June, 2009
Thomas Cook put up for grabs
Thomas Cook, the UK’s second-biggest travel agency, faces a merger with Rewe, its German rival, after the collapse of the UK travel operator’s biggest shareholder on Tuesday. Arcandor, the German retail group that owns 53% of Thomas Cook,
Charterhouse bids for Wood Mackenzie
Charterhouse Capital, the UK buyout group, has started exclusive talks to acquire Wood Mackenzie, the energy research and consultancy group, for about £550m in what would be the biggest UK leveraged buy-out this year.
Horlick behind bid for Bramdean fund
Nicola Horlick has been revealed as the mystery party in talks with Bramdean Alternatives, the $178m alternative investment fund run by her asset management firm. The disclosure marks the latest twist in the battle for control of the fund,
Genting buys into MGM Mirage
Genting, the Malaysian gaming group, has paid $100m for a 3.2% stake in MGM Mirage, firming a relationship that could lead to future deals in Macao and the US. Genting matched the $100m that Kirk Kerkorian,
Saad halves stake in Berkeley
Saad Group, the Saudi Arabian investment company, has sold half its stake in Berkeley, sending shares in the UK housebuilder plunging to their lowest level since last autumn. Saad was seen as a long-term core investor and partner for Berkeley,
FDIC tries to defuse Citi tension
Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, on Tuesday addressed Citigroup’s board in an effort to defuse tensions sparked by the regulator’s push to replace Vikram Pandit as chief executive.
Geithner sees ‘global storm’ abating
Tim Geithner on Tuesday identified “encouraging signs” in the US economy and a better outlook internationally, adding there would be a reduced role for the Public-Private Investment Partnership, a key US programme to stimulate the market for toxic assets and loans.
Rising deficits threaten Asian ratings
S&P has sounded the alarm over the creditworthiness of some Asian countries, warning they are at risk of debt downgrades even if the global economy stabilises. The credit rating agency said on Tuesday that sovereign debt ratings were coming under pressure because of huge economic and finanical rescue packages announced by governments that have fuelled spiralling budget deficits.
Index to air Glencore’s views
Glencore and Credit Suisse have created an index to let investors tap the views of the world’s largest commodities trading house on raw material prices. The index will track about 20 raw materials from copper and oil to coal,
AT&T veteran to chair GM
General Motors said on Tuesday that Edward Whitacre, a former chairman and chief executive of AT&T, the telecoms group, will become the carmaker’s chairman on completion of its court-supervised restructuring.
AIG to leave New York HQ
AIG is to move out of its New York headquarters after 33 years after deciding to sell the building to a Korean bank, Kumho Investment Bank, and a US developer, Youngwoo, for an estimated $100m plus. The departure is a symbol of the decline of a group that dominated insurance and is surviving on a $100bn government lifeline.
Overnight markets: Mostly up
Asian stocks rose for the first time this week on Wednesday, led by commodity and shipping companies as oil climbed above $70 a barrel and metals prices advanced.
Asian markets (Wed)
03:10 BST
Nikkei
WTI crude futures settle above $70 per barrel
Nymex WTI crude futures settled just above $70 per barrel on Tuesday for the first time since November 2008.
The move higher was accompanied by a fall in the dollar index, marking a return to the dollar-oil negative correlation which had started to weaken over the last week.
Treasuries out of line with interest rate expectations
The curious case of rising Treasury bond yields continues to attract various theories and explanations in the market. The latest doing the rounds is that it may have nothing to do with rising interest rate expectations at all.
Congressional Oversight Panel says stress tests not stress-y enough
The Congressional Oversight Panel – the body chaired by Elizabeth Warren and which has repeatedly criticised the US government’s handling of the financial crisis – released a report on Tuesday that (shock!) criticised the bank stress tests conducted by the Fed.
An FT Alphaville public service announcement
FT Alphaville editor Paul Murphy’ s 2009 Webby acceptance speech is now available. Lest you think Murphy’s famous eloquence failed him — winners were restricted to five-word-long speeches.
Lex: UK housing
Set aside the nonsense about the return of gazumping. Ignore the men and women driving green minis telling homebuyers they’ll have to move fast to snap up the bargain that’s languished unsold since last summer.
A dollar-oil signal?
As reported here, over the last month we’ve seen the negative correlation between oil and the dollar stage an impressive return. As Stephen Schork of the Schork Report points out on Tuesday, its comeback echoes the correlation seen back in June 2007-2008.
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Tuesday morning,
- Saad goes on sale.
- The hills are alive with the sound of Austrian bond auctions.
- Negative convexity at the Fed.
- Too hot, too cold and just right.
The hills are alive with the sound of Austrian bond auctions
When Eastern Europe was experiencing a spot of difficulty back in the winter of 2009, we saw the crisis spillover into neighbouring of Austria.
Now that the spotlight is once again shining on the region,
Markets live transcript 9 Jun 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:12 on 9 Jun 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Bryce Elder (BE) NH:Good morning NH:It is 11.03
Too hot, too cold and just right
‘Just right’, below, being what we’re aiming for, according to this WSJ graphic. Click here to see the WSJ’s two other scenarios.
Tips for good corporate reports
What better way to encourage companies to cut down on the complexity and verbosity of their corporate reports than to issue a 64-page discussion paper on the subject?
The Financial Reporting Council,
Negative convexity at the Fed
Negative convexity in relation to the US Federal Reserve is something that’s been discussed on this blog before. It’s rather interesting then, that just as talk of an impending convexity event heats up,
Saad goes on sale
According to traders the troubled Saudi conglomerate has offloaded a large chunk of its 28.8 per cent holding in upmarket housebuilder Berkeley Homes on Tuesday morning – 16m shares at 701p through Citigroup.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Tuesday,
- “There were ratings that we saw that made no sense to us.”
- An Upper East Side housing — and decor — datapoint.
- How to fix financial television.
- Annoying bank propaganda.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Tuesday’s FT,
Wall Street is a willing partner in financial reform
Sifma CEO Tim Ryan writes: Many Americans are angry and have lost basic trust in the financial services industry.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Bramdean Alternatives confirms bid approach made by Nicola Horlick — statement.
- Federal Reserve said to retreat from seeking power to sell own debt — Bloomberg source.
Supreme Court delays Chrysler sale
Chrysler suffered a last-minute setback to its hopes of speedy restructuring on Monday after the US Supreme Court delayed the sale of the bankrupt carmaker to a group led by Italy’s Fiat. The court halted