Prudential Securities
Encyclopedia
Prudential Securities was the financial services arm of the insurer, Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial
The Prudential Insurance Company of America , also known as Prudential Financial, Inc., is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the...

. In 2003, Prudential Securities was merged into Wachovia Securities
Wachovia Securities
Wells Fargo Advisors, is a subsidiary of Wells Fargo, located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the second largest brokerage firm in the United States as of October 1, 2007 with $1.17 trillion retail client assets under management....

, a division of Wachovia Bank.

History

Prudential Securities traces its origins to the founding of the Leopold Cahn & Co. brokerage and investment bank in 1879. In 1891, the firm was reorganized as J.S. Bache & Co.
Bache & Co.
Bache & Company was a securities deim that provided stock brokerage and investment banking services. The firm, which was founded in 1879, was based in New York, New York....

 after Jules Bache
Jules Bache
Jules Semon Bache was a German-born American banker, art collector and philanthropist.-Biography:Born in Germany, as a young boy his family emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. In 1881, he started work as a cashier at Leopold Cahn & Co., a stockbrokerage firm founded by his...

 was brought into the partnership.

In the 1974 Bache merged with Halsey, Stuart & Co.
Halsey, Stuart & Co.
Halsey, Stuart was a Chicago-based investment bank founded in 1911.In 1952, the firm made headlines when its managing partner, Harold L. Stuart, testified before the U.S. Supreme Court for the government's antitrust case against Morgan Stanley and 16 other major investment banks...

, a Chicago based investment bank founded in 1911. In 1952, Halsey, Stuart made headlines when its managing partner, Harold L. Stuart
Harold L. Stuart
Harold L. Stuart was a prominent American financier of the early 20th century, and founder of the investment firm Halsey, Stuart & Co..-Biography:...

, testified before the U.S. Supreme Court for the government's antitrust case against Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....

 and 16 other major investment banks. The fact that Halsey, Stuart was a significant investment banking firm, at the top of the IPO league tables in 1951 led some observers to suspect that they had provoked the government's antitrust suit.
In 1981, the company (then called Bache Halsey Stuart Shields) was acquired by Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial
The Prudential Insurance Company of America , also known as Prudential Financial, Inc., is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the...

 and renamed Prudential-Bache Securities. Prudential dropped the usage of the Bache name in 1991, renaming the division Prudential Securities.

In 1989, the firm acquired Thomson McKinnon a top 20 brokerage and investment banking firm.

Merger with Wachovia

Prudential Financial combined its retail brokerage in a joint venture with Wachovia
Wachovia
Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States based on total assets...

 to form Wachovia Securities LLC
Wachovia Securities
Wells Fargo Advisors, is a subsidiary of Wells Fargo, located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the second largest brokerage firm in the United States as of October 1, 2007 with $1.17 trillion retail client assets under management....

 on July 1, 2003. Wachovia purchased 62% of the joint venture, while Prudential retained the remaining 38%. At the time, the new firm had client assets of $532.1 billion, making it the nation's third largest full service retail brokerage firm based on assets. Prudential, which had been looking to sell its brokerage division, sought to use the joint venture's larger brokerage network to market its insurance products, while Wachovia sought to expand its investment banking business through the combination.

Remaining Business

Following the joint venture with Wachovia, Prudential Financial retained the commodities and financial derivatives businesses. These businesses did not use the Bache name. However, in January 2003, Prudential Financial rebranded the two units under the Bache name, forming Prudential Bache. This unit was sold to Jefferies & Company parent Jefferies Group in 2011.
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