Citigroup is outraged that Wells Fargo would come in and break up its bargain-basement, government-financed deal to buy Wachovia Bank. But let’s hope the regulators find a way to make the Wells Fargo deal happen: It won’t cost taxpayers anything, and it may…

Deal Journal’s Deal Yenta, Heidi N. Moore, sees some signs pointing to an eventual sale of St. Louis-based Wachovia Securities. As I pointed out in Tuesday’s column, the forced sale of Wachovia Bank leaves the securities unit, along with asset…

Not long ago, conventional wisdom held that a big brokerage firm needed to be affiliated with a big bank to be successful. Now, with the forced sale of Wachovia Bank’s assets to Citigroup, St. Louis-based Wachovia Securities finds itself as virtually…

This may cause some nervousness at Jefferson & Market, the old A.G. Edwards headquarters: The New York Times reports that Wachovia is among the possible suitors for Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley, one of the few independent investment banks left on Wall Street, watched…

Wachovia’s latest news – which includes a dividend cut and a $393 million first-quarter loss — adds to the pain for former A.G. Edwards shareholders. When the venerable St. Louis brokerage announced last May 30 that it was selling out to the North…

A Boston Globe travel writer raves about a trip to St. Louis, which is nice, but she didn’t do her homework on local businesses. Fran Folsom writes:

Little did Laclède dream that his trading post would morph into the business hub…

For some reason, CNBC has developed a healthy curiosity about the St. Louis economy and has asked a certain Post-Dispatch columnist/blogger to appear on its “Power Lunch” program tomorrow (Friday). I’ll be on shortly after 11 a.m. (central time)  along with…

Folks in Richmond, Va., it seems, are surprised that St. Louisans aren’t ecstatic over Wachovia’s purchase of A.G. Edwards. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported over the weekend:

Now it will be home to the second-largest brokerage in the United States. But that hasn’t…

A friend and former East Coaster wonders if he’ll be able to visit Wachovia Bank  branches in St. Louis, now that the bank’s parent company is buying A.G. Edwards & Sons.

The answer apparently is no. Although the Wachovia Securities unit will…

In examining a  big corporate merger, it’s always a good idea to look at what incentive the executives had to sell. Often, their contracts call for big, fat payments in the event of a change in control.

That doesn’t appear to…