Alida Smith
FT Alphaville is migrating (temporarily) to the FT facebook page
As you may have already noticed the FT Alphaville site is still not working. Unfortunately ft.com registration remains down as Paul explained earlier. In an effort to bring you the news by any means necessary FTAV is picking up and posting to the FT’s facebook page:
FT Alphaville by email
As you may be aware FT.com’s News by Email service was recently upgraded. But we’ve had a few gremlins, for which we apologise.
If you have had any issues with the FT Alphaville emails- The 6am Cut or The Lunch Wrap – read on:
Gazprom wants oil and pushes for a bite of the TNK-BP apple
Gazprom will complete on its purchase of a majority stake in TNK-BP by the end of 2008, according to Vedomosti, the FT’s associate paper in Russia. The paper cited sources close to Gazprom and TNK-BP and affixed a firm price on $20bn on the deal.
Belt tightening – Deutsche cuts back on XXXpenses
Deutsche’s latest writedown… CDOs? Or rather seedy hos.
It appears that Deutsche’s senior staff have been having rather too much fun in order to alleviate the credit crunch blues…
Germany’s biggest bank today banned staff from visiting brothels on expenses and putting hotel TV porn channels on their company credit card.
Robeco-Sage wants payback from Citi after Pickett picked a bad’un
Citi’s CSO/ProSiebenSat.1 nightmare continues as Robeco-Sage Capital LP, New York based hedge fund with $2.2bn in assets, filed a lawsuit yesterday for damages resulting from a “disastrous” investment,
Can Zijin IPO give the Chinese market a lift?
Zijin Mining Group is launching a $1.5bn IPO in Shanghai reports the FT’s Geoff Dyer.
The second largest gold miner in China, this Hong Kong-listed group will be testing investor appetite for new issues with its share sale over the next week. Given the 40 per cent drop in the Chinese markets since October,
Soros – There is a fundamental market misconception (it says so in my book)
Market fundamentalists (otherwise known as financial authorities and institutions) believe in a tendency toward equilibrium. However, says Soros’ column in Thursday’s FT, this belief in the market’s supposedly random deviations from equilibrium and it’s ability to self correct is basically false.
John Gapper: Beware, lest Sarbox cometh to a financial regulator near you
To regulators – don’t hurry to make the same mistakes again, warns John Gapper in Thursday’s FT.
Rapid regulation is not the answer. After a crisis, the best course of action is to take some time to think about a better plan as,
US flotations stuck on dry land
“Visa’s record $17.9bn initial public offering is the exception rather than the rule in a barren US IPO market this year” says Anuj Gangahar in Thursday’s FT.
Just 24 deals have been priced so far in the US this year,
Gapper – Bear’s leadership was old, self-satisfied and inbred
The introverted and obstreperous culture that dominated Bear Stearns was to a large extent the cause of its undoing says the FT’s John Gapper in Thursday’s column.
Where was Jimmy Cayne at the time of Bear’s undoing? Well,
The US press does not like this bailout
The spectre of paying out for the folly of others is not going down well with the US financial commentariat. A selection:
The New York Times’ David Brook reckons the Fed’s actions in bailing out Bear Stearns were a necessary evil given the extreme circumstances.
Basel II capital adequacy framework is not adequate
Basel II creates perverse incentives to underestimate credit risk.
Says Harald Benink and George Kaufman, Professors of Finance and chair and co-chair of the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committees in Europe and the US respectively,
Australia’s SWF screening – beware of scaring the money away
Australia needs to avoid the appearance of protectionism suggests a leader in Tuesday’s FT.
Recent news that Australia is planning “to raise scrutiny of foreign investors” is timed uncomfortably close to $14bn dawn raid by the Chinese state-owned mining company,
From Citi to village, one asset at a time…
The latest Citi saviour? Morgan Stanley.
Citigroup, in its bid to refill it’s ailing coffers, has completed a sale-and-lease back deal with MS on its Japanese headquarters reports Reuters.
Nikkei business daily estimates a windfall of $445 for Citi.
Just how complex can liquidity be? err… very
“Banks are machines for taking liquidity risk. It is what they do: borrow short-term deposits and make long-term loans. That makes adequate regulation of bank liquidity crucial, and one thing the credit squeeze has proved is that liquidity has been forgotten in the quest to regulate banks’ capital”
BC Partners gets Migros Turk – the supermarket, not the condition
Private equity lives – in eastern Europe. In Turkey’s biggest-ever leveraged buyout, BC Partners are buying Migros Turk TAS supermarket chain for $3.2bn.
The acquisition of Koc Holding’s 51% stake in Migros for $1.7bn (1.977bn lira) is being made by Moonlight Capital,
Banker’s pay- don’t regulate through jealousy
The FT’s John Gapper wades into the debate over bankers’ pay in a Thursday comment piece – shockingly enough, in their defence. Brave man.
There have been several calls for the regulation/restructuring of remuneration in the financial sector,
RRR- ratings reform review
“Just like a credit rating any regulation or reform [of ratings agencies] should be based on the evidence” says a leader in Tuesday’s FT.
Ratings agencies such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch are being charged with being idiots that misunderstood the risks of structured financial products at one end of the scale,
Insight: Opec 2008 — oil prices ‘extremely changeable’
Opec officials blame volatility of oil prices on speculators. In fact, although speculators contribute to the magnitude of the price fluctuations, Opec remains their “prime cause” says Ed Morse, chief energy economist at Lehman Brothers in Thursday’s Insight column.
Pickel on pickled derivatives coverage
Too many wrong assumptions are being made about risk exposure via credit derivatives, argues Robert Pickel, chief executive of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, in Tuesday’s Insight column.
Losing faith in Citi, Merrill and polling data
The decision by Citi and Merrill Lynch’s bosses to accept handouts from foreign governments has not gone down well with US citizens, according to report by market research group Strategy One:
Over half of the 1,000 people polled…said they “trusted Citigroup less”
China’s money for the people
When you need to rebalance an economy that is based on unusually high levels of investment, shifting the emphasis to private consumption could prove difficult, but surely the transition is eased if you have access to lots and lots of cash…
Pound getting pounded
The pound is back in play says a leader in Tuesday’s FT. No longer the stable refuge it once was, the effective exchange rate has fallen by 6 per cent; bringing sterling’s decade of stability has come to an abrupt halt.
Exchange players only appear to fragment at the margin
Well, on the one hand you have the forecast from Bob Greifeld, Nasdaq CEO -
The global stock exchange industry will see continued fragmentation in spite of attempts to consolidate it by big sector participants
On the other hand you have Duncan Niederauer,
Debtors must pay for creditors subprime sins
For investors stung by $28bn of losses on high-yield, high-risk loans, it’s payback time reports Pierre Paulden at Bloomberg.
Creditors are making borrowers from Carlyle Group’s LifeCare Holdings Inc.
Asia v Europe – Europe needs to find the force within
At a recent conference on Europe and Asia, John Thornhill the FT’s European editor asked a Chinese official how the Chinese viewed Europe, the man chewed thoughtfully on a canapé before replying: “Europe needs to rediscover its entrepreneurial spirit.”
Keep analysing PE, says Walker
The guidelines designed to increase the transparency of large private equity firms and and portfolio companies should allow for better analysis. Debate continues as to whether the guidelines are enough or too much,
Bond instability points to Korea’s own credit squeeze
“The instability in the bond market is a concern as it could lead to the Korean version of the subprime mortgage crisis,” the Hyundai Research Institute said in a report on Monday writes Song Jung-a in Seoul.
Hedge funds skip through the turmoil
Despite all the doom and gloom of the market turmoil, in Thursday’s FT it’s all looking pretty good on the hedge fund front.
Hedge funds have posted strong returns this year, comfortably outperforming leading equity market indices in spite of widespread turmoil in global capital markets.
Risk transfer a mug’s game
“Risk transfer” is the shell game of the credit markets says Satyajit Das, risk consultant and author in today’s FT.
The game requires three shells, under one of which is placed a small pea. The shells are shuffled around and bets are taken on the location of the pea.