Connections Suggest JPMorgan Could Be Eyeing National City as Its Next Acquisition
(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- The business-news media is already abuzz with rumors that JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) has not ended its buying spree with its Sunday purchase of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE: BSC), but that the House of Morgan has its sights set on the potential acquisition of a regional bank as well, with the likely candidates including National City Corp (NYSE: NCC), Washington Mutual Inc (NYSE: WM), and SunTrust Banks Inc (NYSE: STI), according to an online article by The New York Times.
NewsVisual created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map that suggests that National City Corp has the best chance of becoming JP Morgan’s merger partner, however, since the other two banks fail to show any personal connections to officials within JPMorgan’s leadership.
On the other hand, with respect to National City, the Knowledge Map illustrates the existence of personal connections that run through the Financial Services Roundtable between National’s CEO/President/Chairman Peter E Raskind and its CFO/Vice Chairman Jeffrey D Kelly to JPMorgan CEO/President/Chairman James Dimon.
Given the fact that at both these Banks their highest level officials are already acquainted with one another, it seems plausible to conjecture that they would have already begun their engagement in merger talks.
To see the details of these connections, click here for an interactive and fuller version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map.
(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).
Also: Note that WaMu's current President and COO Stephen Rotella and Jaime Dimon overlapped at JPM by a period of at least 4-6 months.
Check it out.
Posted by: Jonathan Cevichy | March 20, 2008 at 08:03 AM