Chapman Holdings, Inc. Makes History as the First African-American Securities Firm to Become a Publicly Traded Company.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 1998-- Baltimore-based Firm Achieves Another First -- Symbolic of the Advances by African-Americans on Wall Street Chapman Holdings, Inc. of Baltimore, Md., is the first African-American owned securities brokerage firm in history to become a publicly-traded company. In February 1998, Chapman offered a million shares in an initial public offering trading on the NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on Smallcap Market under the symbol "CMAN CMAN Configuration Management ." That offering gave the firm the most equity capitalization of any black brokerage firm -- $8 million -- with a reserve that allows them to lead-underwrite most transactions and the opportunity to develop their Domestic Emerging Markets (DEM See digital elevation model. )(TM) investment strategy. "We are the pioneers of the DEM(TM) investment strategy, which invests funds into publicly-traded African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. , Asian American A·sian A·mer·i·can also A·sian-A·mer·i·can n. A U.S. citizen or resident of Asian descent. See Usage Note at Amerasian. A , Latin and Hispanic American and women-owned companies in the United States," says Nathan A. Chapman, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of The Chapman Company. "The idea is to underwrite DEM(TM) companies going public and then to find secondary investors. Our goal is to be the dominant provider of capital and financial products to domestic emerging markets." "We are proud to be a part of a growing trend where Wall Street is recognizing the power of African-American economics," adds Chapman. "I believe we are the best place for anyone interested in investing in domestic emerging markets. In fact, some of the initial investors who came on as soon as we made our offering, have already made a 25% profit on their investment." Chapman said the recent historic accomplishment was another in a series of groundbreaking feats for the firm, including being the first black-owned company to manage and sell a fund. Chapman was also the first African American-owned company in the nation to have its funds rated. It received the AAA AAA: see American Automobile Association. (Triple A) A common single-cell battery used in a myriad of electronic devices of all variety. Like its double A (AA) cousin, it provides 1.5 volts of DC power. When used in series, the voltage is multiplied. rating from Standard & Poors, the firm's highest rating. In 1989, Chapman Capital launched a U.S. Treasury U.S. Treasury Created in 1798, the United States Department of the Treasury is the government (Cabinet) department responsible for issuing all Treasury bonds, notes and bills. Some of the government branches operating under the U.S. Treasury umbrella include the IRS, U.S. money-market mutual fund -- the first mutual fund ever started and sold by a black-owned company. The Baltimore-based firm has offices in Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City is the largest city in the state of Missouri. It encompasses parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest in Missouri, which includes counties in both Missouri and Kansas. ; Memphis, Tennessee and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. CONTACT: Noelle-Elaine Media Consultants for Chapman Holdings, Inc. Renee E. Warren or Jim Murray 212/370-5483 |
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