Frank Quattrone, Back in the Tech Money Game

Remember Frank Quattrone? (What's with the Wikipedia entry that starts out, "Frank Quattrone (born 1955) is a former smug investment banker..." Who put "smug" in there!?) Yes, well, Quattone was one of the band of early-2000s dastardly business guys -- Ken Lay, Jack Grubman, Joe Nacchio -- who took a fall. He ran Credit Suisse First Boston's tech investment banking business in San Francisco. Took Amazon.com and Netscape public. Then he was accused of obstructing justice, ultimately winning the case on appeal.

And so now he's back. I got an e-mail this morning announcing Qatalyst Partners (get it -- Quattrone, Qatalyst...), describing itself as "a technology-focused merchant banking boutique, headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Qatalyst Partners, its investment banking business, will provide high-end merger & acquisition and corporate finance advice to technology companies globally."

There is not qatalystpartners.com Web site up, apparently. Qatalyst.com goes nowhere. There are a whole bunch of companies (Qatalyst Corp., Qatalyst Design, Qatalyst Entertainment) that use the name already.

John Marshall Mantel/The New York Times/Redux

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