March, 2009
Roche, Genentech talk on $47bn deal
Roche has again sweetened its offer for Genentech – this time by about 2% to $46.7bn – as it pushes to take full control of the biotech company after an eight-month courtship, reports Reuters. Roche’s $95 per share offer on Monday marks the second increase since Friday,
Dow agrees Rohm takeover
Dow Chemical agreed Monday to complete its contentious take-over of Rohm and Haas, avoiding a potentially messy legal battle by restructuring the deal to reduce Dow’s debt. Dow agreed in July to buy its smaller chemicals rival for $78 per share,
Lehman buy-out house reborn
A new private equity house was set to emerge from the wreckage of Lehman Brothers on Monday, as investors in the failed US investment bank’s buy-out business were expected to vote for its recreation after Johann Rupert,
HK to probe HSBC share slide
Shares in HSBC jumped in Hong Kong on Tuesday, up 14% to HK$37.65 in late morning trade, reversing a late slide on Monday that HK’s government said is being investigated, reports Bloomberg. The slide may also hasten moves by HK authorities to impose a 2% cap on share-price fluctuations during closing auctions,
Gilt prices soar on BofE move
UK government bond prices surged to record levels on Monday as the Bank of England’s plan to expand the money supply sharply boosted sentiment. Benchmark 10-year gilt yields fell to 2.95% – the lowest since records began in the 1950s.
Europe rejects extra stimulus
European ministers on Monday said they had no plans to add to recent fiscal stimulus packages despite calls from the US for such action. Meeting in Brussels, finance ministers from eurozone countries expressed
Iceland nationalises Straumur-Burdaras
The global financial crisis claimed a clean sweep of Iceland’s largest banks on Monday after Straumur-Burdaras, the last of the four biggest Icelandic banks to remain independent, was nationalised. Straumur’s demise marks the end of a five-month fight to avoid nationalisation after Iceland’s three largest banks – Glitnir,
FSA probe hits Cowdery plans
Plans by UK insurance entrepreneur Clive Cowdery to buy up low-valued life assurers have been thrown into turmoil by an investigation by the UK’s FSA watchdog. Cowdery’s new Resolution vehicle said on Monday that the FSA was investigating “certain actions” by Cowdery and the other former executive directors of his first Resolution Life company between October 2007 and May 2008.
First Eastern buys into Evolution
First Eastern Financial Investment Group has agreed to buy 51% of the China-focused subsidiary of Evolution Group, creating a joint venture that is believed to be the first Chinese-controlled UK investment bank.
Shinsei to raise $508m
Shinsei Bank, the Japanese lender part owned by investor Christopher Flowers, plans to raise about Y50bn ($508m) as writedowns of toxic assets drive it to a full-year loss, joining other Japanese banks such as MUFG and Mizuho in fund-raising,
Rio sells US coal mine for $761m
Rio Tinto on Monday agreed to sell a US coal mine for $761m, bringing total gains from disposals this year to $2.49bn. Arch Coal, one of US’s biggest coal miners, will pay cash for the Jacobs Ranch thermal coal mine,
CF rejects Agrium in favour of Terra
CF Industries, a top US maker of crop nutrients, rejected an unsolicited $3.6bn takeover bid on Monday from rival fertiliser maker Agrium, and instead sweetened the terms of its own hostile takeover offer for smaller US rival Terra Industries.
FBI seeks Stanford ‘victims’
The FBI said on Monday it was seeking to identify potential “victims” who invested in a slew of companies associated with Sir Allen Stanford as part of an ongoing investigation. The agency is seeking information from anyone who invested in either Stanford Financial Group or its affiliated companies – Stanford Capital Management,
Ex-banker jailed in German scandal
Germany’s richest woman and heir to the BMW car empire has been spared an embarrassing court visit after her playboy lover confessed to a multi-million euro fraud and to having attempted to blackmail her with video footage of their intimate encounters.
Overnight markets: Uneasy
Asian automakers and consumer-electronics stocks fell on Tuesday, off-setting gains by energy companies, after remarks by US billionaire Warren Buffett that the US economy “has fallen off a cliff”; the decline reflected concerns that the deepening global recession will further undermine profits.
[The Stanford Series] Invested with Sir Allen? The FBI wants you (to contact them)
This just out (H/T Joanna Chung).
FBI SEEKING TO IDENTIFY VICTIMS IN STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP INVESTIGATION
The Houston Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking information from individuals who have invested in the Stanford Financial Group (SFG) or its affiliated companies-Stanford Capital Management,
Stress-testing Eastern Europe
Well, not Eastern Europe per se, but Western banks’ exposure to the region.
Merrill Lynch’s Global Economics team has done a bit of analysis (emphasis FT Alphaville’s):
A simplistic stress test on Emerging European exposure at listed Western European banks shows the potential for an incremental €13bn of losses.
HSBC: underweight equities and overweight credit
Corporate credit might be the the pachydermic herd in the room, but it’s a better buy than equities, according to HSBC’s Richard Cookson.
In a note published on Friday, Mr Cookson argues that “it’s unclear why we’d be anything other than underweight equities and overweight credit.”
Prospects for US high-yield debt grim, says S&P
One of the more interesting [read: useful] bits of Standard & Poor’s is their Global Fixed Income Research unit, led by Diane Vazza in New York.
Take these snippets from the unit’s latest report on the prospects for US high-yield debt (emphasis FT Alphaville’s):
FTSE quarterly review – what’s in and out
It’s reshuffle time again.
As usual, the review will be announced by FTSE on Wednesday, based on the previous session’s closing prices.
As things stand, the following companies look to be heading in and out of the FTSE 100.
A Mexican US-fallout wave
Troubles in Mexcio are brewing. Rogelio Ramirez de la O, the economist Bloomberg cites as having predicted the 1994 peso devaluation, says the national currency will weaken another 16 per cent by year-end as the nation’s twin deficits swell.
[The Stanford Series] Irony du jour
A juicy professional background report on Sir Allen Stanford has just landed in our inboxes (not commissioned by us, we’d add).
There’s lots in it, but this rather frivolous bit leapt out at us:
Per a March 12,
Japan until further notice
Teun Draaisma has given up. Given up predicting the end of this bear market, that is.
In his latest note, titled ‘Japan Until Further Notice’, the Morgan Stanley strategist says we should all stop trying to guess the next turn of the market and instead focus on how this downturn might end.
The return of business-class only
London’s Luton airport may once again see all-business-class flights as BWAA prepares to start services this year.
BWAA, which stands for British West African Airways, plans to fly between London Luton and Nigeria,
[The Stanford Series] Stanford’s US employees join the jobless queue
The court-appointed lawyer acting as the receiver for Sir Allen Stanford’s assets and businesses on Friday told 1,000 of the US-based employees that their jobs had been terminated.
These job cuts represent about 85 per cent of the Stanford Financial Group’s US employees,
2006-2007, a bad vintage for leveraged loans
As with wine, the structure of a loan will depend on the year it was created. Some loans have more generous terms for borrowers, for example, reflecting the higher appetite for risk that permeated the financial world at the time.
WTI back on top
Nymex WTI is back at a premium across the entire curve as of Monday.
What does that mean? In the first instance, it implies the Cushing issue has been resolved and that holders of “floating storage”
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Monday morning,
- Resolution vs the FSA.
- QE in action.
- Straumur-tized.
- How do you value British banks?
- Save the system!
- One giant drop of cash for mankind?
- Returned to Tarp.
CDS report: the slide continues
Credit derivative markets in Europe were once again threatening to breach record wides reached Friday. Volumes were muted and activity light on Monday morning but still the tone remains bearish, tracking the equity markets,