Gruntal & Co. was a boutique

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 ...

and brokerage firm based in New York City. Prior to its acquisition in 2002, the firm was among the oldest independent investment banking houses in the U.S. The firm was founded as Sternberger & Fuld in 1880 by Maurice Sternberger, who partnered with Ludwig Fuld. Sternberger bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1881 for $20,000. They were joined in 1884 by a third partner, Samuel Sinn, and the firm became Sternberger, Fuld & Sinn, with an office at 52 Broadway in lower Manhattan. Gruntal's brokerage business included more than 620 account executives across more than 30 locations throughout the U.S. The firm managed in excess of $19 billion of assets on behalf of its clients through its private client

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

business. Additionally, the firm had a well-regarded

equity research Securities research is a discipline within the financial services industry. Securities research professionals are known most generally as "analysts", "research analysts", or "securities analysts"; all the foregoing terms are synonymous. Researc ...

as well as sales and trading operations. Gruntal, which was headquartered in New York City was a member of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

and the National Association of Securities Dealers. In 2002, Ryan Beck, a New Jersey-based investment banking firm, announced the acquisition of the bulk of the operations Gruntal.Ryan, Beck To Acquire Bulk of Gruntal
New York Times, April 23, 2002 Following the acquisition, the Gruntal name which had been used since the early 1900s was retired. The firm, which had already been struggling to compete with the bulge bracket investment banks suffered the temporary loss of its headquarters after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. The firm was located at 1 Liberty Plaza, across the street from the

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. Gruntal had already been eliminating certain businesses, including its corporate bond trading department in July 2001. In 2007, Ryan Beck & Co. was sold to

Stifel Financial Stifel Financial Corp. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company created under its present name in July 1983 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange on November 24, 1986. Its predecessor company wa ...

Corporate affairs

Prominent former employees

Steven A. Cohen Steven A. Cohen (born June 11, 1956) is an American hedge fund manager and owner of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball since September 14, 2020, owning roughly 97.2% of the team. He is the founder of hedge fund Point72 Asset Manageme ...

founder of hedge funds

S.A.C. Capital Advisors SAC Capital Advisors was a group of hedge funds founded by Steven A. Cohen in 1992. The firm employed approximately 800 people

and Point72 Asset Management * Stephen A. Feinberg Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Cerberus Capital Management

Corporate affairs

Prominent former employees

References

Further reading