Eric Gleacher Going Public

Add Eric Gleacher to the list of 1980s Wall Street superstars to throw his weight behind a publicly traded buyout vehicle.

Gleacher Partners filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $500 million for a business development corporation to invest in mezzanine financing of private companies. Gleacher, who became famous running the mergers-and-acquisitions department of Morgan Stanley, joins his old Drexel rival Leon Black and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts in advancing private equity's cause on public markets.

Gleacher Partners is about the 10th private investor to set up a business development corporation -- similar to a closed-end investment fund -- since November, when private equity firms caught on to the public alternative to costly and slow private fundraising. ...