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Brokerage woos buyers
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August 12, 1997: 8:12 a.m. ET
Two banks in the southeast are in line for the estimated $1.3B purchase
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Discount brokerage Quick & Reilly is up for sale and two large southeast banks are believed to be among the leading contenders, according to press accounts Tuesday.
A sale could total up to $1.3 billion, or 16 times Quick & Reilly's annual earnings, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Quick & Reilly, based in Palm Beach, Fla., has 1,000 employees and is the third largest discount brokerage in the United States. The company hired investment bankers to solicit bids.
First Union Bank and Barnett Bank, major players in the southern United States, top the list of bidders so far, according to the Times.
The company's stock (BQR) closed Monday up 2-11/16 to 29-5/16 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Quick & Reilly would be a good bargain because its stock is trading at 11 times earnings, compared with 30 times earnings for top brokerage house Charles Schwab Corp., the newspapers said.
The sale would be part of a trend of banks buying securities firms as federal regulators loosen rules. 
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