Union Securities Corporation was an independent investment banking firm in existence from 1938 through its acquisition in 1956, although the name would survive through 1972.
In the post-Civil War robber baron era, the firm invested heavily in railroad finance, in particular acting as broker of transactions engineered by Jay Gould.
Later, in 1876, the Seligmans joined forces with the Vanderbilt family to create public utilities in New York.
In this period, J.& W. Seligman & Co. Inc. underwrote the securities of a variety of companies, participating in stock and bond issues in the railroad and steel and wire industries, investments in Russia and Peru, the formation of the Standard Oil Company, and shipbuilding, bridges, bicycles, mining, and a variety of other industries.
[4] Union Securities established a successful track record during the 1940s and 1950s in as a merchant banking firm, focusing on acquiring and restructuring companies.