Dresdner Plans to Buy Wasserstein Perella

Germany’s Dresdner Bank agreed to buy Wasserstein, Perella & Co. for $1.56 billion, turning to the 12-year-old merger advisory firm to boost its investment-banking business after two failed mergers at home. Dresdner will pay $1.37 billion in stock and set aside $190 million to retain key members of the 600-person staff at the firm, majority-owned by Bruce Wasserstein, one of the stars of the buyout industry in the 1980s. The decision by Wasserstein, 52, to sell the business he co-founded 12 years ago reflects the high prices European banks are willing to pay to expand in the U.S. Dresdner gains access to Wasserstein clients such as Philip Morris Cos. and Time Warner Inc. Wasserstein, who’s selling after dropping from the top of the merger business in the 1980s, will be executive chairman of the investment bank that will be renamed Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein from Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, the company said.