Damned if you do/damned if you don’t UBS, under a bit of fire for both helping clients avoid paying taxes and hurting clients who it told auction-rate securities were a sweet ass deal, has suspended David Shulman, head of U.S. fixed income. The moratorium on Shulman being allowed to come into the office probably has something to do with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s suit against the Swiss bank concerning the perpetration of “multi-billion dollar fraud” on its clients, though there’ve been whispers from IT about Shulman repeatedly violating the company’s rules regarding “appropriate internet usage” (talkin’ ’bout porn here). UBS stated that while it “does not believe that there was illegal conduct by any employee, we have found cases of poor judgment by certain individuals and are evaluating appropriate disciplinary measures,” which in this case would be three months of self-gratification without a digital aid.
UBS Suspends Top Executive [WSJ]
Archive for July 2008
Deposed SemGroup chief executive and president Tom Kivisto told employees of the (voluntarily) bankrupt company on Saturday that things are going to be okay, though he refused to take questions from the media, only stating that “as the facts and truths surrounding this chain of events are revealed, the SemGroup employees will regain their trust in what they initially believed.” This is obviously going to take years and a lot of red tape to sort through so I’m just going to ruin the surprise for you now– it all leads back to Hooters. Though where the funeral homes come into play, I do not know.
Earlier: SemGroup: It Gets So Much Worse
SemGroup co – founder reassures employees amid probe [AP via NYT]
KKR Private Equity Investors and KKR & Co. Agree to Business Combination
KKR plans to go public on the NYSE. It won’t be doing an IPO however. Instead it will be merging with some Dutch affiliate listed in Amsterday, and it will then relist on the NYSE under the ticker “KKR”. Perfect. Said the company’s two founders in the release: “This transaction offers substantial benefits for KPE unitholders, and it builds KKR for the long-term. Going forward, KPE unitholders will benefit by being owners in a diversified asset management business that generates regular distributions of cash earnings.” Anyway, no doubt we’ll have a lot more to say about it today. One nice things: because there’s no IPO, perhaps the listing won’t be quite the media circus as the last time a major PE firm went public.
McCain Says Wall Street `Villain’ in Subprime Crisis (Bloomberg)
This will be news to everyone except the six people that watch ABC’s “This Week” Sunday morning program. Apparently John McCain used the word “villain” describe Wall St. when discussing the subprime mortgage mess. It sound like he favor prosecution, not mention the elimination of pay for certain Wall St. practitioners. We’re not even going to bother.
Ryanair warns of loss next year (BBC)
RyanAir better get its “beds & blowjobs” cabin class onto market stat! The Irish discount carrier, famous for selling some flights at 1 EUR (but then tacking on all kinds of ancillaries, like getting to use the jetway to get on the plane, and getting to check luggage), posted a sharp drop in earnings and wared it could incur its first annual loss. The cuplrit needs no introduction. It’s oil.
National gas prices dip below $4 a gallon (AP)
This explains that collective sigh of relief we’ve been hearing. National gas prices averaged $3.996 on Friday, which means if you’re filling up a big 25 gallon tank, it costs less than $100, which is pretty cool. Prices are at their lowest leve since May 16th.
It’s Friday afternoon. Do you know where your CEO is? With banks and brokerages crashing all around us, and each weekend becoming a suspenseful death watch for financial institutions teetering on the edge, maybe it’s time you started looking for a new job. We spent part of the afternoon combing through our Career Center in search of the most interesting jobs. There are dozens to choose from, all categorized according to specialization. Today’s job is one for the quants.
A hedge fund here in New York City is looking for an experienced Statistical Arbitrage Trader/Quant. You should have at least two years experience in a similar role with a financial institution or another hedge fund. A graduate degree with a significant background in quantitative equity research designing and back testing trading strategies is a must.
Will the government’s bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wipe out holders of their preferred stock and subordinated debt? That’s what S&P warned today with its statement that it was placing these instruments on a negative credit watch pending a review of the legislation on Capitol Hill.
“Although there is still ambiguity on the part of regulatory authority as it applies to how nonsenior creditors of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be treated if the U.S. Treasury ever acted on its three-point liquidity plan, the language in HR 3221 increases the likelihood that subordinated debtholders and preferred stockholders would face greater subordination risk,” S&P’s analyst wrote.
S&P affirmed the mortgage giants’ triple-A senior unsecured debt ratings because the government is dead set against letting that stuff fail. The proposals to authorize the Treasury Department to rescue the two companies could land on the President’s desk as early as this weekend.
After research firm Gimme Credit screamed “fire” in Washington Mutual’s lobby yesterday, the bank put out statement saying that WaMu “funds all of its business through its banking operations, and does not rely on commercial paper,” and, furthermore, has seen “no real disruption in…core liquidity.” Everything is a-okay, so please stop publishing reports to the contrary.
But…if you want to talk about problems that in no way can be blamed on WM, how ’bout those bastards at the SEC? According to WaMu, the new short selling provisions, which focus on 17 banks– WM not included–, are to blame for pressure on its shares. Treasurer Robert Williams told the Post: “[The SEC] limited the universe of options that you could use to hedge your position…[and as a result]…WaMu has seen short selling volumes double and triple.”
WaMu Whacked [NYP]
CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business are about to get a little more competition. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, Thomson Reuters is launching a business television news channel. The programming will be offered on the web and some cable services.
The Telegraph says TR TV could be on air early as January, although these things usually get delayed and the paper notes that the company is being cautious in light of earlier failures by Reuters to get into video broadcasting.
Thomson Reuters to venture into television [Telegraph]
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