[1] Prudential Securities traces its origins to the founding of the Leopold Cahn & Co. brokerage and investment bank in 1879.

The fact that Halsey, Stuart was a significant investment banking firm, at the top of the IPO league tables in 1951 led some observers to suspect that they had provoked the government's antitrust suit.

[2][3] In 1981, the company (then called Bache Halsey Stuart Shields) was acquired by Prudential Financial and renamed Prudential-Bache Securities.

[6] The settlement also resolved investigations of the firm by the National Association of Securities Dealers and 49 states, including California, where 52,000 investors lost money in Prudential limited partnerships.

[11] Prudential, which had been looking to sell its brokerage division, sought to use the joint venture's larger brokerage network to market its insurance products, while Wachovia sought to expand its investment banking business through the combination.