Guggenheim Partners announced today that it has hired Alan Schwartz as executive chairman. From January to March of 2008, Mr. Schwartz was the CEO of Bear Stearns. He took over the troubled investment bank from longtime leader Jimmy Cayne as it was falling. During his 32 years at the firm, he made a name for himself as one of Wall Street’s top rainmakers by advising many high profile M&A deals for companies like Time Warner, Microsoft and Disney.
At Guggenheim, Mr. Schwartz is expected to work closely with the firm’s executive team with the goal of transforming the company into a leading global diversified financial services firm. In the company’s press release, Mr. Schwartz stated “Guggenheim Partners has built an organization with tremendous scalability, resources and talent…I am excited to join the firm at this stage in its development and help it become a force in the financial services arena. As part of my role I will focus on transforming Guggenheim’s existing broker-dealer, which is focused on sales and trading of fixed income securities, into a full-service investment banking enterprise.”
With approximately $100 billion in assets under supervision, Guggenheim’s business lines include asset management, investment advisory, investment banking and capital markets services. The firm has recently been building up its asset management businesses. In July 2007, the firm launched the Claymore/Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund. Also in 2007, the firm announced a joint venture to form fixed income specialist Logan Circle Partners. Logan Circle is led by Jude Driscoll, the former CEO of Delaware Investments, and a team of fixed income professionals from Delaware. Guggenheim is headquartered in Chicago and New York with a global network of more than 800 professionals in 20 principal offices throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. |
