Archive for December 2009
Tim Geithner’s Foot To Be Removed From Vikram Pandit’s Ass Sometime In The Very Near Future?
By Bess Levin
Maria Bartiromo says yes! Vickles has apparently postponed his trip to Disney World, so you know this is legit.
Citigroup plans to pay back some of the $45 billion in TARP money it received last year by raising capital through a stock offering of as much as $20 billion, CNBC has learned. CEO Vikram Pandit has changed his travel plans to be able to announce an equity offering, which is similar to that of Bank of America, according to sources close to the situation. Earlier today, Citi chairman Dick Parsons told CNBC the discussions with regulators have been active.
I’m trying to figure out if that’s the logic here? As Goldman prepares to move into its new headquarters, the Observer‘s Max Abelson looks back on the history of 85 Broad. This is what former managing director George Doty had to say of the place:
Even the toilets were placed just so. “When we set up an enormous trading room, we deliberately built it on one floor and had only one men’s room,” Mr. Doty told the writer Charles D. Ellis. Besides the excellent egalitarianism, he explained, having just one bathroom made it easier to hear rumors, “to be persistently diligent on small troubles.”
Someone tried to explain it to me that “the idea is that the important fellas like Doty would normally have their own bathroom, but instead they would hang with the plebeians and listen in.” Is that it? They pissed in the same trough so they could find out who was banging whose secretary? Otherwise I got nothing.
Morgan Stanley vice-chairman Rob Kindler had the license plate 2BG2FAIL last year in an homage to the crisis. Now, Andrew Ross Sorkin reports, Bobby has swapped it out for the below because “no one is too big to fail,” and because Vikram offered him twenty bucks so the Citi CEO could get in on the joke.
John Paulson and Stanley Fink are dying to take your money and pour it into gold. Clive Capital is somewhat less enthusiastic.
The London-based hedge fund is certainly bullish on the shiny stuff, predicting that its value will continue to rise and even increasing its bet on it. But it doesn’t want your money, not anymore. Those looking to invest in commodities won’t have the world’s largest commodity hedge fund to kick around anymore.
At least, not until its “focus and scrutiny of market liquidity and portfolio diversity” make it change its mind.
Also, does anyone have any money they’d like to free up for the Gorilla? ‘Cause that’s something he would like to get a piece of, over at the new shop.
Fuld is trying to raise funds from private equity and other investors that would provide aid to small businesses seen as “growth companies.” The aid would be provided by using his Rolodex of market contacts to help firms raise capital or by providing financing, people familiar with the matter said. The effort is being done through Fuld’s Matrix Advisors, a small firm he set up earlier this year…one source said Fuld still maintains that Lehman didn’t want or need a lifeline from Uncle Sam to stay afloat, and that had he struck a deal for a capital infusion with a group of South Korean investors, the firm would be around today.
More real-estate action in Canary Wharf: JPMorgan Chase’s new building here in the Docklands was just sold for something more than a song. The sonorously-named Songbird Estates ditched the 315,000-square-foot building on Churchill place for £208 million, £38 million more than the company valued the building in September.
Five Churchill Place is primarily occupied JPMorgan Markets.
Geithner Said to Be Seeking $700 Billion TARP Extension Until Next October (Bloomberg)
“There has rarely been a less loved or more necessary emergency program than TARP,” President Obama said yesterday in a speech in Washington. “I’m asking my Treasury secretary to continue mobilizing the remaining TARP funds to facilitate lending to small businesses.”
Year-End Audit Finds TARP Program Effective (NYT)
“Although the government’s response to the crisis was at first haphazard and uncertain, it eventually proved decisive enough to stop the panic and restore market confidence.”
Baroness Vadera: ‘I still have nightmares about the financial crisis (Telegraph)
The former Government minister and one of the architects of the British efforts to rescue the financial system, told a high-level business conference in Sussex: “I don’t think we are through it yet… an IMF study showed at the middle of this year that banks had only declared half their losses on their books: we have a long way to go.”
Live-Blog: UK Pre-Budget Report (The Source)
Sorry, chippies: “Chancellor Darling has imposed a 50% charge on bankers’ bonuses over £25,000. And if you’re trying to dodge it, you’ll have to be quick. It’s coming into force today. It’ll apply to all U.K. banks and building societies (mutual lenders) and includes foreign branches and subsidiaries. Oh, and it’s paid by employers. Once the banker gets it, there’s still income tax to be paid on top.”
Paulson And Co. Buying Stocks (NYT)
“Today our net long exposure is perhaps the highest it has ever been in our portfolio,” Paulson said during a luncheon presentation at the Japan Society.
U.S. SEC Sues to Freeze Assets Of ‘Ponzi Scheme’ (Reuters)
You’re on notice, Rockford Funding Group.
$$$ Soros: Bank regulation should cover pay [MarketWatch]
$$$ Ex-SAC, Pequot managers to launch hedge fund firm [Reuters]
$$$ How do you say vicious circle in Greek? [FT Alphaville]
$$$ JPMorgan Names Frenkel– of AIG fame– Chairman Of International Business [WSJ]
$$$ For those of you looking for free booze, Bill Ackman’s apartment auction (which comes with a wine tasting) is still on for tonight. [Curbed]
The President is set to meet Monday with a bunch of “top bankers” to talk shop, for the third time this year. Will Jamie Dimon get priority seating next to BHO, given the president’s (deep, burning) feelings for the JPMorgan CEO? Will JD bring another fake check to lighten the mood, or crack any sort of icebreaker jokes in general? Will Geithner again act like he has sand in his crotch, and tell Dimon no one’s hear to laugh (will TG be invited at all)? Will the bankers actually be served an entire meal of food, or will it be one glass of water/no ice/no refill yet again? Stay tuned!
I don’t know but here are some hints, courtesy of the Daily News:
* He’s married
* He has three kids
* He’s dumb enough to a) not employ a little known response called ‘No Comment,’ and b) think anyone would buy this:
“She is a friend and that is it,” the man, who asked not to be identified, said Monday. The hedge fund honcho admitted Monday he wired Rist – the latest in an ever-lengthening line of sexy women linked to Woods – $100,000 because “she wasn’t able to support herself.” The honcho said he dated the 31-year-old siren for a couple of months last winter and insisted their relationship “was more emotional than anything else.”
