The Bankers
M&A banker
profiles
The bankers who built modern mergers advisory. Every analyst and associate working in M&A today is, knowingly or not, executing on a playbook one of these five men wrote. Read what they did, see how they did it, and use it.
Felix Rohatyn
The Dealmaker Statesman
He turned Lazard Freres into the most influential mergers boutique on Wall Street, advised on the giant conglomerate deals of the 1960s and 1970s, and personally rescued New York City from bankruptcy in 1975. Felix Rohatyn is the model for the modern M&A adviser: small team, no balance sheet, immense influence.
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Bruce Wasserstein
Bid 'Em Up Bruce
He invented the modern hostile-takeover playbook at First Boston, taught it to a generation of M&A bankers, then walked across the street to found Wasserstein Perella and prove it was portable. By the time he died in 2009 he had advised on more than a thousand deals worth a trillion dollars.
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Joseph Perella
The Franchise Builder
He has founded the M&A practice at one major firm and three independent boutiques. Joe Perella did not invent the modern advisory model, but he built more of its modern institutions than any other living banker. First Boston M&A, Wasserstein Perella, Morgan Stanley M&A, and finally Perella Weinberg Partners.
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Robert Greenhill
The First Modern M&A Banker
He built the M&A department at Morgan Stanley in 1972, four years before First Boston or Goldman had one of their own. Bob Greenhill is the godfather of dedicated mergers advisory on Wall Street and the founder of one of the most respected boutiques of the modern era.
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James B. Lee Jr.
The King of Leveraged Finance
He invented the modern syndicated leveraged loan, financed almost every major LBO of the 1990s and 2000s, and turned Chase (later JPMorgan) into the dominant debt house on Wall Street. Jimmy Lee did not advise on deals; he made them possible by writing the cheque before anyone else would.
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