Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Today The Birmingham (Ala.) News reported that Morgan Keegan & Co., the investment arm of Regions Financial Corp., has purchased an investment bank, Burke Capital Group, based in Atlanta. The sale price was not released. Regions Financial Corp. is based in Birmingham.

According to its company web site, Burke Capital Group is an independent investment banking firm that provides “superior corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions advisory services to financial institutions and middle market companies.” The company was founded in 1995. In 2006, the SNL Financial’s Bank M&A Scoreboard listed Burke at No. 1 among the Top Southeast regional financial advisers for the third quarter.

Regions Morgan Keegan has been staggering since late 2007 when it was revealed that a number of its investment funds that were presented as low-risk had actually been tied to the volatile subprime mortgage lending market. When the mortgage industry collapsed, investors found their portfolios devalued literally overnight, resulting in massive losses.

In August, Hyperion Brookfield, based in New York, NY, took over the management of three open-end funds and four closed-end funds that had been managed by Morgan Asset Managment, an arm of Morgan Keegan, which is based in Memphis. Morgan Asset Management is owned by Regions Financial Corp.

The New York Post reported an exclusive item on Sunday, saying former Major League Baseball catcher and current sports broadcaster Tim McCarver has entered an arbitration case against Morgan Keegan & Co. for losses totaling about $1 million.

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The Daily News, which covers Memphis, reported yesterday that class action cases against Regions Morgan Keegan (RMK) pending in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee may be consolidated under U.S. District Judge Hardy Mays. The paper reports Judge Mays issued a ruling Tuesday that answers some questions about the request, and which group or groups could be selected as lead plaintiff in that event.

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On Aug. 18, we reported that Regions Morgan Keegan had shifted management of its seven failed investment funds to Hyperion Brookfield Asset Management company. This week, a report in the Memphis Commercial Appeal said the new managers have begun reworking the funds, but in a conference call with investors would not make any guarantees about results.

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After seven Regions Morgan Keegan investment funds took a nose dive because of their ties to the subprime mortgage lending crisis, stockholders found themselves holding greatly devalued portfolios. Because the funds had been initially represented as low-risk, when in actuality they were tied to the volatile subprime lending market, stockholders are bringing suit against Regions Morgan Keegan for their losses. Now, the investment portfolios have a new manager, Hyperion Brookfield Asset Manager.

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In February, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported one of its locally based companies, CountryMark Cooperative, was joining the lawsuit against Morgan Keegan, which it says fraudulently invested funds in high-risk mortgaged-based securities. CountryMark alleges misrepresentation of funds, saying Morgan Keegan presented its investment portfolio as low-risk.

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