The Goldman scions atop Evercore and Perella Weinberg

{"text":[[{"start":4.4,"text":"One scoop to start: Activist hedge fund Starboard Value has built a stake in Honeywell spin-off Solstice Advanced Materials. The move comes as the US speciality chemicals group fights to rebuild credibility with shareholders after an aborted megadeal."}],[{"start":20.72,"text":"And another thing: The chief investment officer of New York City’s biggest pension plan has slammed private equity firms for a “steady creep” higher in fund expenses, including the use of private jets."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":32.9,"text":"In today’s newsletter:"}],[{"start":34.28,"text":"An M&A family tree"}],[{"start":36.42,"text":"Postponed: ‘Davos in the Desert’"}],[{"start":37.82,"text":"A failed megadeal goes to court"}],[{"start":39.8,"text":"All in the family at two of America’s advisory groups"}],[{"start":42.94,"text":"It’s understandable for scions of famous families to attempt to strike out on their own. Take Peter and John Weinberg, grandsons of Sidney Weinberg, the legendary figure who helped make the modern Goldman Sachs."}],[{"start":54.96,"text":"Goldman would feature multiple generations of Weinberg executives, including Peter and John. But two decades ago, Peter left to form Perella Weinberg Partners and about a decade ago, John went to Evercore as a senior leader for the firm founded by Roger Altman in 1995."}],[{"start":72.12,"text":"Their respective roles have been in the spotlight recently."}],[{"start":75.24,"text":"The FT last week revealed Perella Weinberg had ditched talks to merge with Piper Sandler after senior PWP bankers balked at the combination."}],[{"start":84.32,"text":"Since its founding in 2006, Perella Weinberg has been involved in its share of big deals, working with groups such as BlackRock and even the US Department of Commerce. But its annual revenue remains less than $1bn and its market capitalisation isn’t much bigger, making a deal with a larger Wall Street player understandable."}],[{"start":103.2,"text":"Things have been brighter for the other Weinberg cousin."}],[{"start":105.74,"text":"Since the start of 2017, right after John Weinberg joined, Evercore shares have returned more than 350 per cent including reinvested dividends. Its more than $10bn market cap and $4bn in annual revenues put it in the league of Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman. Weinberg’s key strength has been bringing over several top Goldman bankers."}],[{"start":128.46,"text":"The FT scooped on Sunday that John Weinberg has extended his stay as CEO of Evercore for three more years, which will take him into his seventies. Evercore said it was appointing two presidents of the group — newly created roles — to empower a new generation."}],[{"start":144.84,"text":"As for this current generation of Weinbergs who tried to forge a second act beyond Goldman, it’s been an interesting, if uneven, ride."}],[{"start":152.8,"text":"‘Davos in the Desert’ gets postponed"}],[{"start":154.94,"text":"About this time last year Saudi Arabia’s investors and dealmakers were riding high as they seemed to be everywhere in big-ticket M&A."}],[{"start":162.78,"text":"Last September, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund led a consortium in a $55bn deal to buy the video games maker Electronic Arts, the biggest leveraged buyout of all time. Later in the year Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund provided financial muscle to David Ellison’s audacious $108bn hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery."}],[{"start":183.28,"text":"But then the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, and the ensuing regional conflict put a big damper on business for Gulf dealmakers."}],[{"start":191.22,"text":"In a sign of just how much the turmoil has hindered Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to be a global financial centre, the FT on Monday revealed Saudi Arabia has postponed its flagship “Davos in the Desert” investment conference in Riyadh following Houthi attacks on the country’s airports."}],[{"start":206.76,"text":"The conference was due to begin next week and scheduled to feature speakers including BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink and JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon."}],[{"start":215.92,"text":"The event is one of the Gulf’s highest-profile gatherings and typically attracts heads of state and executives from the world’s largest banks, asset managers and energy majors."}],[{"start":225.52,"text":"Over the past decade it’s become one of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s main platforms to showcase the country’s economic diversification efforts to an international audience."}],[{"start":235.52,"text":"The event’s organisers said it will instead be held next year and that new dates will be announced “very soon”."}],[{"start":241.36,"text":"The cancellation may come as a relief to executives who were loath to pull out of the event and risk disappointing its hosts. And to be fair to the Saudis, the actual Davos didn’t entirely avoid the spectre of geopolitical crisis this year either."}],[{"start":254.08,"text":"The $9bn battle over an M&A blow-up"}],[{"start":257.68,"text":"In hindsight, Kroger says there’s no way the biggest supermarket merger in US history was going to get past the trustbuster Lina Khan."}],[{"start":265.76,"text":"But it must have seemed like a good idea at the time, because in 2022 the grocer agreed a $24.6bn deal to buy its rival Albertsons."}],[{"start":275,"text":"The megadeal was a gamble but the two sides had their own reasons to pursue it. Kroger was looking to bulk up in the face of competition from retail behemoths like Amazon and Walmart. Albertsons’ private equity backer, Cerberus Capital Management, wanted to lock in billions of dollars in gains."}],[{"start":291.4,"text":"But the attempt disastrously blew up and the grocers are now locked in a multibillion-dollar legal battle. On Monday the grocers arrived in Delaware for a two-week trial that’s expected to lay bare the tensions that developed between the management teams of the two retailers as regulators turned the screws."}],[{"start":308.44,"text":"Albertsons charges that Kroger failed to make enough of an effort to win regulatory approval. Kroger denies wrongdoing and has refused to pay a $600mn termination fee for the deal not closing because it claims Albertsons violated the merger agreement."}],[{"start":323.88,"text":"The case raises questions at the core of corporate dealmaking about how far acquirers must go to win regulatory approval and who pays if it falls apart. Albertsons is seeking damages and other costs, including the termination fee, totalling more than $9bn."}],[{"start":339.48,"text":"If the deal had been completed, it would have brought a windfall to Cerberus."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":343.12,"text":"But instead things have gone downhill since the deal collapsed. Albertsons shares have fallen more than 30 per cent since the tie-up was blocked."}],[{"start":351.28,"text":"Perhaps, unfortunately for Albertsons’ shareholders, including Cerberus, the company’s antitrust arguments of temporarily inflated profit margins and an onslaught of competition from well-funded grocery challengers like Walmart and Amazon were directionally correct."}],[{"start":351.78,"text":"Job moves"}],[{"start":367.36,"text":"Moelis has hired Tom Moxham as Emea head of infrastructure in London. He joins from Deutsche Bank."}],[{"start":376.12,"text":"Weil, Gotshal & Manges has hired Yuni Yan Sobel as an antitrust partner in New York. She joins from Paul Weiss."}],[{"start":380.24,"text":"Nomura has named Umberto Giacometti as global head of its financial sponsors group."}],[{"start":385.16,"text":"Lindt has replaced its chief executive Adalbert Lechner and brought back his predecessor Dieter Weisskopf on an interim basis to help turn around the Swiss chocolate group as it struggles with falling demand for its pricey products."}],[{"start":385.66,"text":"Smart reads"}],[{"start":401.12,"text":"Political arena Thirty years ago, TV networks and venues wanted nothing to do with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Now it’s the signature sport of the Trump era, the FT Magazine writes in a dispatch from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles."}],[{"start":415.88,"text":"Fallings-out John Overdeck is embroiled in conflicts at home and at work. The co-founder of Two Sigma is battling his wife as well as his business partner and trying to prevent the divorce from having an impact on his hedge fund, The Wall Street Journal reports."}],[{"start":434.08,"text":"Family matters Warren Buffett built a $150bn fortune, but it will be up to his three children to uphold his pledge to give most of it away. They’re grappling with how to go about fulfilling that responsibility, Bloomberg reports."}],[{"start":434.58,"text":"News round-up"}],[{"start":444.12,"text":"Anthropic and Nscale in talks for second multibillion-dollar deal (FT)"}],[{"start":448.72,"text":"KKR accused by EU of misleading regulators over €22bn telecoms deal (FT)"}],[{"start":449.22,"text":"BoE scrutinises Barclays over claim traders misrepresented private credit exposure (FT)"}],[{"start":460.46,"text":"Former chair of Monte dei Paschi accused of role in executive’s death (FT)"}],[{"start":464.78,"text":"Anthropic commits 5% of shares to ‘public benefit’ fund (FT)"}],[{"start":468.92,"text":"European telecoms groups join forces to challenge Elon Musk’s Starlink (FT)"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":475.92,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792780091_8305.mp3"}