Drexel Burnham Lambert Raises $100 Million Blind Pool for Nelson Peltz Corporate Raids

Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham Lambert raised the first major $100 million blind pool for Nelson Peltz and Triangle Industries to finance corporate takeovers. This established the template for blind pool financing that would become central to 1980s corporate raider operations, providing raiders with pre-committed capital and Drexel ‘highly confident letters’ that functioned as cash equivalents for hostile takeovers. The transaction represented a pivotal moment in corporate finance, demonstrating how investment banks could provide unprecedented financial leverage for corporate restructuring and hostile takeovers.