Current Director Relationships May Have Motivated GE Deal With Merrill Lynch

Earlier today, GE Capital announced that it will acquire most of Merrill Lynch business Merrill Lynch Capital, in a deal expected to increase GE’s assets by more than $10 billion. The move is also set to align with Merrill Lynch’s strategy of divesting non-core assets in order to strengthen its primary interests (see press release from GE).

After creating an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of the leadership ties between Merrill Lynch, NewsVisual discovered a number of connections between key Directors at either company, creating a network that would have likely been very helpful in initiating and facilitating a deal.

The strongest relationships are those that involve Directors at either company currently working together at other entities. John D Finnegan (Director at Merrill Lynch) and James I Cash (Director of GE) are well-acquainted through Chubb Corp, where Finnegan is the Chairman/CEO and Cash is a Director. A similar set of connections is present through Deere & Co, where Robert W Lane (Director of GE) is Chairman/CEO and Aulana L Peters (Director of Merrill Lynch) serves as a Director.

Other noteworthy relationships link Merrill Lynch Director Carol T Christ to GE Director Ralph S Larsen through the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, where the two were each honored as Fellows. Also, Virgis Colbert (Director of Merrill Lynch) and Roger S Penske (Director of GE) may have been in contact recently regarding the deal as they previously served together on Delphi Corp’s Board of Directors.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).

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