JPMorgan Chase is pushing some key Bear Stearns officials to decide if they’re in or out, as it prepares to wield the ax on as many as half of Bear’s 14,000 staffers inherited in its Federal Reserve-led buyout of the firm.
One key figure still not committed is Donald Tang, vice chairman of Bear and a Jimmy Cayne protégé. The Chinese-born exec, who attempted to get Bear a $1 billion cash infusion from China’s Citic Securities prior to the firm being subsumed by JPMorgan, was hired by Cayne back in 1992.
The 45-year-old rainmaker is considered one of the top Asian investment bankers in the US and a bridge to the coveted Chinese market, where financial firms have been clamoring for a foothold. Many of Tang’s Asian contacts have an eye on taking advantage of the distress in the US.
Indeed, JPMorgan has been one of many institutions trying to grow its footprint in the Asian market, and specifically in China. Yesterday, the bank hired Elaine La Roche, a former chief executive of China International Capital Corp., according in an internal memo.
Former Bear CEO Alan “Ace” Greenberg, who announced last week that he would stay on at Bear in a still undetermined role, reached out to Tang to encourage him to stay, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation. Tang was given carte blanche under his mentor Cayne in striking deals and it’s unclear what the landscape will look like under CEO Jamie Dimon, the source adds.
Several thousand rank-and-file staffers and bankers will get a clearer picture on their own fate by the end of the month, according to a memo issued by JPMorgan co-heads of investment banking Steve Black and Bill Winters on Monday.
A JPMorgan spokesman in New York declined to comment. Tang could not be reached for comment.