“I don’t like the guy and every time I get a chance to take a shot at him I do it.”
Archive for May 2011
Okay, back to the live-blog.
And we’re back. To recap, Erez Kalir likes MBIA, Dinakar Singh likes Zhongping Inc and Sprint, Jeff Aronson likes CIT, Robert Howard likes WABCO and HSNI, Phil Falcone likes Crosstex Energy Inc, Jim Chanos dislikes First Solar and Michael Price, who’s not a speaker but has ideas, says Goldman Sachs is a buy “if you’ve got guts.”
2:49 Speaker 7: Steve Feinberg, CEO of Cerberus Capital Management
2:50 There are “a lot of opportunities” in Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities
3:10 Speaker 8: Peter May, Trian Fund founder, presenting on Tiffany & Co
3:08 Peter loves Tiffany. His lawyers want you to know none of the info you’ll hear today is “inside information” (everyone nods gravely)
3:09 Everyone loves Tiffany! From 12 year-olds buying their cheapest necklaces to Anne Hathaway [flashes slide of Hathaway at the Oscar's this year, looking ravishing]
3:22 SPEAKER 9, STEVE EISMAN, Frontpoint Partners
3:23 Cross every single one of your fingers and toes that he brings the thunder
3:24 He’s not going to talk about for-profit education, except to say that he hates the picture the kid from Indiana flashed of him earlier.
3:29 Eisman “sees opportunity in the property casualty sector-commericial lines” (yes, I fell asleep while typing that line) Continue reading »
This year’s conference will not include David Tepper’s balls but the show must go on. Scheduled speakers, in order of appearance: Erez Kalir, Dinakar Singh, Jeff Aronson, Robert Howard, Phil Falcone, Jim Chanos, winner of the inaugural Ira Sohn investment contest, Steve Feinberg, Peter May, Steve Esiman, Jeff Gundlach, Marc Faber, Bill Ackman, Joel Greenblatt, Mark Hart III, David Einhorn, Eike Batista, Carl Icahn.
12:20 Speaker 1: Erez Kalir, founder and CEO of Sabretooth Capital, presenting: “Economic Death As A Special Situation”
12:21 The last time he spoke in front of this many people “was at my bar mitzvah”
12:22 You don’t have to make money the Warren Buffett way.
12:25 Holding MBIA stock is “favorably asymmetric” Continue reading »
German Prostitute Isn’t Sure What The Big Deal Is About Munich Re’s Company Sponsored Orgy
By Bess Levin
Monique doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. The newspapers have been full of lurid accounts of how German insurer Hamburg Mannheimer treated its best salesmen to a sex party with prostitutes in Budapest four years ago. “So what?” she shrugs, treading out a cigarette. “If the insurance customers ended up footing the bill that would be the last straw. But please don’t go on about the morals of it!” [Spiegel via BI]
Very sad news. Continue reading »
Last week it was reported that in 2007, executives with Munich Re subsidiary Ergo Versicherungsgruppe came up with the idea to throw a party for top performing sales executives at a bathhouse, featuring a bunch of prostitutes for their consumption. Because such events have the potential to devolve into mass chaos, with buyers and sellers running amok and no one knowing who’s down for what, the Germans had the bright idea to keep order via color-coding. Each hooker would wear an armband, with yellow indicating “available for sexual favors,” red indicating that she was a hostess and white indicating that she was “reserved for executives and top agents.” Additionally, the girls also received a “stamp” following each visit to one of the curtained canopied beds, so party-goers could know how many times she’d been “frequented.” When the story came out, a spokesman for the company said in a statement that incentive trips for successful salespeople “definitely don’t usually proceed the way it’s described.” Apparently he was just kidding because according to Ergo employees, that’s exactly how they “usually” proceed, and were going to keep proceeding, until someone had to go and ruin thing for the whole group. Continue reading »
Lagarde Announces IMF Candidacy (WSJ)
France’s Finance Minister Christine Lagarde on Wednesday officially declared her candidacy to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, launching a global race for the prominent position. “Today, I would like to declare my intention to stand for the position of managing director of the IMF,” Ms. Lagarde told reporters at a press conference.
DSK wife: Au revoir, blog fans (NYP)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s journalist wife, Anne Sinclair — dubbed the French Barbara Walters — has pulled the plug on her popular blog. “You will understand the circumstances that have forced me to temporarily suspend this blog,” Sinclair posted Monday in French on her blog “Two or Three Things Seen in America,” where she has been chronicling her take on US politics and other events since 2008. “All I can say is, see you soon.”
Stroz Friedberg Builds Bodyguard Business With Madoff, Strauss-Kahn Cases (Bloomberg)
The job, which will pay Stroz Friedberg about $200,000 a month according to estimates provided to the court, is the latest high-profile assignment for the firm, which managed the house arrest of Madoff two years ago. While “muscle” is important, [Edward] Stroz said he isn’t just in the business of renting “bodyguards.” For Madoff, there were legitimate concerns he might commit suicide, as well as whether defrauded investors might try to kill him.
AIG, Treasury Score Small Gain in Re-IPO (WSJ)
AIG and the Treasury sold 300 million shares at $29 apiece, putting U.S. taxpayers in line to recoup at least $5.8 billion and reducing the government’s stake in the insurer to 77% from 92%. More shares may be sold in the coming days, which could lower U.S. ownership in AIG to around 74%.
G.O.P. Lawmakers Vote to Delay Derivatives Rules (DealBook)
A House panel approved a plan on Tuesday to delay several rules for the $600 trillion derivatives market, a leading player in the financial crisis. The bill would freeze crucial regulations stemming from the Dodd-Frank Act until September 2012, more than two years after the law was enacted and 14 months after the rules were scheduled to take effect.
GM Falls Out of Favor With Hedge Funds (Bloomberg)
General Motors Co., one of the 10 most popular stocks for hedge funds at the end of last year, fell out of favor in the first quarter as slower growth in China and discounts in the U.S. dimmed the automaker’s prospects. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP, Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners LLC and David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management LP were among the 49 hedge funds who sold their entire GM stakes as of March 31, according to regulatory filings compiled by Bloomberg. In total, 81 hedge funds sold GM in the quarter, including Daniel Och’s Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC and George Soros’s Soros Fund Management LLC.
Two More Air-Traffic Controllers Caught Sleeping (Bloomberg)
Two more U.S. air-traffic controllers were caught sleeping in January at their posts in Los Angeles and Fort Worth, Texas, Federal Aviation administration chief Randy Babbitt told reporters. Continue reading »
$$$ Jim Chanos: “Lately, I have been taking a beating from some Chinese real estate developers including one very recently…These kinds of criticisms, these ad hominem criticisms are fine, but what people again don’t seem to be attacking are the facts. The property developer stocks that we’re short have been declining. This has been a good place to be short for the last 18 months…Actually, our team just got back from China…they actually came back saying we are not bearish enough.” (YouTube)
$$$ How investing tips from Ira Sohn 2010 played out: Eisman, Arbess win big; Einhorn gets crushed; Tepper is so-so (AR)
$$$ AIG Issues ‘Clarification’ on Presentation Before Share Sale (Bloomberg)
$$$ GOP Plans Vote on Debt-Limit Bill (WSJ)
$$$ Bill Gross: When Will He Be Right? Maybe Never Edition (MarketBeat) Continue reading »
Poll: How Long Must Coke Fiends Wait ‘Til The Olive Garden Currency Is More Valuable Than The Dollar?
By Bess Levin
Hoping to receive $10 worth of cocaine in exchange for Olive Garden salad in a to-go box, a Salt Lake City woman instead was charged with a third degree felony by an undercover police officer. In addition to the salad, the woman also offered the officer $2, and vowed to return later with more money or Olive Garden gift cards. The officer was not persuaded and in addition to the felony, the woman was also charged with one count of attempted possession or use of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia (she had a glass pipe in her pocket), a class A misdemeanor. [HP via Heidi Moore]
From the mailbag: Continue reading »
