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NEW YORK CITY-Sonnenblick Goldman has formed a wholly owned subsidiary, SG Real Estate Securities LLC, to deal with issues related to securities. The firm has been formally accepted by the National Associations of Securities Dealers as a registered broker dealer. Douglas Hercher serves as president of SG Real Estate Securities and a managing director and principal of Sonnenblick Goldman.

"Our client base is thinking about ways to expand their businesses, raise capital more efficiently, and just generally take full advantage of the opportunities they see," Hercher explains. "In order to meet those demands, it was critical that we create a registered broker dealer."

The firm desired to extend its existing real estate advisory business by providing placement agent services for investment funds as well as becoming more involved in equity and debt products structured as securities. In fact, the company started laying the groundwork for this new venture about 18 months ago with the hiring of Dan MacDonnell. The real estate veteran had worked in the real estate investment banking groups at Lehman Brothers, Bank of America Securities and Montgomery Securities. He points out that senior professionals and partners in Sonnenblick Goldman have years of Wall Street experience. "The creation of SG Real Estate Securities will allow us to take advantage of that experience."