Gleacher & Company, the struggling investment bank started by the veteran Wall Street deal maker Eric Gleacher, has put itself up for sale.
In a statement Thursday, the publicly traded firm said that it was exploring strategic alternatives including selling itself and raising money from outside investors. The firm has hired Credit Suisse to manage a sales process, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
Mr. Gleacher, a former Marine who ranks among the top golfers on Wall Street, was among a bevy of 1980s-era bankers â€" a group that included Steven A. Schwarzman, Bruce Wasserstein, and Robert Greenhill â€" who would go on to start their own advisory boutiques.
A number of prominent hedge fund managers worked at Gleacher early in their careers, including Philip Falcone of Harbinger Capital Partners and Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital Management.
But the Mr. Gleacher's firm has underperformed. After absorbing two years of losses including poor performance in its mortgage-securities unit, Gleacher's chief executive, Tom Hughes, has tried to turn around the business by shuttering unprofitable units, slashing its work force and overhauling management.
At its current stock price, Gleacher has a market capitalization of only $95 million. Greenhill & Company, by comparison, is worth $1.25 billion. Gleacher's stock rose 2 percent as of midday Thursday on the news.
Mr. Gleacher, 72, is the company's chairman of the board and second-largest shareholder, with an 11 percent stake, according to securities filings. Its largest shareholder is Matlin Patterson Global Advisers, the New York-based private investment firm, which owns about 28 percent.
Gleacher's move is the latest twist in the firm's complex history, which began in 1990 when Mr. Gleacher - a star mergers-and-acquisition investment banker at Lehman Brothers and then Morgan Stanley - hung out his own shingle. National Westminster Bank bought Gleacher in 1995 for $135 million, but four years later Mr. Gleacher severed ties with the British bank and took his firm private.
In 2009, the brokerage firm Broadpoint Securities acquired it and adopted the Gleacher name.
