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Perella Weinberg Partners and Piper Sandler have abandoned merger talks that would have brought together two of Wall Street’s leading independent investment banks.
The consultancies were discussing a merger of all shares but failed to agree on key financial and personnel issues, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shares of Perella Weinberg fell 19 percent after the FT reported the talks had broken down. The Wall Street Journal first reported a possible combination last month, sending its shares soaring.
In recent weeks, the two companies had attempted to reach lock-up deals to keep dozens of top Perella Weinberg bankers in the combined entity, the sources said.
However, a critical mass of Perella Weinberg’s top talent did not agree to the deal, undermining Piper’s confidence in the value of joining forces, they added.
The merger talks come amid a wave of consolidation in the specialist advisory sector, as firms grapple with succession challenges and fierce competition from high-profile banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Piper declined to comment. Perella Weinberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Perella Weinberg, founded in 2006, has a market capitalization of approximately $1.2 billion. Piper Sandler, which itself is a combination of Piper Jaffray and Sandler O’Neill + Partners, has a net worth of approximately $5 billion.
Perella Weinberg was created by Wall Street big man Joseph Perella and Peter Weinberg, a former longtime Goldman banker whose family had been involved in Goldman’s management since the 1930s.
Perella Weinberg, which has a large office in London, went public in 2021 via a merger with a blank check company just after spinning off its asset management division. With annual consulting revenues of just under $1 billion, it lags behind listed rivals Evercore, Lazard, Moelis and PJT Partners as well as privately held Centerview Partners.
Piper Sandler was formed in 2020 when mid-market bank Piper Jaffray acquired Sandler O’Neill, a full-service investment bank that served clients of financial institutions. Piper shares have lost about a quarter of their value this year.
In recent years, specialist bank Greenhill was sold to Japanese banking giant Mizuho and London-based specialist consultancy Robey Warshaw became part of Evercore.
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