If this happens, it will be favorable to Lehman underwitings:
WSJ: Lehman Plans Closer Fidelity Link
Jun 9 4:29am ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. investment bank Lehman Bros. has drawn up unofficial plans on a closer link-up with Fidelity Investments, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Quoting people familiar with the situation, the newspaper said executives from both sides are in constant discussions about bringing the firms closer together, the article said.
Officials at Lehman and Fidelity stressed that no deal was imminent, the Journal said, and internal discussions on the matter have not included the chief executives of the two banks.
In June 1999, Lehman joined forces with Fidelity's brokerage arm to distribute Lehman's initial public stock offerings to small investors.
Robert Mazzarella, president of Fidelity Brokerage Services and the company's point man in its dealings with Lehman, told the newspaper: ``You don't want to put something in print that's so speculative that it doesn't make any sense.''
But he added that talk about Fidelity and Lehman furthering their relationship in some way represents ``valid thoughts'' and that the current venture ``is a living, breathing, growing alliance, and a lot things can come out of that.''
Mazzarella said there were no current discussions on a full merger.
The next step may not be a merger at all, the paper said. Some people close to the firms say the two could formalize the IPO relationship by entering into an official ``joint venture'' rather than the current loosely defined alliance.
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