 2007-2008 Wachovia became a takeover target and on September 29, 2008 Citigroup made a $2.2 billion stock offer to aquire the banking assets of Wachovia. This offer included assuming $53 billion of Wachovia's debt and loan portfolio of at least $300 billion. This deal was brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which agreed to guarantee any losses on those loans over $42 billion.^[3] This left the securities division of Wachovia, which included the former A.G. Edwards, in an uncertain position, with the possibility that it could remain an independent entity.

Only days later, on October 3, Wells Fargo made a $15.1 billion offer for all of Wachovia's assets, without any government guarantees. On October 9, 2008 Citigroup announced that it would no longer attempt to block the purchase of Wachovia by Wells Fargo. Thus, the former A.G. Edwards became part of Wells Fargo.

Controversy

In December 2001, Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin launched a civil complaint against A.G. Edwards in response to a string of fraud allegations against a former broker of the company, William "Buck" McHugh, by retirees of the former Boston Edison. The complaint cites A.G. Edwards for its failure to properly supervise McHugh as he steered over $1 million of the retirees' severance money into failed investments between 1996 and 2001.

References

External links

• A.G. Edwards official website
• A.G. Edwards history
• The Nation's Current Nest Egg Score
• William Buck McHugh

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