E&Y Launches Finance Unit.

• Position: Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Not content simply to offer consulting on corporate finance, Ernst & Young LLP has launched Ernst & Young Corporate Finance LLC, a broker-dealer that will provide a broad range of corporate finance services. Officials at the firm claim that E&Y is the first of the Big Five to create such a business.

The new unit will focus on midsize transactions ($50 million to $1 billion), including: all aspects of mergers and acquisitions; divestitures and corporate spin-offs; joint ventures and alliances; leveraged recapitalizations; debt and equity refinancing; management, employee and leveraged buyout strategies; fairness opinions; and restructuring advisory services.

Launching a broker-dealer puts E&Y in the competitive arena with a host of investment banks that have traditionally offered such services. One asset the Big Five firm has is an extensive client list and a history of customer contact that may make some companies more willing to listen to a proposal.

"We recognized an opportunity to meet the corporate finance demands in the mid-size transaction arena in a...