Herbert Lurie, who led many of the mega bank mergers of the 1990s as head of the financial institutions advisory practice at Merrill Lynch & Co., recently joined Guggenheim Partners as that firm works to raise its profile on Wall Street.
Privately held Guggenheim, run by Chief Executive Mark Walter, has been expanding as much larger Wall Street rivals shrink in response to new regulations.
Separate from its banking and capital markets group, Guggenheim is setting up a proprietary trading business and has committed $500 million of capital, with a goal of increasing that to $2 billion over time. Guggenheim Global Trading recently hired seven senior executives and is prepared to open for business in the fall.
Lurie, a lawyer by background, helped found the financial institutions group at Merrill and was among its most sought-after rainmakers. In a single week in 1998, he advised on deals worth more than $115 billion, including Bank One Corp.'s merger with First Chicago Corp., and NationsBank Corp.'s merger with BankAmerica Corp. to form Bank of America, the company that now also owns Merrill Lynch.
Merrill's financial institutions group was the top advisor to major U.S. banks during a huge wave of consolidation in the 1990s and as such had the highest profile within the investment bank.
