October, 2009
Deal break, National Express edition
The smell of burnt fingers is wafting over the Square Mile on Friday morning:
Related links:
Delay likely on National Express bid – FT
Lina Saigol: Bidding buddies need a pre-nup – FT
Further reading
Elsewhere on Friday,
- Smart guys and Wall Street.
- Goldman empire strikes back.
- Great moments in punditry, Lenin edition.
- Wasserstein is dead. Long live the deal.
- Eight investment themes from Wall Street’s top bank.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
Philip Stephens: Bankers, bonuses and the market: plus ça change
So what’s different? As the financial crash fades in the memory, the question most frequently asked,
AV after dark
On FT Alphaville late Thursday,
- Gawker’s crowd-sourced Goldman Sachs witchhunt.
- Bird and Fortune in the FT boardroom.
- Where to find value in a liquidity drunk market.
- Derivatives regulation comes to America.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Friday,
- Cosmen-CVC consortium withdraws takeover offer for National Express – statement.
- Stagecoach says it has ended talks with the consortium to buy National Express UK bus and rail operations – statement.
Goldman, Citi highlight Q3 gap
Bumper Q3 profits at Goldman Sachs and another loss for Citigroup on Thursday highlighted the gap between the financial resilience of Wall Street and the woes of Main Street. Goldman announced near-record earnings of $3.2bn,
Goldman to heed bonus rage
Goldman Sachs acknowledged on Thursday that public anger about Wall Street’s bonus culture will constrain how much it will pay its top five executives. The comments by David Viniar, CFO, in a conference call to discuss Goldman’s $3.2bn Q3 profits indicate that the bank’s bonus decisions will be affected by politics.
BofA’s Lewis to forfeit 2009 pay
Ken Lewis, who will shortly retire as Bank of America chief executive, will receive no pay or bonus for 2009, averting a dispute over the matter with Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s “pay tsar”.
Tandberg investors block Cisco
Investors holding 24% of the shares in Tandberg look set to block Cisco’s $3bn bid for the Norwegian video conferencing company, raising hopes that the US networking company might sweeten the offer. Tandberg’s board recommended Cisco’s offer of NKr153.5 a share earlier this month,
RHJ to buy Kleinwort for £225m
Kleinwort Benson, one of the oldest names in British banking, is to be sold by Commerzbank to RHJ International, a Brussels-listed financial investor, for £225m in cash. The deal caps a long search by RHJ for a European banking business and reunites its CEO Leonhard Fischer with part of Dresdner Bank,
Lloyds considers BoS assets sale
Lloyds Banking Group is in talks to sell parts of Bank of Scotland’s wealth management business to Rathbone Brothers. The possible sale is part of Lloyds’ divestment of some non-core assets it acquired when it took over HBOS.
Consortium backs off NatExpress
The Spanish-led consortium bidding for National Express is set to withdraw its £765m takeover offer for the UK bus and rail operator, dealing a blow to the company’s biggest shareholder. Buy-out firm CVC,
AB InBev sells assets to CVC
Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to sell its central European operations to buy-out group CVC for up to $3bn. The deal is the latest non-core asset to be sold after last year’s $52bn merger of the US’s Anheuser-Busch and Belgium’s InBev.
Xstrata still keen on Anglo
Xstrata signalled on Thursday its continuing interest in a deal with Anglo American, even as it dropped its ambitious proposal for a “merger of equals” with the rival miner. Swiss-based Xstrata on Thursday backed away from making a formal offer for Anglo after the UK Takeover Panel ordered it to “put up or shut up” before Oct 20.
Sainsbury up on bid rumours
Revived takeover speculation gave shares in UK supermarket retailer J Sainsbury their biggest gain in more than two years . The shares surged by nearly 20% in London in mid-session on speculation that the Qatari Investment Authority had made a second approach to the Sainsbury family trust.
Google set for fresh expansion
Google on Thursday declared the worst of the recession over and paved the way for a return to heavy spending on expansion as it reported a surprisingly strong 8% jump in net revenues in its latest quarter.
US ‘concerned’ on China currency
The Obama administration on Thursday voiced “serious concerns” about the value of the renminbi, but stopped short of accusing China of manipulating its currency in a closely watched report to Congress.
FSA study warns on EU rules
European institutional investors face billions of euros in lost annual returns if the EU proceeds with its plans for tough new rules for hedge funds and private equity firms, according to a study commissioned by the UK’s FSA watchdog from consultants Charles River.
Overnight markets: Mixed
Asian stocks fluctuated on Friday, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index heading for a second week of gains, as a decline among financial shares was offset by a weakening yen that boosted the outlook for Japan’s exporters.
Gawker’s crowd-sourced Goldman Sachs witchhunt
That cuddly Goldman Sachs squid may be about to be turned into ceviche.
On Thursday, Manhattan gossip blog Gawker announced the launch of the “Goldman Project”, described as “an ongoing attempt to track and publicize the multi-million second homes,
Derivatives regulation comes to America
The FT reported on Thursday that regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are trying to better coordinate their attempts to bring the largely over-the-counter derivatives market under their control.
The bigger news,
CDS report: M&A activity has contrasting impact on spreads
Markit’s Gavan Nolan wrote this CDS report
After a promising start, European credit indices gave back early gains following disappointing earnings. This morning the Markit iTraxx Europe index broke though the 80bp barrier for the first time in nearly a month and the Markit iTraxx Crossover index tightened below 500bp for the first time since June 2008.
Where to find value in a liquidity drunk market
Bonds do it, stocks do it, even educated credit default swaps do it.
We live in strange times, with virtually every non-zero sum asset having embarked on a dizzy rally, all at once.
Since June, the S&P 500 is up 15 per cent,
Bird and Fortune in the FT boardroom
US readers may not be familiar with the brilliantly satirical comedy of the Johns Bird and Fortune, but those based in the UK will know them from Channel Four.
The Two Johns and their co-conspirator Rory Bremner have skewered a range of topics,
Poor Dave
Much as we love him, we must report that Gluskin Sheff’s David Rosenberg has finally lost it. Here’s the evidence – from his latest “Breakfast with Dave” note to clients on Thursday:
So far, the backup for the U.S.
Goldman’s friendly and finessed results
Cast your mind back to Goldman’s results for the second-quarter of 2009, which at the time provoked a certain amount of anti-Goldman rage.
The bank was getting too risky, the bankers were being paid too much.
Citi reports Q3 loss per share of $0.27, net income of $101m
Citigroup on Thursday reported a loss of 27 cents per share on revenues of $23.1bn for the third quarter of 2009.
Analysts had expected the bank to report a third-quarter loss of 38 cents a share on quarterly revenue of $20.04bn,
All aboard the commercial real estate bailout train
It’s not as prominent as some other bailouts — but it is gaining steam.
To wit, here’s a bit from the Wednesday Congressional testimony of Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Thursday morning,
- Punch drunk at Punch Taverns.
- The return of merchant banking.
- Fishing for QE clues.
- Cisco-Tandberg: bump, dump or trump?
- Greenback down, Aussie up.
Goldman reports Q3 EPS of $5.25, net income of $3.19bn
You read the Meredith Whitney downgrade, heard the whispers, now here’s the real thing.
Before the opening bell in New York on on Thursday, Goldman reported EPS of $5.25, net income of $3.19bn and net revenues of $12.37bn for the third quarter of 2009.