Sandler O'Neill would weigh big merger

Jimmy Dunne, Senior Managing Principal of Sandler O'Neill and Partners, L.P., speaks at the Reuters Global Finance Summit in New York, November 16, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investment bank Sandler O'Neill would consider a transformational merger rather than going public, and such a deal more possible now than ever before, Senior Managing Principal James Dunne said on Monday.

Dunne, who rebuilt the firm after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York's World Trade Center, said Sandler O'Neill's reach and value had grown but it was unlikely to undertake a public offering while he was in charge.

"Something more transformational would be something that I would be more interested in doing," Dunne said at the Reuters Global Finance Summit in New York. "There are great opportunities and we will have to evaluate that over the next couple of years rather than going public."

"I owe it to everyone to be thinking about all of our possible options," Dunne said. "If there was a firm that we thought we could really enhance and build them out, we would look at it."

Sandler O'Neill lost 66 of its 171 employees in the September 11 attacks, including Herman Sandler and Chris Quackenbush, two of the three executives who ran the firm.

It firm has since grown to more than 250 employees, is a market maker for some 400 financial stocks, and writes research on about 200 companies.

It has advised on such deals as PNC Financial Services Group Inc's (PNC.N) takeover of National City, and Countrywide Financial Corp's merger with Bank of America Corp (BAC.N).

Dunne, whose voice cracked when he spoke about Herman Sandler, said he did not like the idea of taking Sandler O'Neill public but that his successor could decide otherwise.

Jonathan Doyle, a managing principal at the firm, will run the company after Dunne, but that transition is still several years away, he said.

"I would say closer to five than 10 (years)," Dunne said.

For now, Dunne said he enjoyed his work. "I am spending less and less time in particular areas and more time just with clients," he said.

(Reporting by Dan Wilchins and Paritosh Bansal; additional reporting by Clare Baldwin; editing by Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)