PFM Financial Advisors LLC, the leading municipal financial advisory firm in Florida and nationwide[1][i], and its affiliates are expanding their capabilities and client base by acquiring a majority of the economic and financial consulting assets of Fishkind & Associates. The additional business lines PFM is acquiring focus on providing administration, financial and real estate advisory services to public and private clients and to Community Development Districts (CDD), of which there are more than 600 in Florida.
The majority of Fishkind’s employees, including the company’s founder and President Henry Fishkind, Ph.D. will join PFM. Dr. Fishkind will manage PFM’s Florida CDD operation and work with Managing Director Brent Wilder, who has been a leader in PFM’s Orlando financial advisory business since 2009.
“This acquisition represents an extension and expansion of the services we offer,” Wilder said. “We touch many of the same types of projects as Fishkind but at different stages of those projects. Now, combining their expertise with ours we can take a project from planning and creation to financing and debt issuance to ongoing management. We are constantly looking for ways to better serve our clients and that is what we accomplish with this strategic alignment of our resources.”
Despite PFM’s dominant position in Florida, the company has had limited reach in the CDD finance sector. A CDD is a special purpose governmental framework and legal entity created to serve the long-term infrastructure needs and ongoing development of a community. A CDD’s main purpose is to efficiently plan, finance, build, operate and maintain a community for the benefit of its residents and landowners, who pay the cost to operate the CDD. An example of a large CDD is the Villages, an active adult retirement community in northcentral Florida that serves 120,000 residents. Fishkind & Associates has been one of the major service providers in the CDD area for over 20 years.
Dr. Fishkind is one of Florida’s premier economists and municipal advisors. His career began in 1975 as an associate professor in economics at the University of Florida. He launched Fishkind and Associates in 1988 and also has served in advisory roles to two Florida governors.
“I am tremendously gratified to bring our team’s knowledge and experience in real estate and economic development to an organization of PFM’s stature, not only here in Florida but across the U.S.,” Dr. Fishkind said. “This is a classic complementary fit. We look forward to making our consulting services available to PFM’s hundreds of Florida clients and in turn providing PFM’s additional suite of services to the many clients we bring with us.”
Closing on the acquisition is expected in the first quarter of 2019.
Contact us at PFM's Orlando East location:
12051 Corporate Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32817
Phone: 407.723.5900
Fax: 407.723.5901
About PFM
At PFM, over 650 employees - asset managers, financial advisors and consultants - partner with clients in every region of the country to transform their world. We combine superior financial advice, disciplined management and ingenuity to build, power, move and educate.
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[1][i] For full year 2018 Florida Long Term Municipal new issues, PFM’s financial advisory team advised on 45 transactions– 31 more than the next largest municipal advisor and only 3 less than the 48 that all 9 other municipal advisors in the top 10 combined, according to Refinitiv.
