Hofmann the go-between

May 01, 1997

Dresdner Bank's roving diplomat Hansgeorg Hofmann struggled for 18 months to keep Kleinwort Benson intact after its takeover by Dresdner. But rival board members in Frankfurt were forcing a tortuous management structure on fledgling investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. That led Kleinwort's long-standing chairman Simon Robertson to quit in February. Now the gloves are off, and Dresdner's board, including Hofmann, have turned authoritarian. Expect some bloodshed. By Laura Covill.

The investment banking committee (as of mid-April 1997)
Global Markets	Global Finance	Equities	Corporate Finance
†Gerhard Eberstadt Gerd Häusler Leonhard Fischer Erich Pohl	*Bernhard Walter John Cameron Bernd Fahrholz	†*Hansgeorg Hofmann Alan Yarrow	†*Hansgeorg Hofmann Tim Shacklock
Americas	Asia	UK
*Ernst-Moritz Lipp Georg Fugelsang	Rolf Willi	†David Clementi Simon Ball
KEY
Global Markets	Fixed income trading and sales: debt capital markets; forex and precious metals; derivatives; markets risk management
Global Finance	Syndicated loans, product finance, structured finance
Equities	Sales, trading and research
Corporate Finance	Equity capital markets, M&A, financial advisory
*	Dresdner Bank board members
†	Directors of Kleinwort Benson

In February, Hansgeorg Hofmann, Dresdner Bank's most senior diplomat, ran out of patience. The tall, go-getting investment banker, who won his spurs at Merrill Lynch and Shearson Lehman in the 1980s, wasn't his normal, jovial self.

He called Dresdner supervisory board chairman Wolfgang Röller. The bank's father-figure heard Hofmann calmly unfold a tale of deceit and subterfuge.

Hofmann the go-between

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