Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:15AM

Why did the convertible arbitrage fail so badly? Can anyone explain their basic strategy?

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:16AM

Not much, although there is Tontine to consider.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:16AM

d'ja catch the marketing piece... errr... i mean "news story" on the merg today on EIM?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2IT6Y4JmC48

"Uma Thurman No Help to Arpad Busson in Madoff Fraud’s Nightmare"

I was scratching my head on this bit, though:

"Busson’s high standing among European investors can be traced partly to his family roots in the world of international finance. His step-grandfather Arpad Plesch was a Hungarian-born financier who married three times. Plesch earned his fortune from businesses around the world, including a large stake in the Haitian-American Corp., which owned sugar plantations. "

"Plesch first married Leonina Ulam, Busson’s great- grandmother, and after she died, married her daughter, Marysia Ulam Harcourt-Smith, who already had a daughter from a previous marriage -- Busson’s mother Florence “Flockie” Harcourt-Smith, an English debutante."

his grandfather married his grandfater's daughter?! that's not on!

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:16AM

@2 you are joking right?

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:18AM

Quants rule!

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:20AM

@2 - there is a great primer on convert arb here

finance.yahoo.com

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:22AM

@2 = Slapchops Vartanian

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:35AM

Yes, I am joking.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:36AM

SAY (SATYAM) clearly mentioned they dont have one single penny of cash

they dont have cash to pay JAN Salaries

they haevnt paid DEC vendor dues.

SAY a dead man walkiong

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3952805.cms

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:41AM

One thing about Satyam HYD is if you pay 1200 USD (in rupees that is) to HR person you will be in Job, there is too much fraud brewing in this company
for many years....

http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.666304/browse_thread/thread/a4a5181d71a832b5

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:42AM

love how erin burnett and a rotund body-language expert were examining the Satyam CEO in a prior interview... TG i'm down to 10% CNBC / 90% Bloomberg

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:43AM

@2 - Please go away to any other finance site, and STAY AWAY until you have improved on your glaringly obvious modicum of financial knowledge.

See @7 if you need the name of a site.

Thanks.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:47AM

http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/jan/08satyam-cfo-srini

Satyam running out of cash, CFO quits, damage limitation on
vas-quits.htm

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 9:51AM

@2 = Slapchops "big Red" Vartanian

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 10:00AM

@4, 10, 11, 12 - you're all morons. what the f*** does any of that garbage, repost, links, and copy/paste have to do with the story. go kill yourselves.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 10:01AM

@13 It's got to be lonely at home without a job, no? Learn to read better.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 10:09AM

OK, I know I'm going to get slammed for this, but can someone explain to me being "short correlation" vs "long correlation". I figure if you're long correlation and everything goes to 1 your ok, but not much understanding beyond that.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 10:22AM

@16, @4 here, just making the point that there are different types of inbreds in the market.

there's the type like yourself, who doesn't have a clue about how the market really works, and there are the types who work in the hedge fund industry who use models to pretend to be smarter than the market.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 10:23AM

@13:

Douche.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 10:24AM

Did they not teach sarcasm in ESL?

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 10:24AM

Apparently @13 is a douche

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 10:41AM

Hi Guys. I am switching careers and would like to get into i-banking from engineering. (2 years out of Penn undergrad.) Can anyone recommend a recruiting firm I should reach out to? Thanks.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 11:05AM

Man, no wonder BofA laid these guys off.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 11:13AM

the short sale ban in 2008 really hurt convertible arb funds and trders

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 11:26AM

Quants (esp Renaissance) did seem to distinguish themselves in '08.

@13 needs to improve on his "glaringly obvious modicum" of English.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 11:39AM

Very impressive. Takes talent to lose so much money. Thankfully, they can always shut down and reopen under a new name (WaterUnderBridge?) with a new high water mark.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 11:53AM

Don't these people understand what "arbitrage" actually means. Hint: not losing half your money.

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 11:55AM

What's a fund?

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 11:59AM

@23,

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aBabxZ9WD2cE&refer=columnist_lewis

Posted by guest , Jan 08, 2009 12:09PM

@ 29 - no, that's what 'hedge' means.