Common Ties Aid Completion of Marshall & Ilsley Acquisition of First Indiana

As Wall Street rings in 2008, dealmakers aren’t slowing down their efforts to start the year off right. And of course, common connections and knowing the right people can usually offer distinct advantages in moving the M&A processes along. One such example of dealmaker that likely made good use of the social network of its key executives to secure one of the first acquisitions of the year is Marshall & Ilsley Corporation, which announced today that it had successfully completed its takeover of First Indiana Corporation, valued at $2.1 billion (see article from Yahoo! Finance).

Marshall & Ilsley and First Indiana are shown to be strongly linked after creating an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of the common ties between the financial services corporations. Marc F Furlong (Director, President and CEO of Marshall & Ilsley) and Kenneth C Krei (Executive Vice President of Marshall & Ilsley) are both likely well connected with First Indiana’s President/CEO Robert H Warrington. Furlong and Krei were each Executive Vice Presidents and Warrington was the Vice-Chairman of Old Kent Financial between 1998 and 2001. The fact that the three probably worked closely together during their time at Old Kent might have had some influence on the deal between Marshall & Ilsley and First Indiana.

Another connection that may also have facilitated the acquisition is shared between Brent J Kelly (Senior Vice President of Marshall & Ilsley) and William J Brunner (CFO/Executive Vice President of First Indiana). Both held senior executive positions with BankOne during overlapping years, allowing for the possibility that the two are well acquainted.

With multiple sets of common ties and a strong corporate network, it comes as no surprise that this deal went off without a hitch.

Click here or copy this link into your Internet Explorer browser for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=85cb0252-fa40-46c1-b4fa-f0364053c958