Meet The Jackie Robinson Of Wall Street

Meet The Jackie Robinson Of Wall Street

Share to Linkedin On November 30, 1987, an army of 180 lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and corporate executives annexed six floors of prestigious New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, in a race to close a $985 million leveraged buyout of the food conglomerate Beatrice International. The deal (which would be worth some $2. 3 billion today), was the largest leveraged buyout of overseas assets by an American company at that time, but with complicated overseas tax issues, it was falling behind schedule. If even one of the New York food giant's 64 entities in 31 countries failed to meet its financing conditions by the December 1 deadline, the whole deal would collapse. Even more daunting was the prospect of facing the notorious wrath of the Beatrice deal's general, Reginald F. Lewis. Front and Center: Reginald Lewis with his key players in the Beatrice deal team. Having begun his career as a corporate lawyer, the 44-year-old Lewis had already achieved his dream of moving to the other side of the table to buy and sell companies. Three years earlier, he had acquired the McCall Pattern home sewing business for $22. 5 million (about $50 million today), including