BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

'Prudent' move

June 14, 1999 7:00 AM UTC

The health care banking consolidation continues as Prudential Securities announced plans to acquire Vector Securities International in an effort to create a health care powerhouse. The resulting company will be known as Prudential Vector Healthcare, and will consist of 36 investment bankers and 27 research professionals who will provide coverage of nearly 120 health care companies - well over half of them in the biotech sector.

The acquisition could be viewed as Prudential's effort to reestablish itself as a player in the biotech space. While Prudential does have a biotech analyst - Caroline Copithorne covers roughly a dozen biotech names - and it is underwriting VaxGen's IPO, the firm did have a larger biotech presence in the early 90s when its team included sellside analysts Joe Edelman (now on the buyside with Paramount Capital Asset Management's Aries Fund) and Robert LeBoyer (now working with Marc Ostro on M&A deals at KPMG)...