Archive for November 2011

Last week Goldman and Morgan Stanley dropped sneaky hints about maybe changing their accounting so they could lend their way into more M&A deals. But this week we’re back to Barclays lending its way into more M&A deals, and Skip McGee got a little excited about it for DealBook:

“We’ve long had a big-boy M.& A. business,” Hugh E. McGee III, Barclays’ head of investment banking and a Lehman veteran, said in an interview. “And now we’ve got a big-boy checkbook.”

That’s a pleasingly straightforward take on the Barclays rises from Lehman’s ashes story, in which Lehman bankers find it quite congenial to be able to win deals by lending gobs of money to companies to pay for their mergers. Not that that’s how Barclays wins mandates or anything:

But Mr. McGee said the bank’s aim was not to rely on lending to get into deals. Barclays is less likely to make a giant loan commitment if it is not one of the lead advisers on a transaction, he said, and is being discerning about to whom it lends.

“We want to lead with our relationships and then use our balance sheet,” he said. “We don’t want to lead with our balance sheet.”

So is that working? Just for fun/to play with the Secret Dealbreaker Bloomberg/to make some charts, I made some charts. Continue reading »

The protestors can come back but they can’t spend the night. Continue reading »

From time to time around these parts, we like to offer tips for those looking to successfully make the jump from one firm to another. Obviously a solid record of making money for your employer will help but in addition, or perhaps in lieu of that, nailing the first and last interview is key, and whether you’re a college senior, a third year analyst or a 20 year veteran of the industry, the interview is something with which some people still struggle. While eye contact, handshakes and how to discuss your “worst quality” have all been covered, one topic we haven’t yet discussed is what to do in the event the person conducting your session asks for your thoughts on sex abuse. Specifically, the sex abuse scandal that went down at your respective alma mater. Luckily, career services at Penn State is all over it. Continue reading »

It’s fun to get all riled up about insider trading! So let’s.

But first, I see you have some XYZ shares. Would you like to sell them to me? Here are some things you might want to know about it:
1. Warren Buffett is secretly buying loads of it.
2. Congress is going to do something that will make it go up, like kill pending legislation that would restrict its profits.
Let’s say I know those things and you don’t. I buy XYZ from you. Have I committed a crime? Maybe – but it’s not as easy as that.

Let’s start with what insider trading is. Actually let’s start with what it isn’t. Henry Blodget gives a popular simplification, “The definition of insider trading is trading while in possession of material non-public information.” If you think that, then clearly Congresspeople are committing crimes by trading on the knowledge that they’re going to earmark loads of cash to a company or deregulate it or just blow up the financial system or whatever they’re up to.

But that’s not the definition of insider trading, or at least of illegal insider trading. You can tell that by doing this little thought experiment:

1. Buffett knows he’s going to buy ten yards or so of IBM
2. He knows that that will move the market, so it’s material
3. He hasn’t told anyone yet, so it’s non-public
4. So he’s got “material” “non-public” information about IBM
5. He buys it anyway
6. Has he committed a crime?
Continue reading »

A group of Occupy Wall Street protesters surrounded the recently renovated Duarte Square…armed with new yellow signs and a tent, but were met by police guarding the exterior of the public space along Canal Street, Grand Street, and Sixth Avenue…police moved in at 11:55 a.m. and arrested approximately eight people, one of whom was dragged out by their arms and legs. [Daily Intel]

  • 15 Nov 2011 at 11:57 AM

Dear Tudor, RenTec Investors

October performance. Continue reading »

During bonus season last year, Credit Suisse announced that the money employees earned in 2010 would be paid out over 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (all of which was subject to clawback rules). People were not thrilled! This year, in an effort to show they’ve been listening, management has announced some big changes to the compensation plan. 1) Only those making more than 250,000 Swiss francs (which CS points out are few and far between) will be subject to deferred compensation (previously it was any amount above 50,000) and 2) Of the deferred shares being awarded, you’ll only have to wait three years, and not four, for it to vest. Pretty sweet deal if you ask the other Swiss bank in town, where bonuses (a sheet of bubble wrap and 15 free minutes to cry publicly without judgement) paid out over any period of time would be a step up. The suggestion box is working! Continue reading »

Opening Bell: 11.15.11

UBS Names Ermotti Permanent CEO (WSJ)
In a widely expected move, UBS AG on Tuesday appointed Sergio Ermotti as chief executive, just days ahead of a key meeting where it plans to tell investors it will shrink its investment bank and focus more on managing assets for wealthy clients. Mr. Ermotti, a Swiss national, was named interim-CEO when Oswald Grübel stepped down abruptly in late September, after the Swiss bank reported it lost more than $2 billion in an alleged rogue-trading incident. He had joined UBS in April, at Mr. Grübel’s invitation, from Italian bank UniCredit SpA.

Police Clear Zuccotti Park (WSJ)
Police brought the two-month-old Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park to an abrupt end early Tuesday morning, as hundreds of officers swept in and cleared out protesters and their tents. They arrested 70 protesters who refused to leave and sent others into the surrounding streets, setting off clashes and marches throughout Lower Manhattan…Mr. Bloomberg quickly took responsibility for the move, saying in a statement released before dawn that the park’s owners had asked for the city’s help in enforcing its rules against sleeping there, but that “the final decision to act was mine.”

Court order: City can’t keep Occupy Wall Street protesters and their stuff out of Zuccotti Park (NYDN)
Hours after baton-wielding cops cleared Occupy Wall Street protesters and their tents out of Zuccotti Park, a judge signed a order Tuesday saying the demonstrators can return with their stuff. Mayor Bloomberg said the city was trying to clarify the restraining order signed by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings, a former civil liberties lawyer.

Timing Questions Emerge On MF Global Cash (WSJ)
As the firm was fighting to survive a customer exodus during the week before its Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing, MF Global officials didn’t indicate there were any deficits in customer accounts, according to people familiar with the matter. On Oct. 28, MF Global officials reported to CME Group that the customer funds at the firm were in good shape, according to people familiar with the matter.

Panel Rebuts Fraud Claim Against Sino-Forest (WSJ)
The independent committee investigating Chinese timber producer Sino-Forest Corp. said it found no evidence of fraud at the company and emphatically rejected allegations by a short-seller that sent shares down 80%. The claims by research firm Muddy Waters LLC, which said Sino-Forest was a “near total fraud” and a “Ponzi scheme,” were among the most explosive in a string of accusations against Chinese companies. The Canada-listed Chinese timber company says its report—the result of a $35 million, five-month investigation—found that the company owned all the timber it claimed, valued it correctly and had not carried out any questionable transactions.

Jerry Sandusky: “I Enjoy Young People” (Deadspin)
Sandusky, when asked if he was a pedophile, told Costas “no.” When asked if he was sexually attracted to young boys, he paused for a moment and then responded: “Am I sexually attracted to underage boys? Sexually attracted? You know, I enjoy young people. I, I love to be around them. I, I… But no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys.” Sandusky also admitted to “horsing around” with young boys in the shower. He still believes that he is “innocent of those charges”—”those” being the 40-count indictment against him—and asks that the public “hang on until my attorney proves my innocence.” Continue reading »

Write-Offs: 11.14.11

$$$ Merkel urges stronger union to back euro [FT]

$$$ A Wave of Partner Retirements at Goldman Sachs [DealBook]

$$$ Credit Suisse’s Long-Term Rating May Be Reduced by Moody’s [Bloomberg]

$$$ Where Big Investors Put Their Money In Latest Quarter [Reuters/CNBC]

$$$ Dominique Strauss-Kahn ‘facing arrest over prostitution racket allegations’ [Telegraph]
Continue reading »

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Anal_ist on College Students Reveling In The Awesomeness Of The Shattered American Dream: Continue reading »

Deutsche Bank said Monday that the bank’s Chief Executive Josef Ackermann won’t take over as chairman of the supervisory board when he steps down in May, and it is proposing Allianz SE financial chief Paul Achleitner for the position instead. Citing “extremely challenging” conditions on the international financial markets and in the political-regulatory environment,” Mr. Ackermann said he must focus on his tasks as CEO right now, according to a statement from the bank. This means he can’t spend time seeking the support of shareholders for his bid to be supervisory board chairman. Supervisory board candidates need the support of 25% of the shareholders to be elected. A person familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires that Mr. Ackermann didn’t have the time do the necessary lobbying and couldn’t win their backing. Another person familiar with the matter said: “It became obvious that Ackermann couldn’t secure this.” [WSJ]