Stockman to Leave Salomon Bros. for Rival

Former White House budget director David A. Stockman is quitting the Wall Street giant Salomon Bros. to join the Blackstone Group, the smaller rival has announced.

Stockman, a managing director at Salomon since leaving the White House in 1985, will handle all merchant banking activities and merger transactions for the Blackstone Group, the company said.

His departure from Salomon comes against a background of turmoil within the venerable investment firm, a partial result of the uncertain outlook for Wall Street in the aftermath of the stock market crash five months ago.

Several other high-ranking executives also have quit Salomon recently, although Stockman was reported to have said that his departure was unrelated to the company’s problems.

“My experience at Salomon was absolutely agreeable and I have a high regard for (Salomon chairman) John Gutfreund,” Stockman was quoted as saying. “ . . . There’s one thing I couldn’t do there--which is have my own shop.”

Former Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson, chairman of Blackstone, said in a press statement that Stockman will take charge of a jointly owned firm called Stockman & Co.--a Blackstone Group affiliate.

Peterson said he wanted Stockman to bolster Blackstone’s emerging merchant banking business in Japan.

Blackstone recently represented Sony in a $2-billion acquisition of CBS Records late last year and represented Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. in its $2.6-billion acquisition by Japan’s Bridgestone Corp.