Wasserstein Perella & Co. was a

boutique investment bank A boutique investment bank is an 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 corpor ...

established by

Bruce Wasserstein Bruce Jay Wasserstein (December 25, 1947 – October 14, 2009) was an American investment banker, businessman, and writer. He was prominent in the mergers and acquisitions industry, credited with working on 1,000 transactions with a total value ...

, Joseph R. Perella, Bill Lambert, and Charles Ward in 1988, former bankers at First Boston Corp., until its eventual sale to

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG () was a German bank, founded in 1872 in Dresden, then headquartered in Berlin from 1884 to 1945 and in Frankfurt from 1963 onwards after a postwar hiatus. Long Germany's second-largest bank behind Deutsche Bank, it was eventually ...

in 2000 for some $1.4 billion in stock. The

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

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 who became chairman of

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

; Jeffrey A. Rosen, vice chairman at

Lazard Lazard Inc. (formerly known as Lazard Ltd and 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 i ...

; 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 company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

; Douglas L. Braunstein of

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

; Ronald Kramer, former President of

Wynn Resorts Wynn Resorts, Limited is an American publicly traded corporation based in Paradise, Nevada, that is a developer and operator of high-end hotels and casinos. It was founded in 2002 by former Mirage Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn and is now r ...

and current CEO of Griffon Corporation; 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 founded in 2006. Centerview operates primarily as an Independent advisory firm, investment banking advisory firm with approximately 80 partners and 500 professionals advising ...

; Deborah C. Wright of Carver Federal Savings Bank; Gail Zauder of

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

; 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, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

; Howard Kerzner, hotel tycoon and son of Sol Kerzner; 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, former head of Lehman's investment banking, now at

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) 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 ...

; 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, left corporate life to become a

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

. Perella left the firm for

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

in 1993. Wasserstein stayed through the 2001 takeover by

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

Allianz Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...

, 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 SG Kleinwort Hambros is a private bank owned by Société Générale that offers financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Gibraltar. History In June 2016, Société Générale acquired Kleinwort Benson ...

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. is a French multinational insurance corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services via its subsidiaries. As of 2024, it is the fourth largest financi ...

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) was the investment banking affiliate of Credit Suisse headquartered in New York. The company was created by the merger of First Boston Corporation and Credit Suisse Group in 1 ...

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

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

in its $128 billion merger with

America Online 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, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo! Inc. The service tra ...

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

UBS UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major financial centres as the ...

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