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To: 10K a day who wrote (179514)7/12/2002 6:20:58 PM
From: Giordano Bruno  Read Replies (1) of 436258
 
FleetBoston to Close Robertson Stephens;
Talks for Management-Led Buyout Fail

By SUSANNE CRAIG and JOHN HECHINGER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

FleetBoston Financial Corp. has decided to pull the plug on Robertson Stephens, its investment banking division that in its heyday took some of the country's best-known dot-coms public.

The decision comes after weeks of often-tense negotiations between Fleet and a management-led buyout team at Robertson. Despite an announcement in late June by the two sides that "an agreement to work together" had been reached, the pair failed to reach an agreement.





"I am sad to announce that the deal won't move forward and that Fleet has decided to shut down the firm," Robertson Chief Executive John Conlin told the firm's staff Friday afternoon.

FleetBoston, the seventh largest U.S. bank, said the decision to wind down Robertson was part of its strategy to focus more on the company's core banking businesses.

"In recent weeks, Fleet and the Robertson Stephens management group were unable to structure an agreement for an employee buyout of the firm," said Eugene McQuade, FleetBoston vice chairman and chief financial officer. "As a result, we have decided a wind down is in the best interests of our shareholders."

And in his remarks to staff, Mr. Conlin was critical of Fleet's decision to liquidate: "This is not a company that had to be shut down," he said. It is a company whose owner decided to sell at a time when the investment banking industry was confronting unprecedented challenges, immense economic uncertainty and the erosion of investor confidence. I can't think of a worse time to sell."

Write to Susanne Craig at susanne.craig@wsj.com and John Hechinger at john.hechinger@wsj.com

Updated July 12, 2002 6:14 p.m. EDT
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