Investment Bank Opens Downtown Branch, Verifies Market

SEATTLE, WA-San Francisco-based investment bank W.R. Hambrecht & Co. has leased office space in the downtown Bank of America Building to accommodate a 20-employee branch office. The new office will be headed by five investment pros when the new quarters are ready for occupancy in mid-January.

Meantime, a core group of W.R. Hambrecht employees has set up a temporary shop at 1111 Third Ave. and are hiring staff, serving existing Seattle area clients and seeking new ones, mostly in the technology field, according to branch manager J. D. Dellafield. Hambrecht has worked with numerous technology companies in the area including Seattle’s InterNap Network Services and Bothell-based Quinton.

The financial community seems to regard the opening of the branch – after the recent opening of a Goldman Sachs office and in the midst of a struggling — as a strong statement of confidence in the city’s economic future. Indeed, the emerging Puget Sound technology market was the main attraction to Hambrecht. The branch intends to focus on technology, branded consumer and biotech deals, Dellafield said. Area entrepreneurs will thus have access to more capital and investment services.