Gleacher Faces Delisting Amid Wall Street Survival Scramble

Such a move would be similar to Citigroup's (C) 1 for 10 reverse split announced in 2011, which pushed shares from the $4 level to the mid-$40's.

Gleacher's prospective delisting reflects Wall Street's struggles, amid a tepid M&A and trading environment. Earlier in 2012, Kaufman Brothers and Ticonderoga Securities shuttered their doors.

Meanwhile, activist investors have called for big compensation change at Lazard (LAZ) and Jefferies (JEF) recently wound up in the arms of a more financially stable partner, Leucadia National (LUK).

Gleacher & Co., which carries the name of Eric Gleacher - a former top M&A banker at Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley (MS) -- is one of a handful of banking and trading startups since the late 1980s. Other firms include Greenhill & Co. (GHL), Wasserstein & Co. -- named after the late Bruce Wasserstein - Evercore Partners (EVR) and more recently, Moelis & Co..

While Wall Street's woes are reflected in the struggles of independent investment banking firms like Gleacher & Co., amid tepid business for M&A, underwriting and trading, it's unlikely to draw the attention of larger 'too big to fail' investment banks.

Those firms nearly pulled the economy into depression when trading bets on the real estate market soured in 2007 and 2008.

For more on financial sector disclosures, see why Wells Fargo (WFC) was filing Friday paperwork.

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-- Written by Antoine Gara in New York

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