Lee joined Chemical Bank in 1975 and worked in a variety of
lending businesses until 1980, when he founded and ran Chemicals
merchant bank in Australia. In 1982, he returned to the US and
started the banks syndicated leverage finance group, which
constituted the origins of the investment banking business at
Chemical and later Chase Manhattan Bank. Lee ran the investment
bank until the merger with J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2001.[1]History
of private equity and venture capitalEarly history(Origins of
modern private equity) The 1980s(Leveraged buyout boom) The
1990s(Leveraged buyout and the venture capital bubble) The
2000s(Dot-com bubble to the credit crunch) v t e Following
Chemicals merger with Manufacturers Hanover in 1994, Lee founded
the banks high yield (or junk bond) business, which was the bank's
first public securities operation. At the same time, he built the
banks financial sponsor coverage business focused on private equity
firms as well as the bank's mergers and acquisitions business.[1]By
organizing high yield with loan syndications and private equity
coverage, and the newly formed M&A group, this led to a variety
of market innovations which Chase pioneered.[citation needed] Lee
also led the team that resulted in Chase acquiring Hambrecht &
Quist which gave the bank its first public equity business and
first dedicated technology investment banking practice.[citation
needed] He has remained active in the technology industry.In 2000,
Lee was effectively demoted in favor Geoffrey Boisi[3] but within
two years Biosi was out and Lee was again leading investment
banking at JP Morgan.[4] By 2007, Lee was placed at the center of a
New York Times illustration title "Masters of the New Universe"
where he was connected with some of the largest leveraged buyout
transactions of the past decade.[5]Lee led the J.P. Morgan teams
that executed the $25 billion Alibaba Group IPO, the largest IPO in
history;[citation needed] the $23 billion General Motors IPO, the
second largest U.S. IPO;[citation needed] and the $41 billion
common stock sale of the U.S. Treasurys ownership of AIG, resulting
from the U.S. Governments bailout of the company.[citation needed]
He also led the negotiations with the U.S. Treasury for the
financial restructuring of Chrysler.[citation needed] Most
recently, Lee also advised Comcast on their announced acquisition
of Time Warner Cable and planned divestitures of systems to Charter
(pending),[citation needed] the Dell Board of Directors Special
Committee on the buyout of Dell by Michael Dell and Silver
Lake,[citation needed] GE on its $30 billion sale of NBC to
Comcast,[citation needed] United Airlines in its merger with
Continental Airlines,[citation needed] News Corporation on its
purchase of Dow Jones,[citation needed] led the IPO of The Carlyle
Group,[citation needed] and co-led the IPOs of Facebook and
Twitter.[citation needed]Lee was a member of Kappa Beta Phi.[6]Lee
had a personal net worth of $185 million in 2010.[citation
needed]
