NEW YORK The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Epoch Partners, Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Epoch Partners, Inc. is an investment bank that uses sophisticated technology to connect to one of the largest groups of individual investors in the United States.
Through this acquisition, Goldman Sachs will obtain the exclusive right to distribute equity offerings, including IPOs, to Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.‘s and TD Waterhouse Group Inc.‘s customers. In addition, customers of these firms will receive access to U.S. equity research from Goldman Sachs. Together, Schwab and TD Waterhouse have nearly 10 million active accounts and approximately US$1 trillion in customer assets.
“This is a next step in our strategy to develop new distribution channels by leveraging technology,” said Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs. “Epoch provides us exclusive access to the important individual investor segment through one of the largest brokerage networks in the United States, together with sophisticated data management analytics, both of which will further enhance our market leading equity business.”
“This acquisition acknowledges the importance of our customer base to issuers,” said David Pottruck, Charles Schwab President and Co-Chief Executive Officer. “For Schwab clients who will now gain access to Goldman Sachs’ equity market offerings and U.S. equity research, this is an excellent opportunity to expand their exposure to new markets and investments and increase their market wisdom.”
“This acquisition will provide TD Waterhouse customers with high quality U.S. equity research and equity offerings from a world leading investment bank,” said Steve McDonald, Chief Executive Officer of TD Waterhouse. “Through this transaction, we have leveraged our customers’ value to the markets while expanding customers’ access to research and equity products that can help them meet their investment objectives.”
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking and securities firm, providing a full range of investing, advisory and financing services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base, which includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCH), through Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC/NYSE), U.S. Trust Corporation, CyberTrader, Inc., and its other operating subsidiaries, is one of the nation’s largest financial firms serving 7.7 million active accounts with US$856 billion in client assets. Schwab currently has 4.3 million active online accounts with US$328 billion in assets. Schwab provides a full-service investing experience to clients through 429 domestic offices, five regional client telephone service centers, the Internet, automated touch-tone telephone, automated voice recognition, e-mail, wireless technologies and multi-lingual and international offices. The Charles Schwab, U.S. Trust and CyberTrader Web sites can be reached at www.schwab.com, www.ustrust.com and www.cybertrader.com, respectively.
TD Waterhouse Group, Inc. (NYSE/TSE: TWE) provides investors with a broad range of brokerage, mutual fund, banking and other consumer financial products on an integrated basis. Worldwide, TD Waterhouse currently services 3.3 million active customer accounts with US$138 billion in assets in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Hong Kong. The firm also has joint ventures in Japan, Luxembourg and India to serve investors in those countries. TD Waterhouse can be found on the Internet at www.tdwaterhouse.com. TD Waterhouse’s majority owner is TD Bank (NYSE/TSE: TD), which holds approximately 89% of the outstanding share capital of TD Waterhouse. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices around the world, TD Bank Financial Group offers a full range of financial products and services to approximately 13 million customers worldwide.
Epoch Partners, Inc., a privately held company, was founded in 1999 by retail brokers Charles Schwab, TD Waterhouse and Ameritrade and leading venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Benchmark Capital and Trident Capital. Epoch Partners was named one of the 50 most important private companies by Red Herring Magazine in 2000.
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