You might call Davis Polk & Wardwell’s George ‘Gar’ Bason the Citi lawyer who never sleeps.
In recent weeks, as the extent of Citi’s problems have emerged, and as the company’s share price has tumbled to the low single digits, Bason has been putting in a lot of late nights for his client, negotiating a deal announced earlier this week. In an attempt to shore up its core business and boost investor confidence, Citi and Morgan Stanley reached a definitive joint venture agreement to create a new brokerage unit to be known as Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.
