Andy Altahawi is a dual-discipline professional whose career uniquely combines more than three decades of senior-level U.S. investment banking with an equally long-standing international legal practice. Few advisors in the global capital markets bring both qualifications in equal measure — and fewer still can apply them, in tandem, to the structuring, listing, and post-listing oversight of cross-border issuers seeking access to the world’s most demanding exchanges.
Mr. Altahawi has spent his career operating at the intersection of three disciplines: U.S. securities law and SEC compliance, exchange qualification on NYSE and NASDAQ, and international corporate structuring. He has been involved — directly and through advisory mandates — in hundreds of public offerings, billions of dollars of capital raised, and a series of landmark transactions that span multiple decades, market cycles, and regulatory regimes.
Our Story
Adamson Brothers operated from 1998 to 2007 as a full-service investment bank — a multi-office, SEC- and FINRA-registered broker-dealer (CRD #46684) engaged in equity and bond trading, options, mutual funds, market making, and a robust corporate finance practice spanning public offerings, follow-on offerings, private placements, reverse mergers, and structured financings across technology, life sciences, real estate, financial services, energy, and industrial sectors.
In 2007, ahead of the restructuring of the U.S. broker-dealer landscape that followed the global financial crisis, Adamson Brothers wound down its broker-dealer operations and continued as a specialized capital markets advisory firm. Years of advisory work revealed a fragmented market: listing readiness lived with one firm, registration with another, exchange applications with a third, the capital raise with a fourth — each with its own clock, its own invoice, and its own version of the truth. That experience shaped a simple conviction that guides the practice today: going public should be a disciplined, transparent, well-advised process — not a maze — grounded in decades of underwriting rigor and exchange qualification experience.
Career Pillars
Prudential Securities — Senior Investment Banker (1994–1998)
Mr. Altahawi began his U.S. investment banking career at Prudential Securities, one of the most prominent full-service investment banks of its era and a recognized force in U.S. equity and debt underwriting throughout the 1990s. As Senior Vice President in the Investment Banking division, he led and supported high-profile public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, road shows, and structured corporate finance assignments.
During that period, Prudential Securities was led by Wick Simons, the former Chairman of NASDAQ, who served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm. Mr. Altahawi worked under Mr. Simons’ leadership during this transformative chapter in the firm’s history, gaining direct exposure to the highest standards of capital markets execution. His work placed him at the center of a number of headline equity offerings of the 1990s, including the Cali Realty IPO and follow-on transactions, along with a wide range of REIT, technology, and growth-company financings.
Adamson Brothers — Founder & CEO (1998–Present)
Through Adamson Brothers, Mr. Altahawi took hundreds of companies public on U.S. exchanges and the OTC markets, and the firm was credited with raising billions of dollars in public offering and follow-on financings on behalf of issuer clients.
Throughout its operation as a FINRA-registered broker-dealer, Adamson Brothers was never the subject of a customer complaint or a regulatory citation from FINRA or the NASD — a clean record across a decade of multi-office trading, market making, and corporate finance. Mr. Altahawi’s own registered career from 1994 was likewise free of customer complaints. His full regulatory history, including the 2018–2019 SEC Longfin matter resolved by consent without admitting or denying the allegations, is published in full at Record & Regulatory History.
In its advisory capacity since 2007, Adamson Brothers has continued to work with private and public issuers preparing for U.S. exchange listings, and has provided advisory input in connection with a number of widely-followed listings and direct listings on NYSE and NASDAQ.
International Legal Practice (1986–Present)
In parallel with his U.S. capital markets career, Mr. Altahawi has maintained an active international legal practice for four decades. He holds a Law degree from Cairo University Law School (1986) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Finance from the University of Szeged. He is admitted as a Supreme Court attorney, admitted to the Bar in 1988, with reciprocal practice rights in additional jurisdictions, including regular co-counsel work alongside U.S.-admitted partners.
His legal work focuses on cross-border corporate structuring, international commercial contracts, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, commercial arbitration (including Bermuda-form insurance and reinsurance disputes), and corporate governance counsel for boards of directors of publicly traded companies. He has served as General Counsel to large multinational enterprises and has negotiated and arbitrated dozens of international commercial disputes through to final award.
The dual qualification — as both a senior U.S. investment banker and an internationally-admitted attorney — allows Mr. Altahawi to advise issuers from a holistic standpoint very few advisors in the market can offer: the financial discipline of a Wall Street banker combined with the legal precision of an international corporate attorney, from a single source, without the friction of coordinating separate banking and legal teams.
U.S. Securities Industry Credentials
Mr. Altahawi has held an extensive set of FINRA registrations spanning supervisory, principal, and investment banking qualifications since 1994 — among the most comprehensive licensure profiles held by any independent capital markets consultant operating today. His full registration history is public.
- Series 3 — National Commodity Futures Examination
- Series 4 — Registered Options Principal
- Series 6 — Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative
- Series 7 — General Securities Representative
- Series 24 — General Securities Principal
- Series 55 — Equity Trader
- Series 63 — Uniform Securities Agent State Law
- Series 65 — Uniform Investment Adviser Law
- Series 79 — Investment Banking Representative
Education & Bar Admissions
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Finance — University of Szeged
- Bachelor of Civil Law — Cairo University Law School, 1986
- Supreme Court Attorney; admitted to the Bar in 1988, with reciprocal admissions in additional jurisdictions
Current Practice
Through Adamson Brothers Corp., Mr. Altahawi consults with emerging companies, mid-cap issuers, and international corporate clients on the full spectrum of U.S. capital markets activity:
- NYSE and NASDAQ listing readiness, qualification, and uplisting
- Preparation of SEC-style documentation for S-1, F-1, Reg A+, Reg D, and shelf registrations
- Capital formation strategy, investor-grade documentation, and road-show preparation
- Cross-border advisory for international issuers entering U.S. markets
- Corporate governance counsel — boards, bylaws, and reporting frameworks aligned with public market expectations
His clients range from high-growth private companies preparing for their first public listing to established international corporations seeking access to U.S. capital markets through direct listings, Regulation A+ offerings, uplistings, or other alternative routes. His approach is methodical, investor-focused, and results-driven — designed to position each client not merely for a successful listing, but for sustainable long-term performance on the world’s most competitive exchanges.
Transparency: Mr. Altahawi publishes his complete career and regulatory record, with primary sources, at Record & Regulatory History.