an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . november 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message financo inc. type private industry investment banking founded 1971 headquarters new york ny united states key people gilbert harrison chairman colin s.a. welch president and ceo karen goodman coo joshua goldberg general counsel products investment banking consulting number of employees 20 2012 website www.financo.com financo inc. is a new york based boutique investment bank focused on the merchandising and retail sector with offices also in los angeles and london . it was founded in 1971 by wharton school graduate gilbert harrison whose experience in deals involving american eagle bcbg max azria and bear stearns merchant banking among others has made him a sought after source of expertise 1 which he was contributed at events such as the financial times business of luxury summit . 2 financo is also known for hosting a summit every year during the national retail federation convention at which financo gathers a ceo panel covering a major topic relevant to the retail and fashion industries and at which senior executives in the consumer sector network extensively . 3 their 2011 annual ceo panel was hosted by cnbc s nicole lapin . panelists included dan schock google ben fischman rue la la chip wilson lululemon and stephen zangre facebook . 4 a profile on gilbert harrison was featured in the march 2011 issue of the deal titled relationship advisory . 5 contents 1 history 2 business divisions 2.1 investment banking 2.2 consulting 3 external links 4 notes history edit financo was founded in 1971 with the same focus on retail that it has today and completed over 140 deals in its first fourteen years of existence . in 1985 the firm was acquired by shearson lehman brothers at the time owned by american express and became the lehman brothers middle market group still headed by gilbert harrison . harrison decided to reacquire the financo name in 1989 however and re established the firm independent of shearson lehman . today financo has become the largest independent retail and consumer advisory firm serving in both the us market and internationally . business divisions edit investment banking edit this division is divided into three primary arms mergers & acquisitions and financo securities and special situations . the first arm provides advice on mergers acquisitions divestitures while financo securities provides capital raising services on behalf of retail and merchandising clients . special situations focuses on providing restructuring services for financially troubled companies . consulting edit financo global consulting fgc provides advice on product strategy and strategic analysis . the consultants are all experienced industry executives who have served in various high level positions in the retailing world such as chairman of neiman marcus chairman and ceo of macy s east chairman and ceo of sears and ceo of anne klein . 6 currently sixteen former industry executives serve as fgc consultants . external links edit financo website national retail federation website notes edit msnbc video front page http www.ftbusinessofluxury.co.uk speakers2.aspx spid 10332 financo press http www.cnbc.com id 34934042 business looking up for luxury retailers http www.thedeal.com magazine id 038644 2011 relationship adviser.php financo inc. global consulting retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title financo & oldid 738004128 categories banks based in new york cityinvestment banksbanks established in 1971shearson lehman american expressamerican companies established in 19711971 establishments in new yorkhidden categories articles with a promotional tone from november 2010all articles with a promotional tone navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 6 september 2016 at 10 18 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view