Chandler & Company was a New York investment banking house with offices in New York and Philadelphia. The Company issued bonds for many companies and countries, including Bolivia, China, Costa Rica, and Germany.
The firm was founded in 1914 by Percy M. Chandler, who remained head of the company until his death in 1944. The Company came into prominence in early 1915 when it offered $10,000,000 in German Imperial Treasury notes for public subscription as head of a syndicate of New York and Western bankers, despite escalating tensions between the United States and Germany due to World War I. The proceeds were held in New York banks to be used by German commercial agents as a basis for receiving loans to purchase merchandise for the German civil population. No purchases were permitted for materials that would assist the German Army or Navy. Another issue of German Imperial Treasury notes followed in 1916.
Chandler & Company continued its involvement with foreign financial operations, issuing $5,000,0000 in bonds from the Republic of China in partnership with a Chicago bank in 1916. In September 1916, Chandler & Company was appointed fiscal agent in the United States for the Republic of Costa Rica. The Company was also appointed as the fiscal agent for Bolivia in March 1917.
After World War I ended, Chandler & Company was involved in efforts to renew credit and trade relations between the United States and Germany. Robert Gade and Edward Robinette traveled to Europe in 1920 as representatives of Chandler & Company to advocate for the acceptance of the Chandler Plan. The plan outlined a means for German assets in the United States, seized during World War I and held by the Alien Property Custodian, to be returned to the Germans. The assets would be used to create an American corporation and stocks would be given to the Germans in lieu of their seized assets. Gade and Robinette met with German banks, including M. M. Warburg & Co. (and the company's director Max Warburg) and the Deutsche Bank, and with government officials, to promote the plan. They argued that without a plan such as this, there would be a long legal battle and the assets might never be returned.
From the guide to the Chandler & Company Records, 1916-1921, (Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections)
