Eric Gleacher (born April 27, 1940) is an American investor and financier, and the founder and former chairman of the now defunct, Gleacher & Company, an independent

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

firm based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early life and education

Gleacher attended

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

, where he competed in golf. He later transferred to

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

and graduated with a B.A. in history in 1963, after which he served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for three years. Thereafter, Gleacher received his MBA from

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 N ...

in 1967.

Career

In 1978, Gleacher founded the

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

department of

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...

. He left Lehman, following its acquisition by

Shearson Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonMorgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

from 1985 through 1990. During this time, Gleacher was involved in the

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loan ...

of RJR Nabisco by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as well as the leveraged buyout of

Revlon Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it still remains. Revlon was founded by brothe ...

Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman and investor. MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, licorice, makeup, cars, photography, t ...

. In 1990, Gleacher founded his own firm, Gleacher Partners, which he sold to

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...

in 1996 for $135 million. He bought back the firm in 1999 for less than $4 million and, in 2009, resold the firm for $65 million to the publicly traded Broadpoint Securities Group who renamed it Gleacher & Co. Gleacher was initially installed as CEO and chairman in 2010 but was ousted and replaced by Tom Hughes in 2011, retaining the position of chair until leaving in 2013. On March 13, 2014, Gleacher & Co. announced that it would liquidate its remaining assets, having disbanded its investment banking business during 2013.

's downtown Chicago Gleacher Center is named in his honor. Gleacher is on the

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

for the

Hospital for Special Surgery Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a hospital in New York City that specializes in orthopedic surgery and the treatment of rheumatologic conditions. Founded in 1863 by James Knight, HSS is the oldest orthopedic hospital in the United States ...

and

References

External links

A Hot New Star in the Merger Game
''Fortune'', February 17, 1986
At leisure: the 19th hole is a place in the Wall Street pantheon
''The Times'', February 6, 2010
Broadpoint Agrees to Purchase Eric Gleacher’s Firm
''Bloomberg'', March 3, 2009 Private equity and venture capital investors American financiers 20th-century American Jews Northwestern University alumni University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni 1940 births Living people American chief executives of financial services companies 21st-century American Jews {{private-equity-bio-stub