Amherst Pierpont

Amherst Pierpont, now a part of Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB), operates as a significant fixed-income broker-dealer. The firm's history traces back to the merger of Amherst Securities Group, L.P., and Pierpont Securities LLC in 2014, a move that created a market-leading entity in the fixed-income sector. Prior to this, Amherst Securities, founded in 1993, had established itself as a specialist in mortgage-related investments, while Pierpont Securities, established in 2009, focused on rates and credit products. A major milestone for the company occurred in May 2019 when the Federal Reserve Bank of New York designated Amherst Pierpont as a Primary Dealer, allowing it to act as a direct trading counterparty. This designation was a testament to the firm's growth and its sophisticated, scalable self-clearing platform.

In July 2021, Banco Santander announced its acquisition of Amherst Pierpont's parent company, Pierpont Capital Holdings LLC, for approximately $600 million. The deal, which closed in the first quarter of 2022, integrated Amherst Pierpont into Santander CIB's global business line. This strategic acquisition was designed to significantly enhance Santander's capabilities in U.S. fixed income capital markets, expand its institutional client footprint, and provide a platform for self-clearing of fixed-income securities globally. At the time of the acquisition, Joe Walsh served as the CEO of Amherst Pierpont.

The firm caters to a broad institutional client base of over 1,300, including banks, insurance companies, pension funds, asset managers, and hedge funds. It provides these clients with access to a comprehensive suite of fixed-income products and services. The business model revolves around providing liquidity, execution services, and strategic advice across a wide range of fixed-income assets. This includes U.S. treasury securities, mortgage-backed securities, corporate debt, and structured products. A key component of its service is a state-of-the-art data and analytics platform designed to identify relative value and quantify risk-reward in the fixed-income markets. The acquisition by Santander was expected to be accretive to the group's earnings per share, reflecting Amherst Pierpont's consistent profitability, including an average return on equity of approximately 15% since 2016.

Keywords: fixed-income broker-dealer, institutional clients, fixed income capital markets, U.S. Treasuries, mortgage-backed securities, structured products, primary dealer, self-clearing, market making, corporate debt, securities finance, asset securitization, investment banking, data and analytics platform, repo finance, credit trading, emerging markets credit, residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities