Posts tagged 'pirates'

Unlucky Corsair Finance

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| Mar 01 2011 11:07 | Comment |

We’ve heard of CDOs swashbuckling with risk, but this is just silly…

On Tuesday, Moody’s junked €200m of notes of Corsair Finance (Ireland) No. 2 Limited, a collateralised debt obligation referencing several corporate entities. Read more

The pirate business model

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Mar 31 2010 13:15 | Comment |

If you’re interested in the economics of the Somali pirates (and who isn’t?), FT Alphaville reported on an account of their business model, which was tucked away in an annex to the UN’s latest report on Somalia. Including: “The refined business model guarantees every participant in the operation, if successful, a well-defined percentage or share of the ransom money.” Read more

Yar! Interdealer piracy

| Nov 06 2009 15:22 | Comment |

Buccaneers hassling your fleet around the seven seas? Time to hire some muscle.

Interdealer broker ICAP are said to be amassing ducats introducing worried ship owners to pirate slaying mercenaries. Read more

Pirates of London

FT Hedge Fund Correspondent

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| May 11 2009 13:32 | Comment |

So, it isn’t unreasonable to expect Somali Pirates to be powered by Bloomberg afterall. From the Guardian:

…pirate groups have “well-placed informers” in London who are in regular contact with control centres in Somalia where decisions on which vessels to attack are made. These London-based “consultants” help the pirates select targets, providing information on the cargo that ships are carrying and the course they follow.   Read more

On piracy and presidencies

FT Hedge Fund Correspondent

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| Apr 15 2009 14:24 | Comment |

Felix Salmon over at Reuters has an amusing piratical chart:

As one scurvy commenter notes though, it’s rather telling that the presidential x-axis stops at McKinley:

Because Jefferson (First Barbary War) and Monroe (Second Barbary War) killed thousands of them. Obama really will have to send the gunboats in, or possibly, as blogger Jules Crittenden suggests, start dropping pirate corpses on Somali villages, to match that kind of record. Read more

Yarrrrr!

FT Hedge Fund Correspondent

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| Nov 27 2008 10:55 | Comment |

Continuing our popular piratical series, we bring you, Ladies and Gentlemen – Lat 4.595N, Long 48.085E – The Sirius Star!

Sirius Star Read more

Pirate equity

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Nov 19 2008 11:24 | Comment |

Pirate Captain: Argh, let’s wreak some havoc on global oil markets.

Pirate: Aye, ’tis time to hijack a supertanker. Read more

Shiver me freight rates

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Nov 18 2008 09:30 | Comment |

As if shipping hasn’t had enough of a bad time, JBC Energy reports:

As a result of the hijacking of a fully laden Saudi VLCC by Somali pirates yesterday, insurance companies are raising premiums for passage through the Gulf of Aden. These have reportedly risen ten-fold over the last year. The added expense, on top of the risk itself, could lead shipping companies to avoid the Gulf of Aden and sail instead around the Cape of Good Hope to reach Europe and North America. Read more