And Mr. Trott, and his firm BDT Capital, seem to have plenty of that. Warren Buffett has described the financier as his favorite banker.

But can he raise a new fund of $9 billion, as the FT reports is his aim?

Mr. Trott certainly has a long list of accomplishments to cite in pitches to investors. He has become one of the premiere bankers for wealthy families like the Pritzkers, the scions of the Hyatt hotel fortune, and the Reimanns, the secretive German clan behind the consumer conglomerate JAB Holding.

More from Eric Platt and Mark Vandevelde of the FT:

The so-called family offices where Mr. Trott wields clout and raises much of his capital are garnering increasing power on Wall Street, as they hire investment teams to buy midsized companies outright instead of ploughing money into funds run by outside fund managers.

Working for so-called family offices has been good business for BDT. For example, the firm has helped JAB assemble its burgeoning food-and-coffee empire, which includes Peet’s Coffee, Keurig Green Mountain, Dr Pepper Snapple and, soon, the British sandwich chain Pret-a-Manger.

Such connections have helped Mr Trott’s company to strike its own investments — in partnership with those families — as well, like when it bought the high-end tequila brand Casa Dragones in April. He and his team are surely betting that more potential investors will want to sign onto that kind of deal flow.

The big question: Mr. Trott can probably raise the money. But since many private equity firms are sitting on a lot of cash that they can’t seem to spend, what will he buy with it?

— Michael de la Merced

Deutsche Bank + Commerzbank?

Paul Achleitner, Deutsche Bank’s chairman, has spoken with top shareholders about merging with German rival Commerzbank, Bloomberg reports, citing anonymous sources. From Bloomberg:

Achleitner has discussed a combination of the two lenders with investors and key German government officials in recent months, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations. While there are currently no formal discussions between the two banks and any such move is not imminent, the chairman is talking now with stakeholders about a possible deal down the road, they said. A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment. A key obstacle is Deutsche Bank’s depressed share price, with investors telling Achleitner that they don’t want a merger with Commerzbank at the moment because it would be highly dilutive and potentially trigger a capital increase and hefty write-downs, the people said.

In other Deutsch bank news:

Bloomberg reports that the German lender is exploring a sale of its $3 billion portfolio of non-investment grade energy loans, citing anonymous sources.

The bigger picture

The news comes amid a broad restructuring of Deutsche Bank’s business under its new chief executive, Christian Sewing. The bank plans to shrink its operations in the United States and Asia and focus on Europe. Mr. Sewing also said that the bank would aim to become less dependent on revenue from investment banking. As part of those efforts, the Deutsche Bank said it would cut 7,000 jobs and close its Houston offices.