American Stock Transfer Rededicates and Re-brands
American Stock Transfer and Trust Company has had an interesting 12 months, weathering a period in which its Australian private equity firm owner (Pacific Equity Partners, or PEP) retained Barclays’ U.S. investment banking team to explore an exit by PEP from its relatively long 8-year investment in AST – via IPO or outright sale. At the end of the day PEP cancelled these plans and rededicated itself to AST, enhanced by a recent AST re-branding campaign.
Indeed, AST’s website is now www.astfinancial.com, and employees proudly flash the “AST” badge when promoting the company’s strengths with stock transfer (second largest agent in the U.S. in terms of number of corporate clients, and third largest in terms of shareholder records), proxy solicitation rooted in its 2014 acquisition of D.F. King, related market intelligence services, employee stock plan administration, unclaimed property services and more. AST has put a very strong management team in place, relies on veteran staff which is important in this arcane field – and now the company enjoys this new, rejuvenating shot in the arm. From our perspective, the AST rededication and re-branding further underscores the strength and viability of the “Big Five” transfer agents in the U.S. For more information, the reader might consider our Transfer Agent Evaluations product available on this website.