Brooklyn Beckham And Nicola Peltz: A Lavish Wedding And The Billionaire Connection

This weekend, Brooklyn Beckham will marry Nicola Peltz in a lavish ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida. For those unfamiliar with Brooklyn, he is the eldest child of the famous celebrity couple David and Victoria Beckham, born in 1999. On the other hand, Nicola Peltz is an accomplished actress known for her role in the fourth installment of the Transformers series, "Transformers: Age of Extinction," as well as her performance in the A&E psychological drama "Bates Motel" from 2013 to 2017.

People might assume that Nicola is marrying into wealth, given that David and Victoria Beckham's combined net worth is around $450 million. Surprisingly, the opposite is true. Nicola's father, Nelson Peltz, is a multi-billionaire whose wealth is roughly four times that of David and Victoria combined. Nelson is a fascinating figure, having inadvertently played a pivotal role in the 1980s junk bond mania that sent Wall Street soaring and then crashing.

This article will explore how Nelson Peltz built his immense fortune, as well as his connections with influential figures like Michael Milken and Donald Trump. Nelson Peltz was born on June 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. Interestingly, Brooklyn Beckham got his name because that’s where Victoria and David were when they learned of her pregnancy. However, that’s not where he was conceived, as the legend goes.

Early Life and Early Success

Nelson Peltz briefly attended the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School but did not graduate. If he had stayed for all four years, he might have shared classes with future President Donald Trump, who transferred to Wharton in 1965. Instead, he left for Oregon, aiming to become a ski instructor, but eventually returned to New York to work for his family's wholesale food distribution business, A. Peltz & Sons, founded by his grandfather in 1896.

During his time working for the family business, Nelson developed a passion for the industry. By the early 1970s, he and his brother took control of the operation. Together with a friend, Peter May, they embarked on a multi-year acquisition spree, renaming the company Flagstaff Corp. They successfully increased annual revenue from $2.5 million to over $140 million by acquiring numerous smaller distribution businesses.

Flagstaff eventually went public, and the Peltz brothers were hungry for more acquisitions. They had developed a taste for expanding their business empire, which paved the way for their future successes.

Innovative Financing and Bold Acquisitions

With ambition and some cash, Nelson and Peter May set out to find substantial new acquisitions. They explored various companies, including a bank called Beverly Hills Savings. Through this process, they connected with Donald Engel, an investment banker at a then-unknown firm called Drexel Burnham Lambert. Engel’s boss was the influential Michael Milken, who was known for promoting "high yield" or "junk bonds."

High yield bonds are essentially loans with high-interest rates, often considered risky because they come from companies that are unproven or facing challenges. Despite these risks, Milken demonstrated that investors could achieve better returns than the S&P 500 by investing in these bonds. Although some bonds would default, successful investments could yield substantial profits.

In 1983, using Drexel-sourced high-yield bonds, Peltz and May acquired Triangle Industries for $80 million, almost entirely financed through borrowed money. This acquisition marked a significant step in their journey, showcasing their newfound financial strategies.

The Rise of Triangle Industries

In 1984, Peltz made headlines by launching a bid to acquire the National Can Corporation, which had annual revenues around $2 billion, making it ten times larger than Triangle Industries. At the time, Peltz and May were relatively unknown on Wall Street, leading many to question how they could attempt such a bold move against a giant like National Can.

Thanks to the innovative financing methods established by Milken, Triangle managed to buy National Can for $465 million, with only $100 million coming from Peltz and May. Most of the financing was sourced from the high-yield junk bonds sold by Milken, which revolutionized the acquisition landscape.

Triangle's acquisition of National Can shook the financial world, proving that smaller companies could now successfully compete with larger firms using creative financial strategies. This groundbreaking deal highlighted the power of junk bonds and established Peltz as a formidable player in the business world.

Key Takeaways