Citigroup – Wall Street dealmaker Steve Volk to retire from Citi

“If you wish to evaluate the M&A market now to what it was after I began out 60 years in the past, it is extremely completely different,” Volk, 83, stated in an interview. “Regardless of COVID, main transactions are getting executed remotely with out face-to-face contact between the principals, with diligence being executed by drones, by Zoom, by each different approach.”

In his time as an M&A lawyer, Volk labored on offers together with Du Pont Co.’s $US7.6 billion buy of a controlling stake in Conoco in 1981, the most important ever acquisition on the time. Greater than a decade later, he helped craft the $US8.three billion merger between Paramount Communications and Viacom.

Throughout his early days with Citigroup, Volk usually helped the bank win offers that allowed it to realize minority possession of entities in new markets. In a single case, Citigroup was in search of to amass a $US3.1 billion stake in Akbank. He was driving along with his household when he bought a name from an adviser to the Turkish lender.

“He stated you must cease the automobile straight away,” Volk stated. “And I finished the automobile on the facet of the street, left my grumpy household within the automobile and the 2 of us principally did the deal whereas my household was ready on the facet of the street.”

Navigating disaster

Extra just lately, Volk helped shepherd Citigroup by means of the monetary disaster, when it drew a much bigger bailout than another US bank earlier than it in the end bought $US800 billion of subprime belongings and exited greater than 20 companies.

For Volk, one of many extra memorable transactions got here when he helped promote Japanese brokerage Nikko Cordial shortly after the bank purchased it. The unit in the end fetched $US5.5 billion.

“He has attracted and executed a few of our most important banking transactions,” Corbat, Fraser and Ybarra stated within the memo.

Volk stated he plans to proceed working with the agricultural firm Continental Grain, the place he is a board member. And he hopes to journey extra along with his spouse when the pandemic eases.

“The M&A enterprise, whether or not you are a lawyer or a banker, you very a lot be taught by doing and also you very a lot be taught by being mentored and by watching others do,” he stated.

“With that comes huge lengthy hours, huge stress and every part else. However there’s nonetheless a variety of satisfaction in doing M&A and doing it properly. It is nonetheless the sport with by far the most important chips.”

Bloomberg