Butler Wick’s downtown staff could shrink after merger

YOUNGSTOWN — The president of Butler Wick & Co. said dozens of downtown jobs could have been saved if the company’s financial advisers had succeeded in buying the stock brokerage.

Before they could reach a deal, however, stock markets crashed in September and October, and the financial advisers no longer had assets they wanted to commit to the deal, Tom Cavalier said.

United Community Financial Corp., a Youngstown-based holding company that also owns Home Savings and Loan Co., then reached a deal to sell Butler Wick & Co. to St. Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp. for $12 million. The deal closed two weeks ago.

Cavalier estimated that between 30 and 35 of Butler Wick & Co.’s downtown staff are in jeopardy of losing their jobs once the systems of the two companies are merged in March. The office in the City Centre One building has 45 employees, including managers and support staff, such as accounting and information technology.

For more information, see Wednesday’s Vindicator or www.vindy.com.