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Jefferies chief executive Rich Handler has sold $65mn of his stock in the Wall Street investment bank to buy a luxury yacht from longtime client Tilman Fertitta.
Handler said on Wednesday that he had sold 1.5mn shares, about 7 per cent of his total holdings in Jefferies, at $43.50 each. This was the first time he has sold shares in the bank other than for charitable or tax purposes.
Jefferies said Handler, 62, was using the cash to buy a boat and pay tax obligations. A person familiar with the matter said the boat was a Westport 164ft yacht being purchased from Fertitta, the hospitality billionaire.
“My sale of shares today was a gift to myself and my family, and I do not intend to sell any further shares,” Handler said in a statement. “I remain extremely bullish on Jefferies and fully committed to helping us continue to build the best independent, global and full-service investment banking firm.”
Representatives for Fertitta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The sale shines a light on the massive wealth accumulated by Handler in recent years as Jefferies has grown from a scrappy firm that mainly advised on middle-market transitions to competing for larger deals against the likes of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Handler’s remaining shares in New York-based Jefferies are worth more than $800mn. Bloomberg in 2021 estimated his net worth at more than $1bn.
Handler started his career at Jefferies 34 years ago as a trader and became chief executive in 2001. It was taken over in 2012 by Leucadia National Corporation, an oil-to-beef conglomerate, but the merged company since pared back its other investments to focus solely on investment banking work.
Fertitta, whose net worth Forbes estimates at about $9bn, is the owner of US basketball team the Houston Rockets, the Golden Nugget casino business and restaurant chain Landry’s. Jefferies has advised on many of Fertitta’s deals, while he and Handler have raised four special purpose acquisition companies together under the name Landcadia Holdings.
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