Sept. 28, 1999: Chase Manhattan Corp. announced it would acquire Hambrecht & Quist Group for $1.35 billion. The San Francisco-based investment boutique gave the then third-largest U.S. commercial bank a strong equity arm in technology and healthcare. The deal was one of the worst kept secrets of 1999. Only a week before the acquisition was officially announced, The Deal received a tip about it. Even before receiving the tip, logic dictated that Chase was in the market for a mid-size investment bank. As barriers between commercial and investment banking were being torn down, it was only a matter of time before Chase would seek a partner. Having lost the chance to acquire mid-size investment banks Robertson Stephens, Montgomery Securities, and Alex. Brown; H&Q and Chase were a natural pairing. However, the H&Q acquisition only whetted Chase's appetite for a bigger piece of the investment banking business leading it to merge with J.P. Morgan the next year. Following the creation of J.P. Morgan Chase, the H&Q name was forever lost to history. —Matthew Wurtzel
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