The Bulge Bracket

• Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. - One of the investment banks to avoid the recent merger-mania, Bear Stearns serves corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide in investment banking, sales and trading, and asset management services. Their strengths include corporate finance, securities research, asset management, foreign exchange, futures sales and trading, clearing and securities lending and custody.
• Credit Suisse First Boston - CSFB continues to be one of the leading investment banking firms, with a broad range of financial services in advisory, capital raising, research, and sales and trading worldwide with particular strength in technology banking. CSFB recently acquired Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, a New York based investment bank specializing in growth companies, high yield financing, and securities trading. CSFB also owns a large interest in West Coast technology and healthcare boutique Volpe Brown Whelan & Company, LLC.
• Goldman, Sachs & Co. - Having only recently gone public, Goldman Sachs continues to be one of the leading investment banks with particular expertise in corporate finance and advisory work. They offer a complete range of investment banking, sales and trading, and asset management services to corporations and governments worldwide.
• JP Morgan Chase - The merging of Chase and JP Morgan has created one of the largest investment banks worldwide with the traditional capabilities in advisory, trading, and asset management and also the lending strength and broader client base of retail banking.
• Lehman Brothers - A full service investment bank with noted strength in debt financing worldwide, Lehman Brothers serves corporations, institutions, and governments worldwide with corporate finance, trading, and asset management products.
• Merrill Lynch - Merrill Lynch is one of the largest investment banks worldwide and combines that with leading retail strength in the United States. They provide services in financial planning, asset management, personal credit, home financing, retirement planning and financing, corporate business financing, and estate planning.
• Morgan Stanley Dean Witter - Morgan Stanley has a major global presence as a leading full service investment bank with a large and diversified client base. Dean Witter Discover extends their platform into the retail space as a leading provider of individual investor services.
• Salomon Smith Barney - With the completed merger of Citibank and Travelers, Citigroup, the parent of Salomon Smith Barney is one of the largest banks worldwide. Extending well beyond the original Salomon Brothers strength in bond trading Salomon Smith Barney is a leading investment bank with a full range of advisory, capital raising, trading, and asset management services to corporations and institutional investors across the globe.

Other Key Banks

• A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. - A.G. Edwards was founded in 1887 to focus on helping individual investors and businesses successfully reach their financial goals. Located in St. Louis, the firm provides both underwriting and financial advisory services to corporations.
• BancAmerica Robertson Stephens - Robertson Stephens is a San Francisco-based investment banking and investment management firm. The company specializes in technology, health care, retailing/consumer products, real estate, special situations, and other emerging growth sectors. Its services include mutual funds, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, research, venture capital and brokerage services. The firm was acquired by BankAmerica in 1997, but due to the pending merger with NationsBank, Robertson Stephens will seek a new owner.
• Bankers Trust - Look under Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown
• BT Alex. Brown - Look under Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown
• Chase Manhattan - Chase Manhattan is the largest bank in the United States, after its merger with Chemical Bank in 1996. Through its subsidiary Chase Securities, it is a leader in the securities market with particular strength in commercial paper and private placements.
• CIBC Oppenheimer - Oppenheimer is a securities brokerage, investment banking and asset management firm offering a broad range of financial services to corporations, institutions and substantial private investors worldwide. It is located in the World Financial Center in New York City. Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. was acquired by CIBC Wood Gundy Securities Corp. 1997.
• Cowen & Company - One of the top equity underwriters for the technology and health care industries. Cowen & Company proclaims itself to be "Knowledge Bankers for the 21^st Century." Founded in 1918, Cowen is a research, securities, investment banking, trading, asset management and private client services firm. The firm was acquired by Société Générale in 1998.
• Dain Rauscher Wessels - Formed in 1998 through the acquisition of Wessels, Arnold & Henderson by Dain Raucher, the firm is an investment bank and institutional brokerage firm with offices in Minneapolis and Silicon Valley. It focuses exclusively in the technology, healthcare, and consumer sectors of the economy.
• Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown- The result of the merger between B.T. Alex Brown and Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown is the investment banking arm of The Deutsche Bank Group, and aims to be the premier European investment bank and one of the leading investment banks in the world. The firm has significant global reach and capital resources, and offices throughout the world.
• First Union Securities - First Union Corporation, with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the nation's sixth largest banking company based on assets of $229 billion and sixth largest based on market capitalization of $58 billion at June 30, 1998. The firm has expanded its investment banking capabilities with strategic acquisitions including Wheat First Butcher Singer and Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co.
• Furman Selz - Over the past two decades, New York-based Furman Selz has grown into a quiet force on Wall Street. In 1993, the management and employees bought back the firm from Xerox Financial Services, which had owned it since 1987. Furman Selz was then acquired by ING Group in 1997.
• Hambrecht & Quist LLC - Hambrecht & Quist (known as H&Q) is engaged in "financing the new economy," specializing in emerging growth companies in the technology, health care and consumer industries. Chase Securities has recently entered into agreement to acquire H&Q. H&Q was founded in 1968 and is located in San Francisco.
• Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin - This boutique firm has been providing M&A advice, as well as valuation and fairness opinion services, for over 25 years. While based in Los Angeles, the firm has a large New York presence.
• NationsBank Montgomery Securities - Montgomery Securities is a San Francisco investment banking firm with a focus on growth companies. Its services include investment banking, brokerage, private client, and mutual funds. The firm was acquired by NationsBank in 1997. In addition, NationsBank agreed to merge with BankAmerica in 1998, creating the second largest bank in the United States.
• PaineWebber Incorporated - New York-based PaineWebber is a full service investment bank serving corporations and individual investors.
• Piper Jaffray Companies - Founded in 1895, Piper Jaffray is a Minneapolis based firm offering investment banking, capital markets, money management and trust services. It has 90 offices in the western United States. The firm was acquired in 1997 by U.S. Bancorp.
• Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated - Robert Baird is a Milwaukee based investment bank that specializes in underwriting, asset management, pension & profit sharing services. It primarily serves clients in the Midwest United States. Since 1982, Baird has been a member of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance family of companies.
• Schroders plc - Schroders is a leading international merchant and investment banking and fund management group based in London, with offices in cities including New York. The firm's strengths lie in the broad range and high quality of the services provided from a platform of independence, the long-term stability of our shareholding structure and a strong balance sheet.
• Société Générale - Established in 1864, Société Générale (known as SocGen) has a global network of offices in over 80 countries. Its USA division has approximately 1300 employees and is headquartered in New York. Société Générale has embarked on a strategy to enhance its global investment banking and equity capability by acquiring mid-size equity research and distribution firms around the world, and has acquired technology and healthcare boutique Cowen & Company and utilities boutique Barr Devlin Associates in 1998.
• Warburg Dillon Read - Warburg Dillon Read is the investment banking arm of UBS AG and operates through branches and subsidiaries of UBS AG around the world.

• AIB Bank Investment and Securities Services - Allied Irish Bank (AIB) is Ireland's leading banking and financial services organization, operating worldwide. It employs more than 23,000 people in more than 900 offices and has 50,000 shareholders. Provides investment services in equities, currency funds, and property, as well as IFSC fund administration and global custody.
• Allen C. Ewing & Co. - Allen C. Ewing & Co., founded in 1939, is a regional investment banking and brokerage firm based in Florida. Ewing offers a wide range of investment banking services including mergers and acquisitions, valuations and fairness opinions, private placements, public offerings, and corporate restructurings.
• Banque Paribas - Paris-based investment and merchant bank advising corporations and institutions in such areas as mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and privatization. The bank was founded in 1872 and provides an interesting corporate history on its web site.
• Bentley Associates LP - Bentley Associates is a New York investment bank specializing in Private Placements, Project Finance, M&A, Corporate Advisory Services, Privatizations and International Finance primarily for middle market companies. The firm focuses on providing senior level attention to its clients, and does not offer retail brokerage services.
• Broadview Associates - The firm is focused exclusively on information technology, communications, and media investment banking. Broadview Associates advises companies undertaking mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and minority investments, and does not underwrite securities. With a global network of nearly 200 employees operating across the United States, Europe, Asia and Israel, the firm is headquartered in Northern New Jersey.
• Brown Brothers Harriman - Through its domestic and international operations, BBH offers services in global custody, international credit, and international financial advisory service. Founded in 1818, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. is America's oldest and largest private bank.
• Cantor Fitzgerald Securities - Cantor Fitzgerald is headquartered in New York City with offices around the world. They specialize in fixed income, equities, foreign exchange, derivatives, global lending, and finance.
• Cyrus Group - Located in, the firm offers a full range of investment banking, asset management, corporate finance and export-import services to the international middle-market business community, with a special emphasis on emerging markets. Unfortunately, the web site is under construction.
• Dharmala Capital (Asia) Ltd. - Dharmala is a Hong Kong based investment firm providing services in Southeast Asia. Its areas of expertise include securities & brokerage, investment fund management, derivatives trading and corporate finance.
• ETBA S.A. Hellenic Industrial Development Bank S.A - ETBA is an Athens based bank that specializes in loans, IPOs, and financing for corporations that operate in Greece.
• First Albany Corporation - First Albany offers investment banking, financial advisory, and brokerage services throughout the United States, including underwriting and distributing municipal and corporate securities. Check out the new FAC/Equities section.
• First Chicago Capital Markets - Capital Markets is the investment banking arm of First Chicago NBD, one of the largest banks in the country that recently announced a merger with Banc One. The Capital Markets site is under construction, however.
• Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. - A leader in the IPO market, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co works in investment research, institutional brokerage, investment banking and money management. The firm is located in Washington, D. C.
• Fuji Bank - Fuji is a Japanese bank that specializes in M&A, project finance, securities, and fund management. It is one of the largest banks in the world.
• Gruntal & Co. LLC - Headquartered in New York City, Gruntal was founded in 1880 and has 29 offices worldwide. It specializes in government securities, retirement planning, investment management services, and unit trusts.
• Helaba Trust - Helaba Trust is the investment and research subsidiary of Landesbank-Thueringen- Hessen, which ranks among Germany's major banks. Helaba offers full advisory services in all areas of securities investment and portfolio management for institutional customers.
• Hilliard Lyons - The largest investment bank in the Ohio Valley, Hilliard Lyons serves customers in fields such as mutual funds, options, bonds, trusts, retirement planning, mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance. The company was founded in 1854 and its headquarters are located in Louisville, Kentucky.
• ING Barings - ING is a leading financial institution in the field of emerging markets banking, trade & commodity finance, emerging markets equity and research, and corporate finance. Barings is the investment banking wing of ING Group, and its parent firm acquired investment bank Furman Selz in 1998.
• Kennedy-Wilson International - KWI is one of the largest multi-national real estate marketing, acquisition and investment banking firms. Founded in 1977, KWI has offices in the United States, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
• M&A International - M&A International is a network of merger and acquisition intermediaries and advisors. The M&A International member firms provide expert corporate acquisition and joint venture services, which include sales and divestiture services and refinancing services in mergers and acquisitions.
• Nikko Securities - Nikko Securities is a Japanese firm that deals in a full range of investment services.
• Nomura Securities International - Nomura focuses on commercial backed mortgage securities and real estate financing.
• Pangaea Partners, Ltd. - Pangaea Partners provides expert investment banking and financial consulting services in emerging markets. Founded in 1989, the firm has offices in six countries and specializes in projects involving fund-raising or financial advice, privatization and M&A transactions for buyers and sellers, capital markets development, and consulting services and training for commercial and export banks.
• Scotia Capital Markets, Inc. - A major Canadian firm, Scotia works in corporate finance, institutional equity, equity research, global trading, fixed income research, and general economic research.
• Skelton Carter Hall & Company - Skelton, Carter, Hall (SCH) was established in 1986 and is a global full service investment banking firm. It undertakes financing for business expansion, working capital, contract fulfillment, mergers, acquisitions, etc. through direct investment, private placement, business loans and other forms of debt, equity, or asset based financial instruments.
• Stone & Youngberg LLC - Stone & Youngberg is a California investment bank specializing in underwriting local government debt. The firm buys and sells municipal bonds, in addition to managing government, individual and corporate investment portfolios.
• Stratagem Partnering Inc. - Founded in 1988, this San Francisco firm manages strategic partnering transactions - mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic capital raising - for software companies.
• Sumitomo Bank Capital Markets, Inc - With offices also located in London and Hong Kong, SBCM has established itself as a principal market maker for interest rate swaps, currency swaps, and option products.
• Updata Capital, Inc. - This New Jersey based investment banking firm specializes in mergers and acquisitions in the information technology sector.
• Veber Partners - Veber Partners is a private investment banking firm whose partners have served the Pacific Northwest since October 1989. The firm specializes in corporate sales and strategic partnering, raising capital, and strategic financial planning and restructuring for Northwest middle market corporations.
• Veronis, Suhler & Associates Inc - Founded in 1981, VS&A has grown to become a key independent investment bank serving, and private equity fund investing in the communications, media, publishing, broadcasting, interactive digital media, and information industries.
• Volpe Brown Whelan & Company, LLC. - Formerly Volpe, Welty & Company, the San Francisco-based firm is an investment bank providing a full range of investment banking services - including public equity financings, mergers & acquisitions, research, and sales & trading support - to leading growth companies in the areas of Healthcare and Technology. The firm's strategy is to develop and maintain focused, active, long-term relationships with a highly select group of emerging entrepreneurial companies.