Nuveen’s Warning to Wall Street: Cut Off Our Muni Rival or Else

Nuveen LLC was giving Deutsche Bank AG an ultimatum.

John Miller, who oversees $160 billion of investments in state and local government bonds for the mutual-fund company, had watched in anger as a Dallas upstart muscled in on his lucrative corner of the municipal-securities market. The latest encroachment: the rival, Preston Hollow Capital LLC, landed $200 million of debt offered by a junk-rated university located in Nuveen’s hometown of Chicago.

John Miller

Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Now, Deutsche Bank was being told that Nuveen would pull business from the bank for providing financing for Preston Hollow, according to the transcript of a December telephone call ...