Allegiance Capital Corporation, a Dallas-based investment bank, recently opened a new office in the IDS Tower in downtown Minneapolis.

The investment bank said that the move is part of a larger expansion through which it hopes to increase its client base in the Midwest. The firm already has an office in St. Paul, and it opened an office in Chicago earlier this year.

Jim Derks has been named managing director and will oversee the new Minneapolis office. He has more than two decades of experience in the mergers and acquisitions field, and he previously worked for LaSalle Bank in Chicago, where he managed investment banking activities. According to Allegiance Capital, Derks has provided financial advice for more than 60 completed mergers and acquisitions deals together valued at more than $6 billion.

“It's a terrific time [to expand to Minneapolis],” Derks said in a Wednesday phone interview. “The M&A market is certainly heating up. Our job is to focus on the entrepreneur and private business owner.”

Derks said that owners of middle-market companies have been forced to put plans on hold during the economic downturn, but “now equity that was previously sidelined is waiting to be invested.” “There's a demand and supply confluence, and it's absolutely going to result in more M&A activity,” he said. “We didn't have the capacity that we needed to meet that demand in the Twin Cities.”

Derks is the first full-time employee at the Minneapolis office, and he said that he draws support from a staff of 50 at the company's Dallas headquarters. He said that the firm will “bring aboard” more staff at its Minneapolis location in the future.

Allegiance Capital offers many financial services to businesses, including debt restructuring, mezzanine financing, execution of leveraged buyouts, strategic partnering, and consulting. It serves primarily privately held, middle-market companies-or those with revenue ranging from $20 million to $500 million. In addition to its new office in the IDS Tower, the firm has offices in Chicago, Dallas, New York, Seattle, and St. Paul.