As we bid adieu to the old Merrill Lynch logo there are rumors emerging that three former Merrill Lynch executives might have or might have not approached Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) Ken Lewis to try to buy back some or all of the old company.
The
Financial Times is reporting that former Merrill CEO Dan Tully, former head of Merrill's private client business Launny Steffens, and Winthrop Smith Jr, son of one
of Merrill's co-founders, jetted to Charlotte to dine with BofA's Lewis and chat about a potential buyback and were, "politely rebuffed."
Of course,
Reuters is reporting that The FT got it wrong.
Former Merrill Lynch executive Winthrop Smith denied
approaching Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis with two
other former Merrill executives to discuss buying back all or part of
the bank...
"We just had a very nice lunch with him," Smith, a son of one of
Merrill's co-founders, said. "We got the impression he's very committed
to making (the acquisition) work."Lewis, of course, had to politely rebuff the deal now that he's been raked over the coals repeatedly about the deal and testified that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke might have
backed him into a corner. Bernanke testifies before
House lawmakers on June 25
about allegations that he bullied Lewis into the
Merrill Lynch & Co. deal.
- Maria Woehr
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I’m sure BofA is ready to sell ML after nearly a year of integration work and absorbing its write-offs, just before it’s expect to yield some kind of benefit. That would make a lot of sense. Obviously these guys what could have been predicted by a first year grad student.