A.G. Becker & Co.
 |
|
| Acquired | |
| Industry | Financial Services |
| Fate | Acquired by Merrill Lynch in 1984 |
| Founded | 1893 |
| Founder | Abraham G. Becker |
| Defunct | 1984 |
| Headquarters |
Chicago, Illinois, The United States San Francisco, California, The United States |
| Products | Investment banking, Brokerage |
|
Number of employees
|
2,450 (1983) 1,600 (1984) |
A. G. Becker & Co. was an investment bank based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Becker's history goes back to the 1880s when it was a commercial paper house. It evolved into a full line investment banking firm with offices in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, London (England) and Geneva (Switzerland), among others.
Becker was a pioneer in the pension consulting business with the creation of "Green Book" tables comparing results to benchmarks, to help identify the performance of institutional investors.
In 1893, Abraham G. Becker took control of Herbert Schaffner & Co., a commercial paper business in Chicago. The firm, which was founded by Becker's uncle had failed during the Panic of 1893. Becker, who had been a junior partner under Schaffner, paid in $50,000 from a life insurance policy to start his own firm and by 1904 Becker had paid back the losses suffered by Schaffner's customers. Initially, Becker paid needy customers, particularly widows, first out of his own pocket.
Through the early part of the 20th century, Becker became one of the leading commercial paper firms in the U.S. Becker's commercial paper business had been founded on the dealing of "bankers acceptances", another form of short term finance for corporate borrowers, that was popular in the Chicago markets. At one point in the development of the commercial paper market in the United States, two banks were the dominant commercial paper dealers: A G Becker (concentrating its business in the MidWest and West and in the commodity markets) and Goldman Sachs (concentrating more on the East Coast and in the various financial markets of New York).
The firm slowly branched out into a stock and bond brokerage. In 1911, the firm completed its first underwriting for Hart Schaffner & Marx. Thereafter, the firm raised debt for U.S. Gypsum and later issued preferred stock for Hupp Motor Works.
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