Quick: LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT [paying back the federal government]. WHERE ARE YOU IN TERMS OF BEING ON TRACK FOR THIS PLAN? THE BUSINESSES THAT YOU HAVE FOR SALE, DO YOU HAVE PEOPLE COMING UP TO YOU WITH STRONG BIDS FOR SOME OF THE BUSINESSES?
Liddy: WE DO. WE ARE ENCOURAGED BY THE LEVEL OF INTEREST. WE ANNOUNCED THIS MORNING THE SELL OF HARTFORD STEAM BOILER.
Kernen: FOR HOW MUCH?
Liddy: IN TOTAL IT IS ABOUT $825 MILLION IN VALUE. THE BUSINESSES THAT ARE SINGULAR IN NATURE OR GENERALLY ONLY DEALING WITH ONE COUNTRY, THEY WILL GET SOLD FIRST. AS YOU MOVE UPSTREAM AND GET TO THE LARGEST BUSINESSES, AND THOSE WHO DO BUSINESS IN TEN OR 15 OR 20 COUNTRIES, THEY TAKE MORE FROM A DUE DILIGENCE STANDPOINT. VERY MUCH LIKE WE WERE, WE WISH THE CAPITAL MARKETS WERE MORE COOPERATIVE.
Kernen: THE JOURNAL SAYS IT WAS GOING TO BE SOLD BETWEEN $1.2 and $1.5 AND YOU PAID $1.2. YOU WOULD BE LUCKY TO GET TO THAT. IS THAT AND APPLES TO APPLES COMPARISON ON THE $825? ARE YOU LOSING OVER $300 MILLION ON THE SALE?
Liddy: IT IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.
Quick: YOU SAY THAT YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN PAY BACK THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR ALL THE TAXPAYER MONEY THAT YOU BORROWED. WHEN DO YOU THINK, WHEN IS YOUR BEST ESTIMATE TO DO THAT?
Liddy: WE WOULD LIKE TO DO THAT IN 2009.AGAIN, ONE THING WITH FINANCIAL SERVICE COMPANIES IS THEY CAN ATROPHY IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL.WE THINK IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE BUSINESS UNITS TO BE SOLD GET SOLD FOR AS MUCH VALUE AS WE CAN, AND WE PAY BACK THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. THE SOONER WE DO THAT, THE REMAINING BUSINESSES WILL BE BETTER OFF AND BUSINESSES SOLD WILL BE BETTER OFF IN THE HANDS OF NEW OWNERS.
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 11:18AM
I bet he wishes he remained at Goldman
Posted by RonBurgundy , Dec 22, 2008 11:20AM
US = Banana Republic. I'd love to take a cass of bananas and stand outside of Treasury and bounce bananas off of Paulson's and Kashkari's heads when they climb into their taxpayer funded limos
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 11:29AM
DID LIDDY GO TO WHARTON?
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 11:44AM
He never was at Goldman, was Chmn at Allstate and no, did not go to Wharton, has MBA from George Washington University.
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:12PM
perhaps my memory's bad, but i believe liddy said something to the effect of "it's more complicated than that, as you can imagine." not really funny to misquote with no hint that you're doing it for humor.
Posted by Bess Levin , Dec 22, 2008 12:15PM
@5- this is a copy of a transcript sent to us from CNBC. so spare me your self-righteous indignation.
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:28PM
Actually homeboy was on the BOD @ Goldman. Seriously... you think there are spots on the US Taxpayer funded gravy train for non-GS butts? C'mon...
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:29PM
Lets see there losing 400 million on this sale. We the taxpayers gave them 85 billion. I guess they need to make 170 more sales like this to piss away the taxpayers money.
Btw, cut that in half (65 times) the other amount is for spas and bonuses. Would not want this hot shot CEO to take his lame decision making somewhere else to like the US Treasury.
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:33PM
@4 He was on the board at Goldman sucking up the elitist air without pressure to perform.
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:37PM
"IT IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE"
How freakin' complicated is this:
Liddy to Swiss Re: Do you want to buy HSB for $1.2 Bil?
Swiss Re: No. You need to get rid of at least one asset to prove you are actually making an attempt to payback $150 billion in government loans. How 'bout $825 mil.
Liddy: Okay, deal.
What IS more complicated than I can understand is how you are going to pay off the loans in 2009 selling assets at ~25% loss to the purchase price.
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:43PM
Slap Chop
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:46PM
Slap Chop
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:46PM
Slap Chop
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 3:28PM
@10 -
Make it up in volume!!!
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 5:12PM
this is 5: bess why the snarky response? what self-righteous indignation? i caveated my comment that i may be misremembering. i was just saying it's not funny to make up a funny quote by misquoting -- i thought you were doing it on purpose instead of getting a bad transcript. you can hear liddy at about 6:45 of this clip (http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=973684844), where it seems to me that he's saying "no, it's a lot more complicated than that, as you can imagine" -- which, once you listen to it, really takes the snottiness out of the quote.