White, Weld & Co. is a privately held global financial services firm engaged in asset management, investment advisory, investment banking and other capital market activities. Relaunched in 2012, the business is headquartered in Chicago. Previously, White, Weld & Co. was a Boston-based

investment bank Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

, historically managed by

Boston Brahmins The Boston Brahmins are members of Boston's historic upper class. From the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, they were often associated with a cultivated New England accent, Harvard University, Anglicanism, and traditional Britis ...

until its sale to

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

in 1978. The

Weld family The Weld family is an ancient English family, and their possible relations in New England, an extended family of Boston Brahmins. An early record of a Weld holding public office is the High Sheriff of London in 1352, William. In the 16th and 17th ...

name can be traced back to the founding of Massachusetts in the 1630s.

History

White, Weld & Co. was founded in Boston in the nineteenth century, originally to finance overseas trade. In 1929 it managed Airstocks, a short-lived venture but important because it was an early financial concern exclusively pertaining to airlines and aviation. It developed into a small, well-connected New York investment bank by the twentieth century and a bastion of the

WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

establishment. For example, George Herbert Walker Jr., uncle of the first President Bush, became an executive of White, Weld when his firm G. H. Walker & Co. was bought by them in 1974. Paul Hallingby was CEO, Nigel S. MacEwan was President, and Charles J. Fuhrmann II, Steve Hammerman, Harold Janeway, Charles C. Lee, Roberts W. Brokaw III, and George G. Montgomery Jr. were Senior Vice Presidents when the company was sold to

. As stock markets became more retail-oriented and investment banking became more capital intensive, the firm decided it could not compete and put itself up for sale. One of the firm's most prominent transactions in its final period was the IPO of

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

in 1970 with

Stephens Inc. Stephens Inc. is a privately held, independent financial services firm headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. As one of the largest privately owned investment banks in the United States, Stephens has 28 offices worldwide and employs more than 1,2 ...

Relationship with Credit Suisse

One of its most successful ventures was an international investment banking partnership founded in 1970 by Robert L. Genillard as a Managing Partner of White, Weld & Co, with

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 ...

, called ''Société Anonyme du Credit Suisse et de White Weld'' – or Credit Suisse White Weld. Sir John Craven, later head of

Morgan Grenfell Morgan, Grenfell & Co. was a leading London-based investment bank regarded as one of the oldest and once most influential British merchant banks. It had its origins in a merchant banking business commenced by George Peabody. Junius Spencer Morga ...

, led Credit Suisse White Weld from 1975 to 1978. Furthermore, Oswald Gruebel, Credit Suisse chief from 2004 to 2007, began his career in 1970 at Credit Suisse White Weld. When White Weld was purchased by

, it left the partnership with Credit Suisse and was replaced by

First Boston : ''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 ...

thus creating the

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 ...

business in London. The Swiss private banking division of White Weld, founded in 1954 as White Weld & Co. AG, became Clariden Leu. In 1962, SKA takes over White, Weld and Co AG in Zurich from U.S. investment bank White Weld, and renames it Clariden Finanz AG.

References

External links

White, Weld & Co.
{{DEFAULTSORT:White Weld and Co. 1895 establishments in Massachusetts 1978 disestablishments in Massachusetts 2012 establishments in Illinois American companies established in 1895 American companies established in 2012 Companies based in Boston Companies based in Chicago Investment banks in the United States Merrill (company) Financial services companies disestablished in 1978 Financial services companies established in 1895 Financial services companies established in 2012 Re-established companies