Friday, July 15, 2011

Barclays PLC Helps PEU's Cash In


Bloomberg reported:

In what may end up being the busiest year for U.S. initial public offerings in a decade, an unlikely player has taken the top spot in underwriting: Barclays (BCS). The London-based bank is capitalizing on the return of private equity-backed firms to the public markets as companies including Carlyle Group and KKR unload some of the $1.6 trillion of assets they amassed during history’s biggest leveraged buyout boom. 

The man credited with getting Barclay's to the top is Ros Stephenson, according to Bloomberg:

The performance also owes much to the effort for more than a decade by Ros Stephenson, co-head of corporate finance, to build the private equity business of Lehman Brothers, whose U.S. operations Barclays acquired in 2008.
Which brings to mind Jeb Bush, hired as Senior Advisor to Lehman Private Equity in 2007.  Lehman never admitted to hiring Jeb in the first place.  Tracking Bush's ongoing tenure with Lehman-Barclays has the media telling different stories.

Fortune believes Bush separated from Lehman before Barclays bought its carcass.  The Hill thinks Bush is still with Barclays, as does ABC and Harvard's Institute of Politics.  Does Barclays have a PEU bird in the hand, plus Jeb in the Bush?