JPMorgan Chase quintupled its original bid for Bear Stearns to $10 a share on Monday after its initial offer for the beleaguered Wall Street bank faultered on legal snags and opposition from Bear shareholders. The new all-share offer, worth about $1.2bn, coupled with surprisingly strong US home sales data, helped send all three key US stock indices up at least 2% in Monday trade. JPMorgan’s move Bear represents a remarkable turnround, after its executives last week ruled out an increased bid. The offer also raises questions about the Fed’s role in helping facilitate the deal. “Moral hazard is returning to the fore”, says Lex; the Fed’s earlier intervention has ended up giving Bear shareholders $10 a share instead of zero. For more on this “topsy turvy” deal, see the FT’s background report.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 5:57 and is filed under Capital markets, M&A. Tagged with bear stearns, jpmorgan. Edit this entry.