November, 2009
Bain to buy Citi stake in Bellsystem24
Citigroup on Sunday said it had agreed to sell its 93.5% stake in Bellsystem24, a Japanese telemarketing company specialising in call centre operations, to Bain Capital for Y93.5bn ($1bn). Once complete,
Pearl chairman in share bonanza
Pearl Group, the closed life assurance fund business built by Hugh Osmond, has agreed to award shares worth €2.6m (£2.3m) to Ron Sandler, who became chairman in September after a debt restructuring,
Admiral highlights Lloyds’ toxic debt
The toxic legacy that Lloyds Banking Group inherited from HBOS is likely to resurface this week with a restructuring of Admiral Taverns, the UK pub group in which the part-nationalised bank has a £855m exposure.
Hitachi sets share sale
Shares in Hitachi fell the most in six months on Monday as the Japanese electronics company said it plans to raise as much as $4.6 billion selling stock and convertible bonds to replenish capital after posting a record loss last year,
Hermes sends warning to VW
One of Europe’s most influential investors has strongly criticised Volkswagen’s plan to take over Porsche and threatened to take further action if demands for more transparency are not met. In a letter to Ferdinand Piëch,
Gold output to decline long-term
The world’s top gold mining companies have warned that global production of the precious metal is likely to resume a long-term decline in coming years, despite a record-breaking surge in the gold price to more than $1,100 an ounce.
Overseas investors eye UK brokers
Altium Capital has held tentative discussions with overseas investors potentially interested in buying all or part of one of London’s few remaining privately-owned stockbrokers. Seymour Pierce, which has more Aim-listed clients than any other UK broker,
SGX raps banks’ ‘dark pools’
Tension between exchanges and banks over the role of “dark pools” in the markets trading looks set to spread to Asia after SGX, the Singapore exchange, criticised the banks’ dark pools as “opaque” systems that prevent investors from seeing prices.
Madoff souvenirs raise $1m
It might appear small change compared with the billions lost through Bernard Madoff’s $65bn Ponzi fraud but the scheme’s victims are at least set for a small piece of payback. Nearly 200 items belonging to Madoff and his wife Ruth were auctioned in New York on Saturday by the US government,
Overnight markets: Mixed
Asian stocks were mixed on Monday, reports Bloomberg, as higher gold and copper prices boosted commodity companies, overshadowing concern share sales will dilute the value of existing holdings. Futures on the S&P500 Index rose 0.6% after the gauge gained 0.6% on Friday despite an unexpected drop in consumer confidence.
The Weekender
Selected reads from FT Alphaville,
- Goldman Sachs abandons kittens (really).
- Goldman Sachs saves kittens (really).
- Debating David Einhorn.
- That blue Madoff jacket.
- Banks don’t just have an asset problem.
In praise of big banks
Here’s a rarity – someone arguing that the whole “too big to fail, too big to exist” idea in financial market reform is just plain silly.
The structured finance lawyer who blogs as Economics of Contempt has stuck his head above the parapet to explain why banks actually need large balance sheets – to act as market makers,
Introducing collateralised currency securities (updated)
Something like $3,200bn flows through the FX market every day. That’s enough to whet the appetite of any financial service provider in terms of prospective flow action.
The exchange-traded fund community happens to be no stranger to such temptation.
The dark secret about House 17…
Here’s a new development in the Madoff ponzi case: the SEC on Friday charged two computer programmers over their alleged role in covering up the fraud for more than 15 years.
Jerome O’Hara and George Perez are said to have provided the technical support necessary to produce false documents and trading records,
Synthetic CDO stumper
There are more questions than answers in the below — but here are two ratings actions that look set to light the blogosphere on fire:
Fitch Downgrades Abacus 2006-17; Removed from Watch Negative
Goldman’s de-glitzes its Tokyo fest for Asia-focused hedgies
There was a time that the annual Goldman Sachs gathering for Asia-focused hedge funds was one of the star attractions in a travelling hedgie’s calendar — second only to CLSA’s glittering annual Tokyo conference (known for its big-name speakers,
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Friday morning,
- Eurozone turns a GDP corner.
- In pension trustees BA trusts.
- Interdealer broker wars!
- JGBs and the ‘end’ of the short-squeeze fest?
- Rebates for shipping!
- Corporate recycling at Rexam.
Eurozone turns a GDP corner
Huzzah! The Eurozone returned to positive GDP growth in the third quarter, as the below chart courtesy of JP Morgan shows:
Eurozone GDP rose by 0.4 per cent in quarter-on-quarter, after five consecutive quarters of declines.
Markets live transcript 13 Nov 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:14 on 13 Nov 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Miles Johnson, FT (MJ)
NH:
Right
NH:
Good morning
Rebates for shipping!
The port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands is arguably Europe’s most important trade hub, handling everything from dry bulk vessels and container ships to liquid-bulk cargoes and fuel barges.
In the first half of 2009,
JGBs and the ‘end’ of the short-squeeze fest?
It has been quite a week for the ‘ugly sister’ of the debt markets, Japanese government bonds.
As noted on Wednesday, these usually dull and often ignored instruments have come out dancing — largely due to a surge of shorting interest touched off by Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn,
Corporate recycling at Rexam
To lose one FTSE 100 chief executive in a week is unfortunate. But to lose two could look careless.
Just days after the brutal defenestration of Reed Elsevier’s Ian Smith, Rexam, the world’s biggest drinks can manufacturer,
Interdealer broker wars
How much are 81 interdealer brokers worth?
Well, Tullett Prebon has provided something of an answer in a trading statement released on Friday:
In August 81 brokers on certain desks in our North American business resigned or gave notice of their intention to resign,
In pension trustees BA trusts
There’s a pretty big `if’ hovering over British Airways’ proposed merger with Iberia:
Iberia will be entitled to terminate the merger agreement if the outcome of the discussions between British Airways and its pension trustees is not,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Friday,
- Forbes’ 67 most powerful people.
- The EU should stay out of hedgies’ pockets.
- Faber on gold.
- New crisis ahead? Five things to watch.
- Clear ‘rules of the game’ for free market capitalism.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
Insight: Gillian Tett – The sweet fix of CoCos
Could a nice cup of Cocos be the sweet fix that regulators desperately need to solve the “Too Big to Fail”
AV after dark
On FT Alphaville late Thursday,
- Revealed: the EU AIFM draft directive’s limits on hedge fund pay.
- BA/Iberia proposed merger terms announced.
- Bond insurer death watch, CIFG edition.
- Unreformed:
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Friday,
- Graham Chipchase to succeed Leslie Van de Walle as Rexam chief executive – statement.
- Grupo Ferrovial says it will inject £500m equity injection into its London airports group – statement.
BA and Iberia agree merger
British Airways and Iberia on Thursday night agreed the terms of a merger – first announced in July 2008 – to create Europe’s third-largest airline by revenue, resolving a key obstacle by agreeing that Iberia can terminate the accord if it is unhappy with BA’s handling of its swollen pension scheme.
EU delays accounting rule changes
Brussels has delayed the EU’s introduction of a radical overhaul of accounting rules for banks and insurers which on Thursday came into force across most of the rest of the world outside the US. The move follows a deep split between European financial institutions over the new rules.