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Tag: H. Rodgin Cohen

  • 2008 bust is boom for H. Rodgin Cohen

    As the financial crisis spread wider and wider in 2008, H. Rodgin Cohen got more and more work.

    For all of this, The American Lawyer magazine has named Cohen, the chairman of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, the No. 1 dealmaker of 2008.

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    By the magazine’s count, Cohen took part in at least 17 “global credit crisis-related mergers, bailouts and cash infusions” during the year.

    Cohen was a key player in the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase, and he represented Fannie Mae in its takeover talks with the U.S. government.

    He advised Lehman Brothers Holdings during its bankruptcy, just as he counseled Barclays Bank when it acquired some of Lehman Brothers.

    Cohen was there for Wachovia Corporation when it was sold to Wells Fargo, and he helped Goldman Sachs become a bank holding company.

    Why did Cohen get all this work?

    “He probably has the most impressive reputation in terms of banking and work with Treasury and the Fed of any lawyer out there,” Stephen Ashley, former chairman of the Fannie Mae board of directors, told The American Lawyer.

    “It’s like going to see a surgeon,” said Robert Steel, the former chief executive of Wachovia. “You want a surgeon who has seen a lot of these operations.”

    Cohen suggested to the magazine that he’ll have plenty of work as 2009 goes on, as well.

    He didn’t think the Troubled Asset Relief Program was well packaged, though he did express faith in President Obama and Timothy Geithner, the treasury secretary.

    A native of West Virginia and a graduate of Harvard Law School, Cohen, 64, has worked with troubled banks for more than 30 years. In 1980, he was also involved in the resolution of the Iran hostage crisis.

    In March, Cohen reportedly withdrew his name from consideration to be deputy treasury secretary.

    The American Lawyer’s No. 2 dealmaker for 2008 was Edward Herlihy, a lawyer with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, outside counsel for Bank of America. Herlihy advised the bank in its merger with Merrill Lynch & Co.

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    • H. Rodgin Cohen at epicenter of Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac crisis

      H. Rodgin Cohen may not be well known away from Wall Street, but he would seem to be the first person called in times of bank failure, acquisitions or mergers.

      Consequently, it’s no surprise that Cohen, the chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell, a powerhouse law firm, took part in the recent talks between the U.S. Department of the Treasury and mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

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      Cohen represented Fannie Mae and Daniel H. Mudd, its CEO, when he met last week with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, also attended.

      On Sunday, Paulson announced the government takeover of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

      Both companies have been hard hit by a wave of mortgage foreclosures, and the government is going to send much-needed capital their way.

      As part of the deal, Mudd and Richard F. Syron, his counterpart at Freddie Mac, leave their posts, though they will remain for a while as advisers. Herbert M. Allison Jr., the former chairman of TIAA-CREF, will replace Mudd. David M. Moffett, a senior adviser with the Carlyle Group and a former vice chairman of US Bancorp, takes over for Syron at Freddie Mac.

      Cohen, a native of West Virginia, came to this crisis with more than three decades of experience in high-stakes financial showdowns.

      A graduate of Harvard Law School and a veteran of the U.S. Army, he joined Sullivan & Cromwell in 1970 and became a partner in 1977.

      Over the years, Cohen’s efforts have “fundamentally altered the banking landscape,” according to CFO Magazine.

      He helped do this in part by discovering a legal loophole that allowed banks to expand beyond state lines and thereby change the industry.

      Cohen has also been involved in a steady stream of bank acquisitions, including the joining of Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank and the merger of Norwest and Wells Fargo.

      Cohen has likewise been a key player in rescue efforts involving failed banks.

      He helped in the aftermath of the 1974 collapse of Franklin National Bank, and he represented the struggling Continental Illinois Bank in its 1984 negotiations with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

      Recently, Cohen was a key player in the talks that led to the fire-sale acquisition of Bear Stearns Companies by JP Morgan Chase & Co.

      Cohen was also involved in the resolution of the 1980 Iran hostage crisis, helping obtain through the release of frozen Iran bank deposits the money that was necessary to free the hostages.

      “When the phone call came saying the hostages had landed, it was the most exhilarating feeling I’ve experienced,” he later told The New York Times.

      Cohen reportedly has a less-is-more style that works well at the conference table.

      “He has a quiet sense of authority in a boardroom,” Hamid Biglari of Citigroup told The Financial Times. “He speaks infrequently. He is not one to dominate a conversation by holding forth. But when he does speak, everyone listens very carefully.”

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