Hilltop Securities Inc. has expanded its public finance group by hiring a team of 12 investment bankers from Prager & Co., a boutique underwriter specializing in higher education transactions. The team, led by Fred Prager and including David Hertz, will join Hilltop as senior managing directors in New York. In 2022, Dallas-based Hilltop ranked 18th in managing long-term municipal debt, underwriting $4.2 billion in securities. Hilltop’s CEO, Brad Winges, expressed enthusiasm about the team’s expertise in serving higher education institutions.