Excerpts: A Merchant Banker Starts Own Firm

  • Ken Miller is resigning as vice chairman of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets to start his own firm for buying out companies or taking controlling interests in them.
  • Mr. Miller received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in Chinese studies from Yale. His teaching experiences led him to the Harvard Law School, where he sought to merge his interest in social activism with the business world.
  • Mr. Miller rose to become head of Merrill Lynch’s mergers department in 1982 and was named a vice chairman of the capital markets group at the end of 1986.
  • Mr. Miller helped develop Merrill Lynch’s merchant banking activities, in which the firm helped to arrange and finance takeovers and buyouts.
  • His aim is to raise at least $250 million from investors around the world, with Merrill Lynch underwriting the domestic portion.

Source: New York Times