Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to Join Investment Bank Centerview Partners

(Bloomberg) -- Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and chief of staff to then-President Barack Obama, plans to join Centerview Partners.

Emanuel, 59, will open the firm’s office in Chicago as a senior counselor, Centerview said Wednesday in a statement.

The investment bank, co-founded by Blair Effron and Robert Pruzan, has been expanding in recent years, hiring bankers from larger rivals. It has scored advisory assignments on some of the biggest recent mergers, including the $34 billion tie-up between Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and Worldpay Inc., one of the largest deals this year.

Centerview ranked 10th last year among global merger advisers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Establishing a presence in Chicago is a logical next step for Centerview as we continue to grow, and it positions us to better serve existing and new clients throughout the Midwest,” Effron said in the statement. The Wall Street Journal reported Emanuel’s move earlier Wednesday.

Emanuel was Chicago’s mayor for eight years before deciding not to seek a third term. He was able to shore up city finances, unwinding a portfolio of interest-rate swaps and earning a stable debt outlook from all three major rating companies. Still, he leaves behind a looming pension shortfall and a city with a notorious reputation for corruption and a high murder rate.

Centerview isn’t Emanuel’s first finance gig. Nearly two decades ago, he worked as a managing director at investment bank Wasserstein Perella & Co. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009 and worked for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and at the Clinton White House.

“I am excited to use my lifelong experience as an adviser and problem solver in both the public and private sectors in this next chapter of my career,” Emanuel said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hannah Levitt in New York at hlevitt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Dan Reichl

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