Wasserstein Perella & Co., sometimes referred to as "Wasserella", was a

boutique investment bank A boutique investment bank is a investment bank that specializes in at least one aspect of investment banking, generally corporate finance, although some banks strengths are retail in nature, such as Charles Schwab. Of those involved in corporate ...

established by

Bruce Wasserstein Bruce Jay Wasserstein (December 25, 1947 – October 14, 2009) was an American investment banker, businessman, and writer. He was a graduate of the McBurney School, University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School, and spe ...

, Joseph R. Perella, Bill Lambert, and Charles Ward in 1988, former bankers at

First Boston Corp. : ''For the company after its acquisition by Credit Suisse, see Credit Suisse First Boston (known as CSFB and CS First Boston)'' The First Boston Corporation was a New York-based bulge bracket investment bank, founded in 1932 and acquired by Cred ...

, until its eventual sale to

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG was a German bank and was based in Frankfurt. It was one of Germany's largest banking corporations and was acquired by competitor Commerzbank in May 2009. History 19th century The Dresdner Bank was established on 12 Novemb ...

in 2000 for some $1.4 billion in stock. The

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

business of the investment firm was not included in the sale and was to be sold off to existing Wasserstein shareholders.

History

In a 2007 ''New York Times'' article, Perella was described as "one of the financial industry’s sharpest recruiters" who "discovered and helped train" Wasserstein Perella. Then, in the 1980s at First Boston, and at Wasserstein Perella after 1988, together they helped create "a dynasty of bankers and executives that has spread throughout Wall Street and corporate America". They included

Robert S. Wiesenthal Robert (Rob) S. Wiesenthal (born June 22, 1967) is an American businessman. Until June 2012, Wiesenthal was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Sony Corporation of America, executive vice president, chief strategy officer, Son ...

who became chairman of

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

; Jeffrey A. Rosen, vice chairman at

Lazard Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's lar ...

; Raymond J. McGuire of

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

; Douglas L. Braunstein of

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

; Ronald Kramer, former President of

Wynn Resorts Wynn or wyn (; also spelled wen, ƿynn, and ƿen) is a letter of the Old English alphabet, where it is used to represent the sound . History The letter "W" While the earliest Old English texts represent this phoneme with the digraph , ...

and current CEO of

Griffon Corporation Griffon Corporation is a multinational conglomerate headquartered in New York City. The company conducts its operations through five subsidiaries: The AMES Companies, ClosetMaid, Clopay Building Products, CornellCookson, and Telephonics Corp ...

; Michael B. Kraines of Sandler O'Neill; John H. Simpson, formerly Canyon Partners, now Broadhaven LLC; Robert Pruzan, founder of

Centerview Partners Centerview Partners is an American independent investment banking firm. Centerview operates primarily as an investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that c ...

; Deborah C. Wright of

Carver Federal Savings Bank Carver Federal Savings Bank, opened under the leadership of M. Moran Weston in 1948, is the "largest black-owned financial institution" in the United States. Carver Bancorp, Inc. is its holding company. The bank has been designated by the U.S. ...

; Gail Zauder of

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

; current ABC News contributor, former mayor of Chicago and former chief of staff for President Obama

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...

; Howard Kerzner, hotel tycoon and son of

Sol Kerzner Solomon Kerzner, (23 August 1935 – 21 March 2020) was a South African accountant and business magnate. He founded both of South Africa's largest hotel groups, the Southern Sun Hotel Group and Sun International. He was also the Founder, Chai ...

; Jon B. Kutler, founder of Quarterdeck Investment Partners, Inc., now with Admiralty Partners, Inc.; Michael J. Biondi, investment banking chair at

, nicknamed Mr. Judgement; Gary Parr at Lazard;

Hugh "Skip" McGee III Hugh E. "Skip" McGee III (born 1959) is an American investment banker who was formerly a senior executive at Lehman Brothers and Barclays. He is presently co-founder and chief executive officer of Intrepid Financial Partners, a power and energy f ...

, former head of Lehman's investment banking, now at

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

; Mark G. Shafir, former global co-head of M&A at Lehman Brothers, now with Citigroup; Walid Chammah, former CEO of Barclays International; Veritas Capital's Robert B. McKeon; and others. One First Boston analyst,

Paul Mecurio Paul Mecurio (born Paul Mercurio) is a comedian, actor, writer and producer. Mecurio has dozens of TV and film appearances and has won an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award. A lawyer by education, Mecurio worked as an investment banker and mergers ...

, left corporate life to become a

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

. Perella left the firm for

Morgan 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 ...

in 1993. Wasserstein stayed through the 2001 takeover by

, but left the firm in 2002, following the 2001 merger of Dresdner and

Allianz Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. The ...

, to head investment bank Lazard, until his unexpected death in 2009. The investment banking business of Dresdner Bank changed its name to

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Kleinwort Hambros is a private bank owned by Société Générale that offers financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Kleinwort Hambros focuses on private banking, providing a range of services for high ...

as a result of the deal. In 2006, four years after Wasserstein's departure, it dropped Wasserstein's name.

Mergers

In 2000, Wasserstein Perella ranked fifth in the U.S. as an adviser on mergers and acquisitions. Wasserstein Perella advised

Axa Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

Financial in the $11.5 billion sale of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette to

Credit Suisse First Boston Credit Suisse First Boston (also known as CSFB and CS First Boston) is the investment banking affiliate of Credit Suisse headquartered in New York. The company was created by the merger of First Boston, First Boston Corporation and Credit Suisse, ...

in 2000, Philip Morris in its $14.9 billion acquisition of Nabisco Holdings Corp. and

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

in its $128 billion merger with

America Online AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

. Other deals include the $25 billion merger of Swiss Bank Corp and

UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

and the $10 billion merger of

& Co. and Dean Witter Discover & Co.

References

External links

Bruce Wasserstein, Chairman and CEO of Wasserstein Perella
Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wasserstein Perella and Co. Defunct financial services companies of the United States Financial services companies established in 1988 Banks established in 1988 Financial services companies disestablished in 2000 Banks disestablished in 2000 2000 mergers and acquisitions Former investment banks of the United States