Perella Weinberg Partners

ABOUT THIS COMPANY:

Morgan and Goldman alum team up

Founded in June 2006 by Joseph Perella, Peter Weinberg and Terry Meguid, Perella Weinberg Partners has two businesses: advisory and asset management. Its advisory business includes mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, private capital, pension advisory, independent special committee advisory, and government services advisory, while its asset management unit focuses on alternative investment products.  Perella Weinberg Partners’ launch in 2006 was one of the most closely watched debuts in banking history. Today, the firm consists of over 400 employees, who work out of offices in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Denver, London (U.K.), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), and Beijing (China). Founder Joseph Perella made his name as a pioneer dealmaker at First Boston in the 1980s, then left to create Wasserstein, Perella & Co. with Bruce Wasserstein (the former chairman and CEO of Lazard). Perella’s last gig before founding PWP was as vice chairman of Morgan Stanley, where he became close with some of America’s top M&A talent. A shareholder revolt at Morgan Stanley—the ruckus that led to the 2005 resignation of chairman Philip Purcell—prompted Perella to leave the firm, sparking rumors that he would open his own boutique. Indeed he did, and several Morgan Stanley advisors jumped ship to join him, becoming Perella Weinberg’s first hires.  Prior to founding Perella Weinberg Partners, Peter Weinberg was the CEO of Goldman Sachs International and an accomplished banker as well, and Terry Meguid was Head of Worldwide Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley. In its short existence, Perella Weinberg Partners has worked on some monumental M&A deals, including Thomson Corporation’s $18.3 billion acquisition of Reuters Group, Wachovia’s $15.1 billion merger with Wells Fargo, Continental’s $35 billion sale to Schaeffler, BlackRock’s $13.5 billion acquisition of Barclays Global Investors, NYSE Euronext’s $11.3 billion merger-of-equals with Deutsche Borse, Hewlett-Packard’s $11.7 billion acquisition of Autonomy Corporation, and Qwest’s $22.4 billion merger with CenturyLink. The firm also has worked on several high-profile restructuring engagements, including advising the equity committee on Calpine’s $23 billion restructuring, and advising certain creditors in connection with Delphi’s $22 billion restructuring. Today, Joseph Perella is still the head of the firm, serving as its chairman and CEO, and Peter Weinberg and Terry Meguid are partners and respectively serve as head of the firm’s advisory and asset management businesses.