Limited Liability Company … Allen

information copied from Vault.com

How is Allen & Company unlike other banks? Let us count the ways: It has no website, no barrage of press releases touting recent deals, no sprawling menu of financial services, no research division, no employment contact, and no formal recruiting process. What Allen & Company does have is a platinum reputation and serious mystique, earned over nearly nine decades of semi-secretive, exclusive advisory and wealth management work with some of the biggest names in corporate America. The firm is an institutional broker and money manager for high-net-worth individuals, including the founding Allen family; it also provides M&A, underwriting, and related advisory services.

Most of Allen & Company’s clients hail from the media, sports, entertainment, communications and technology sectors—this tiny boutique was a player in Google’s 2004 initial public offering. It’s also been behind the scenes of such headline-worthy deals as Time Warner/Comcast’s purchase of Adelphia, the Disney/ABC tie-up and the 20-year, $400 million deal that gave Citigroup naming rights to the Mets ballpark.

But Allen & Co.’s closest ties are to Coca-Cola, thanks to a relationship that dates back to 1982. Then-CEO Herbert Allen had bought a controlling stake in Columbia Pictures in 1973 (he paid just $4 per share for the legendary studio). In 1982, Coke bought Columbia, paying a whopping $750 million. Allen pocketed $45 million and earned himself a seat on the Coke board; the marquee deal also catapulted Allen & Company into the upper echelons of i-banking, helping it win a number of prestigious clients.

Since its first deal with Coke, Allen & Co. has done several subsequent deals and underwriting assignments for the soft drink giant and its affiliates, raking in millions of dollars in advisory fees. The Allen family still owns a chunk of Coke shares and there’s been some boardroom back-and-forths, too: Coke president Donald Keough became chairman of Allen & Co., and his son Clarke joined the bank’s institutional sales group. 

As for its staff, Allen & Company’s managing directors have included former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley; George Tenet, the former director of the CIA; Priceline.com director (and media M&A powerhouse) Nancy Peretsman; and Steve Greenberg, former Major League Baseball deputy commissioner.

Dubitable ? Open to Doubt

COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report published – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

below comment from John Dee’s Almanac (a facebook site)

Well, after many hours of data preparation and analysis I can pretty much safely conclude that there is no real world evidence in support of PHE’s bold claim. Folk may ask why eminent and rather knowledgeable figures like Jonathan Van Tam, our Deputy Chief Medical Officer, stand behind dubious outputs produced by PHE. I can furnish the answer from personal experience of working at these levels within the UK government: They have no choice to do otherwise.

This comment from Nitram Egavas had me smiling.

I think perhaps, that the government’s claims arises from the lesser known ‘Think of a Number and Double it’ branch of statistics.