So much for staking out new investors! Guest of a Guest reports that Fairfield Greenwich founder Walter Noel and Co. have had their membership at the Round Hill Club revoked, over “bad press.” Anyone from a lesser facility willing to take them in?
Archive for May 2009
Have you perhaps been offered employment both at home and across the pond? Basically the decision comes down to this. Which is more important to you– working without the tentacles of TARP, or quality cocaine?
Prices per kilo have risen from £39,000 in 2008 to over £45,000 (50,000 euros), but street prices have remained stable.
However, new figures obtained by the BBC suggest almost a third of police seizures are now less than 9% pure, the lowest recorded purity level.
The data, collected by the Forensic Science Service, reveals how drug gangs are using increasing amounts of chemicals – so-called cutting agents – to dilute cocaine powder sold on the streets of Britain.
They include the cancer-causing drug phenacetin, cockroach insecticide and pet worming powder.
Alternatively, Try Mr. Ackman At His Apartment, Vacation House, Makeshift Office Set Up Outside The Target In Cherry Hill, Or On The Pager He Bought Specially For This Crusade. Any Time, Day Or Night.
By Bess Levin
Obviously we love ourselves some Bill Ackman but at what point does one draw the line here? The vote isn’t taking place for nearly three weeks and already he’s inviting shareholders to call him directly. Not Pershing investors, but plain old TGT fractional owners. Unwashed masses, really, who he’s apparently going to rub up against if it’ll mean finally getting his way. What’s going to be put on the table once we’re down to the wire? I’m just saying some personal principles need to be established ahead of time so that when it comes to it, and the situation presents itself, one knows whether or not he’s willing to sit in the dunk tank in the name of shareholder activism.
Dear Target Shareholder:
Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. hosted a Town Hall Meeting today in connection with the Target Corporation proxy contest. Replays of the meeting can be found atwww.TGTtownhall.com.
For your convenience, please find the attached presentation — “The Nominees for Shareholder Choice’” — which was delivered at the Town Hall Meeting. These materials are also available on the SEC’s website www.sec.gov.
Bill Ackman is available to answer questions and address any matters of interest. Feel free to call him directly at [redacted].
Possibly! The Deal reports that there has been growing chatter that Bank of America will IPO Merrill in the next two or three years. Of course, this would require that Ken Lewis craft a good story for why he’d want to do such a thing to his bright shining star (after having fired a metric asston of MER/BAC employees), but there’s plenty of time to come up with something. Plus Lewis has already said he’ll be out the door sometime between now and three years from now, so the problem would very well fall into someone else’s lap (Mozilo). In an interview with The Deal, Getzler Henrich’s Dino Mauricio claims that while the whole BAC-MER integration has been a bit of a bitch (and is also far from completed), taking Merrill public in the future could be more profitable to shareholders in the long run.
“As a spinoff it allows shareholders to maximize the value to the asset. But this would at least two years from now. The market doesn’t value Merrill beyond its standalone value. The merger makes sense for now. You have a set of banks whose quality of assets are under intense scrutiny. Merrill’s capital markets, M&A, and the brokerage businesses are handcuffed right now due to the down economy, but as the economy improves so those businesses will flourish again.”
Mauricio also said that changes to the investment banking model and the commercial bank landscape could factor in. “As investment banks are forced to become more conservative in investment and trading activities, access to BofA’s huge asset base becomes less of a competitive advantage for Merrill in the long run,” he said.
“We will continue to explore every opportunity to put TARP capital to work in a disciplined, transparent and responsible fashion, consistent with Citi’s prudent lending standards.”
By Bess Levin
From: vikrampandit@citi.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 9:29 AM
Subject: Second Quarterly Progress Report on Use of TARP Capital
Dear Colleagues,
Today we are issuing our second quarterly progress report on how we are putting to use the $45 billion of capital the U.S. Treasury has invested in Citi as part of the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.
From a tearful mailbag:
Jamie Dimon is FIRING JPM’s small prime brokerage clients and administrative clients, saying, “You’re just not big enough for us, we only want to handle accounts of 1 billion and up, too bad, you have a month to move your accounts.” This dictate comes directly from Dan Tennant (hatchet man for Jamie) of the old Bear (Oh please Mr. Dimon, sir I will do anything, let me keep my job) signed off on by Jamie Dimon’s office. Asked for a letter of the firing, “Not happening” was the answer.
So if you are an RIA running 2-4 hundred million–positive performance, didn’t tank in 08, hire smart people, minorities (all), do everything right–you go from a legit prime broker and administrator, which gives your investors comfort, to a bucket shop and some fat guy in a black suit, sitting on the beach holding an umbrella, in the Cook Islands. 200 firms fired. JPM reverse spin.
Where is Einhorn when you need him, if he could take down Lehman – maybe he can help with JPM?
Earlier this morning on the Squawk, when the issue of PPIP came up: “The people who are going to make these bids are smart people…whether it’s John Paulson or whoever*…there are some smart people…but you have to have someone on the other side willing to take the hit…[Kernan interjects: and then John Paulson will write it back up]…Well, he’s good…[Greenberg sees an opening to riff]…he’s one of the dumb guys that used to work for us, we fired him…no, kidding, that’s not true.”
Big G also shared that he started going by “Ace” to score chicks. Mission accomplished.
*We’re pretty sure Paulson will not be dipping his wick in the PPIP but Greenberg is a senior citizen so we won’t correct him in public.
We aren’t totally sure that “soft sell” is how we would put it, but maybe softer sell. And this is definitely just because we can’t help but root for Ackman (90% losses are nothing compared to boyish charm, you know) and Target is such a tantalizing… er… target. Plus, anyone who doubles down with such ease cannot help but attract our (sideways, nervous) glance. So, if the Post wants to give us WA the soft-seller underdog, we’re game.
Portraying himself as “the underdog” in the fight, Ackman referred to Target’s board as a stagnating “friend of Bob,” with change-resistant members handpicked long ago by retired chairman Bob Ulrich.
As he introduced his own slate to Target investors at a Midtown auditorium yesterday, Ackman took pains to insist that his own nominees — with backgrounds in groceries, credit cards and corporate governance, in addition to real estate — weren’t merely stooges assembled to further his own agenda.
“I just want independent, fresh perspective on the board,” Ackman said.
(Michael Douglas actually thought Gekko was evil, and Carl may be the elder statesman of activists, but you are the young upstart for us every time! Call us WA! We still love you!)
Ackman’s Soft Sell [The New York Post]
BAC Raises $7.3B In CCB Stake (FT)
BofA is well on it’s way to fulfilling it’s needed capital a-la stress tests as it’s completed selling it’s stake in CCB for $7.3B. Shares were sold at a 14.3% discount to close, and the sum leaves BAC with $26.6B to raise.
AIG CEO Liddy Aims to Quell Congressional Criticism (WSJ)
“Rampant, unwarranted criticism of AIG serves only to diminish the value of our businesses around the world,” he will tell a U.S. House oversight committee while pleading for a better partnership with the government — owner of 80% of the company.
Full text of his statement here.
Economists Obviously Out Of Touch With Market Dynamics (Bloomberg)
In what could be a swift kick to the groin of the happy-go-lucky optimistic feeling spreading of recent, a poll of economists has the unemployment rate going to 9.6% next year, and exceeding 8% through 2011. As pointed out in the article, a weak recovery will probably push the Administration to do more stupid things to buoy satisfaction; one can only hope nationalization never makes its way to strip clubs.
Citi Grows A Heart, Tin Man Pissed, Vows Revenge (NYT)
“Citigroup said its committee overseeing the use of taxpayer money approved $44.75 billion in lending initiatives as of March 31. That is up from the $36.5 billion in lending initiatives announced in February, and now includes $5 billion in loans to municipalities.
The loans being offered by Citigroup to state and local governments, municipal agencies, universities and non-profit hospitals would not likely have been made had the bank not received money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP.”
Pay To Play Probe Ensnares Another (WSJ)
“The New York attorney general is expected to announce soon that an associate of Hank Morris, the indicted political adviser at the center of New York’s “pay to play” pension probe, has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and is cooperating with the investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
Julio Ramirez, age 48, has pleaded guilty to a criminal misdemeanor charge, according to people familiar with the matter. The Securities and Exchange Commission, conducting a parallel investigation, is expected to announce civil charges against Mr. Ramirez.”
Trapped Into Living With The Ex (BBC)
“Couples who have split up and want to go their separate ways are increasingly being forced to live apart under the same roof by a lack of movement in the housing market.”
Jean-Claude Trichet Wants You To Know Shit’s Getting Better (FT)
“Jean-Claude Trichet signalled on Monday that the global downturn had bottomed out with some large economies already able to put the recession behind them and look forward to renewed growth.
The European Central Bank president’s comments on Monday in Basel, Switzerland, had added weight because he was speaking on behalf of the world’s leading central bankers, not just for the eurozone.”
GMAC Could Be Next (WSJ)
Complete with circle charts, the article proffers that we (taxpayers) may have to drop as much as $20B into GMAC.
“Instead, GMAC must be saved, the argument goes, to revive the auto industry and consumer economy. The details of that approach are strikingly scarce. In fact, nearly everything about GMAC — its mission, board, and future ties to government — is unknown. As Winston Churchill might put it, GMAC is a financial black hole stuffed into a governance black box.”
$$$ Dreier Pleads Guilty To Fraud Charges [WSJ]
$$$ How to not learn from history [anal_yst]
$$$ Jamie Dimon Takes Down Victoria Gotti [Cityfile]
One more excerpt from Kate Kelly’s Street Fighters. Maybe it’s the schizophrenic weather, but this is getting us embarrassingly mistily nostalgic for last year.
Cayne was late to the board’s 11:00 AM call that [Saturday] morning, and Ace Greenberg was angry. As soon as Cayne came on the line, Greenberg asked if he’d been delayed at the bridge table. Cayne said no. The two then began to argue about whether Cayne should return to New York for the next two days’ deliberations, rather than where he was and deliberate telephonically. Cayne didn’t want to leave. “It’s very difficult,” he told the directors. “Why do I have to come back? I can do it by phone.”
“We can’t afford to have another story that you’re playing bridge this time,” Greenberg snapped.
