Jefferies Financial Group
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Founder | Ian Cumming, Joseph S. Steinberg |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Richard Handler (CEO) |
| Products | Investment banking, capital markets, commercial mortgage banking, real estate development, online foreign exchange trading, vehicle finance, insurance, oil and gas exploration and development, automobile dealerships, broadband services, mining, manufacturing, food production |
| Website | www |
Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is a United States-based financial services firm with its main office located in New York City. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker JEF and features on the Fortune 1000 ranking.
Investments
The firm's principal assets encompass:
Financial Services
- Jefferies Group (fully owned) – specializing in investment banking and capital markets
- Berkadia Commercial Mortgage (equally owned joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway) – focuses on commercial mortgage banking, investment sales, and servicing
- HomeFed (65% stake) – develops master planned communities, income-generating properties, and land portfolios
- FXCM (49.9% ownership) – platform for online foreign exchange trading
- Foursight Capital (entirely owned) – engaged in vehicle finance
Other Ventures
- HRG Group (23% share) – involved in insurance and consumer goods
- Vitesse Energy (96% ownership) – active in oil and gas exploration and development
- Juneau Energy (98% stake) – focused on oil and gas exploration and development
- Garcadia Holdings (75%, joint venture with Ken Garff Automotive Group) – operates automobile dealerships
- Linkem (57% ownership) – provides fixed wireless broadband services
- Golden Queen (35% interest) – gold and silver mining operations
- Idaho Timber (wholly owned) – manufacturing sector
- National Beef Packing Company (79% ownership) – food production enterprise
Historical Overview
- In 1970, Ian Cumming and Joseph S. Steinberg graduated from Harvard Business School and joined Carl Marks & Company, an investment bank.
- In 1979, they took control of Talcott National Corporation, divested the James Talcott Factors unit, and rebranded the company as Leucadia in 1980.
- In 1984, Leucadia realized $61 million profit from a $77 million investment in Avco Corporation by facilitating its acquisition by Textron.
- The company purchased insurer Colonial Penn from Florida Power & Light for $150 million in 1991.
- By 1997, Leucadia divested Colonial Penn's life insurance segment to Conseco for $460 million and its auto insurance division to GE Capital for $950 million.
- In 1998, Charter National Life Insurance and Intramerica Life Insurance were sold to Allstate.
- Through bankruptcy reorganization in 2002, Leucadia acquired a 44% interest in WilTel Communications Group.
- From May to August 2003, it completed the purchase of the remaining WilTel Communications Group shares.
- RehabWorks was acquired by Leucadia in September 2003.
- In January 2004, the company provided financing to Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund led by Bill Ackman.
- That year, Leucadia attempted to secure a controlling interest in MCI Communications, ultimately selling its stake later for a $20 million gain.
- WilTel Communications Group was sold to Level 3 Communications in 2005, generating a $180 million profit.
- In 2007, ResortQuest International was acquired from Gaylord Hotels for $35 million.
- A joint venture named Berkadia was established in 2009 with Berkshire Hathaway, acquiring Capmark Financial Group’s North American loan origination and servicing operations.
- ResortQuest International was sold to Wyndham Worldwide for $56 million in 2010.
- Leucadia secured a 79% share of National Beef Packing Company for $867.9 million in 2011.
- The company proposed a $3 billion syngas facility project in Chicago during 2012 aimed at converting coal and petroleum waste into natural gas; however, it did not receive legislative approval.
- In 2013, Leucadia merged with Jefferies Group, appointing Richard Handler as CEO.
- That same year, KeyBank entered into a sub-servicing contract with Berkadia concerning CMBS portfolios acquired from Bank of America.
- Following losses linked to Swiss Franc fluctuations, the company invested in FXCM in 2015 and restructured this holding in 2016.
- The firm adopted the name Jefferies Financial Group in May 2018.