The audit committee is headed by Donald R. Keough, chairman of Allen & Company, an investment banking firm that provides merger-and-acquisition advisory services to InterActive.
Between 1997 and 2001, Salomon collected $809 million underwriting telecommunications stocks and bonds and $178 million providing merger advice, according to Thomson Financial.
The firm has also started a division to provide merger advice to financial services companies in North America; Jim Head and Jon Pruzan will lead the unit.
While Goldman remains top-notch in providing merger advice and underwriting public offerings, what it does better than any other firm on Wall Street is proprietary trading.
Companies typically use one or two banks to provide merger advice, but the Bronfman group listed so many it could have been mistaken for a Wall Street Who's Who.
Since 1997, the firm has collected $809 million underwriting telecom stocks and bonds and $178 million providing merger advice, according to Thomson Financial -- 43 percent more than the fees made by Merrill Lynch, its closest rival in the sector.
Co-founders Bill Strang and John Allen said the investments will complement the firm's existing business providing merger and acquisition advice, while also filling a void in the financial market for small businesses looking to grow.
But to compete with Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Merrill Lynch and the like -- all of which excel not only in finance but also in the much more prestigious and lucrative specialties of providing merger advice and offering new stock to the public -- Chase needed to look and act more like them.
For Mack, which was attracted to the favorable tax treatments as well as the access to capital a REIT provides, the merger "presents us with enormous opportunities," said William Mack, who is director and chairman of the executive committee at Mack-Cali.
Argentaria may be a more immediately plausible candidate for BBV's attentions, provided a merger met the approval of the government, which retains a controlling "golden share".
So, provided the merger is in the best interest of the company's shareholders as required by German law Kagermann is just waiting for the word from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison Larry Ellison.
