5 Things You Might Not Know About Churchill Capital's Michael Klein

One of the largest names in the investment banking industry has seen his star power increase with a superstar merger announcement announced this week.

Michael Klein has been behind seven SPACs. Most investors now know Klein as the head of Churchill Capital Corp IV CCIV, the company taking Lucid Motors public.

Here are five things investors might not know about Michael Klein:

Wharton Graduate: Michael Klein graduated cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The school is one of the most notable business schools in the country producing a hall of fame of notable alumni. Among the people who attended Wharton are J.D. Power, Mort Zuckerman, John Sculley, Ron Perelman, Peter Lynch, Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai. Former President Donald Trump also attended Wharton. 

Decades at Citi: Klein worked at Citigroup Inc C and its acquired companies from 1985 to 2009. Klein held many roles there including CEO of Global Banking and vice chairman of the entire company. Klein served as the CEO of Global Banking when the role was created.

Prior to Citigroup, Klein joined Salomon Brothers after graduating from Wharton, then was CEO of Global Banking at Salomon Smith Barney.

Related Link: 9 Key Takeaways From The Lucid Motors SPAC Merger

Legendary Dealmaker: Klein has been involved in the process on several large mergers from public companies.

In 2018, Klein was an advisor for Barrick Gold GOLD in its $18.3 billion merger with Randgold. Klein also advised Dow Inc DOW on its $130 billion merger with DuPont in 2016.

Klein launched the M. Klein & Company in 2012 to serve as a global strategic advisor to CEOs, board of directors and governments.

Klein served as the special advisor to the Prime Minster of the United Kingdom during the financial crisis in 2008.

Philanthropy: Klein is a supporter of charitable organizations and has been vocal about the companies he works for give back to the community.

While at Citigroup, Klein pushed for the company to support the World Food Programme, an organization fighting world hunger. Klein has served as a special advisor to the United Nations World Food Programme.

SPAC Hall of Fame: Klein is one of the top names in the SPAC world in terms of volume of SPACs launched. The investor has completed deals for Multiplan MPLN and Clarivate PLC CLVT.

Along with the pending deal for Lucid Motors, Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp II CCX has a pending merger with Skillsoft.

Klein raised $1.6 billion for the sixth and seventh SPACs under the Churchill Capital umbrella recently.

Disclosure: Author is long shares of CCIV.

(Photo: Churchill Capital)