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’UK’s B&B pins hopes on Pym
Richard Pym, the new chief executive of Bradford & Bingley, will receive a remuneration package worth up to £2.25m as he tries to turn round the UK bank that on Monday saw its £400m rights issue shunned by most investors.
Bungled, redux
Bradford & Bingley: officially better than Hflop and Barclays. Combined. (In the league of abortive rights issue non-takeup takeups)
Filed earlier this morning (emphasis ours):
Bradford & Bingley plc
Results of Rights Issue
18 August 2008
Bradford & Bingley plc (“Bradford & Bingley”
Snap news
The latest on Monday,
- Bradford & Bingley rights issue sees just 28% takeup – statement.
- Vodafone acquires 70% in Ghana Telecommunications for $900m – statement.
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Weekend catch-up
In case you missed these (FT) stories…
Lehman in $40bn real estate sale talks
Lehman Brothers is in talks with potential buyers Blackstone and BlackRock over the sale of its $40bn portfolio of commercial real estate assets and securities in an effort to replenish its balance sheet.
Live blogging the Bradford & Bingley shareholder meeting
To Sheffield. It’s raining.
B&B has booked the the whole of the Sheffield Arena for the EGM to vote on their re-re-refinancing. But they might have been overly cautious; turnout could be thinner than the bank’s AGM in May.
Investors pin hopes on rival A&L bid
Alliance & Leicester’s shareholders were yesterday night pinning their hopes on a rival bid after its board recommended a cut-price £1.26bn takeover by Santander just 7 months after A&L passed up a deal with the Spanish bank that could have valued it at more than twice as much.
Shorts not yet covering their Bradford & Bingleys
As Bradford & Bingley continued to plumb the depths of the FTSE this week, short sellers have generally held on to their positions, according to Data Explorers, which tracks stock lending.
This chart – originally posted on Data Explorers’ Short Stories blog – shows that investors have on the whole kept their short positions intact,
EXCLUSIVE: DAILY MAIL DISCOVERS EXISTENCE OF SUB-UNDERWRITERS IN B&B SCANDAL
Is this the worst piece of financial journalism, ever?
Banks ride to the rescue as Bradford & Bingley hits share-price meltdown
By Becky Barrow
Britain’s Big Six banks staged a dramatic rescue of Bradford & Bingley last night in a bid to avert a new Northern Rock crisis.
“It’s not Northern Rock”
So declared one regulatory source on Tuesday, watching Bradford & Bingley’s latest precipitous slide.
For investors it’s actually much worse, since, unlike the Crock, B&B does not have a couple of reckless hedge funds trying to arbitrage what they thought was a government guarantee for shareholders as well as depositors.
Code-name “Badger” – the B&B rescue effort
Bungle Bank, BBB, Bye Bye…the hunt for a disparaging moniker for Bradford & Bingley during its current difficulties is over.
FT Alphaville’s ad hoc competition has been won by….
The Tripartite Authorities.
Er, why is B&B trading above the rescue price?
And why, for that matter, is HBOS – suffering from the same liar loan/buy-to-flip virus – trading just 4p lower, bang on its own “rescue” refinancing price of 275p?
Think about it.
Bungling chief executive Steven Crawshaw agrees a statement back in April pooh-poohing some nonsense in the press saying Bradford & Bingley is talking to Citi planning a rights issue.
Bungle bank
bun.gle [buhng-guh l] v, n. 1. v (with object) to do clumsily and awkwardly; botch: He bungled the job. 2. v (wihout object) to perform or work clumsily or inadequately: He is a fool who bungles consistently.
TPG pulls out of B&B rescue
Bradford & Bingley’s largest shareholders on Thursday night stepped in to rescue the ailing mortgage lender after TPG Capital, the US private equity group, pulled out of a £400m capital increase. The emergency rescue was triggered shortly after Moody’s informed B&B it planned to cut the bank’s credit rating.
TPG plans to bring in experts at B&B
TPG, the US buyout group poised to become a 23% shareholder in troubled UK lender Bradford & Bingley, is willing to bring in senior managers with banking expertise on a temporary basis if its stake purchase is approved by investors next week.
UK’s Cowdery draws up ‘hit list’
Clive Cowdery, the UK financial entrepreneur, has drawn up a “hit list” ranging from building societies to mortgage specialists that he plans to target, having been rebuffed last week by UK lender Bradford & Bingley,
Resolution withdraws B&B proposals
Just through on the RNS:
Resolution withdraws proposal for Bradford & Bingley
The Board of Resolution Limited (Resolution) has withdrawn its share placing proposal for Bradford & Bingley plc (Bradford & Bingley).
B&B faces investor anger over Cowdery
Angry shareholders on Thursday bombarded Bradford & Bingley with calls to express their concern that the bank had refused to open the books to Clive Cowdery, the financial entrepreneur who wants to carry out due diligence for a deal.
Cowdery denied B&B access
Clive Cowdery, the financial entrepreneur, was on Wednesday night denied access to Bradford & Bingley’s books to carry out due diligence as part of his proposed rescue plan for the embattled UK mortgage lender.
Resolution refines proposal for B&B
Clive Cowdery was on Tuesday night refining his proposal to rescue Bradford & Bingley, the UK mortgage lender, as shareholders stepped up pressure on the board, which has said the offer from Cowdery and four institutional investors is unacceptable.
Cowdery plots move on B&B
UK financial entrepreneur Clive Cowdery and four big UK institutional investors on Monday night were fighting to scupper the rescue recapitalisation of Bradford & Bingley, as part of an audacious plan to roll up a number of struggling smaller lenders into a single stronger institution.
Who shorted what (II)
Under the FSA’s new disclosure rules on short-selling, it was revealed Monday that Harbinger, the US fund which shorted subprime mortgage debt well before the credit crunch, had a net short position worth 3.29% of outstanding stock in HBOS,
Bank robbed – HBOS underwriters in the frame, inevitably
HBOS – shares down through the 275p rights price on Friday afternoon – albeit momentarily at 15.03 BST.
The idea that sustained weakness in the bank’s stock as it seeks to raise £4bn in new capital was the result of nefarious speculators,
B&B holders enraged by TPG deal
Investors in Bradford & Bingley reacted furiously on Wednesday as the UK’s biggest buy-to-let mortgage lender said it had granted TPG Capital anti-dilution rights to protect the US buyout group’s planned £179m investment.
B&B directors spend big on stock
Seven directors of Bradford & Bingley have bought shares in the UK mortgage lender in a move aimed at demonstrating their confidence. Rod Kent, who has taken over as executive chairman of B&B, bought 350,000 shares costing £242,000 after a turbulent week that has seen B&B issue a profit warning which caused it to reprice its rights issue and bring in buyout group TPG as a 23% investor.
B&B loan data raises more concerns
Bradford & Bingley’s specialist mortgage loan book has a high proportion of home loans taken out by borrowers who have relatively little equity in the property, the FT has learnt. The UK’s biggest
Lombard: Pre-emption remains the preferred Britsh cure
Rumours of the death of the rights issue are surely exaggerated. This peculiarly European practice – an alternative to the more common US capital-raising technique of placing large chunks of equity with single investors – took a knock on Monday when Bradford & Bingley,
B&B chief cites three priorities
Rod Kent, the Bradford & Bingley chairman now with executive responsibilities, spent Tuesday locked in meetings at the bank’s London offices sorting out the turmoil at the UK’s biggest buy-to-let lender which saw buyout firm TPG buy a 23% stake.
B&B, TPG, leave investors shell-shocked
Bradford & Bingley sent shockwaves through the UK banking sector after the UK’s biggest buy-to-let lender confirmed that buyout firm TPG will invest £179m in acquiring a 23% stake at a deep discount.
The ‘B&B effect’ hits UK banks
Monday’s announcement from Bradford & Bingley was the last thing the shell-shocked British banking sector needed, giving investors yet another reason to steer clear of the industry, says the FT’s banking editor.