Does Bank of American big man Ken Lewis know what he’s getting into with Countrywide? The recent news tying former Fannie Mae chief executives to sweetheart loans from Countrywide may result in the home lender getting cut off from the GSE gravy train. At the very least, Countrywide’s share of Fannie Mae’s dollars for mortgages exchange program is sure to decline.
But it’s not just Countrywide’s revenues that are in trouble. It’s piling up declining real estate assets as borrowers default. “As the deal moves ever closer, the number of homes that Countrywide owns in Florida has now climbed above 1,600 and the prices, despite being slashed repeatedly, continue to fall,” Michelle Leder writes at Footnoted.org.
More examples of Countrywide’s multiplier effect… [Footnoted]
Countrywide
I don’t think any of you really comprehend how hard it is to be Angelo Mozilo. A typical day for the Countrywide CEO will include being given shit because a bunch of deadbeats couldn’t get it together to make the payments on mortgages he convinced them to take out, having to justify his barely adequate compensation, and being forced to replace the bulbs on his in-house tanning bed because the guy from Mystic Tan said he’d be there between 9 and 3 PM and it’s 3:35 and daddy “needs to get his burn on now, god damn it.” So when he gets an email from a homeowner seeking guidance, and said homeowner has the audacity to borrow language from LoanSafe.org, a coaching service for troubled borrowers, well, he (entirely justifiably) snaps. Daniel Bailey wrote (to Big Moz and various other senior Countrywide execs):
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Countrywide
Mo Hazard’s Offenses: Subprime Crisis, Melanoma — Now Syphillis, Too?
By Bess Levin
Well, everyone, syphilis is on the rise. The Department of Health reports that cases of Cupid’s disease in the city increased sixty percent last year. Who do we have to blame for this? Nominations include Jim Simons, Cody and Cavuto, and Angelo Mozilo, the last one being most plausible, considering his (tanning) bed-hopping frequency. Hopefully, today’s testimony before Congress will shed some light. In the meantime– any other culprits you can think of? The shareholders have a right to know.
Citywide syphilis surge starts in Chelsea [Chelsea Now]
I just saw (not so) “big al [Greenspan]” leaving the hotel on fifth ave (next to cipriani btwn 59th/60th). Not only does the guy have a Louis Vuitton luggage, he had an orange LV duffle. Seriously, what was he thinking?…I would have taken a picture if hadn’t been so nasty outside. The orange was similar to a “blood orange”, even moz would have been appalled.
We’re not crazy- we understood full well the tough times that mortgage lender Countrywide has lately fallen on would mean a battening down and tightening of the company belt. We just assumed the streamlining would be contained to firing a ton of employees and screwing a few more people on their home loans, and not impinge on the really important stuff, like flying Ang. Moz.’s leathery goodness around the world in style.
So we were extremely disappointed to hear that the company put its Gulfstream IV on the market, for $21.5 million, which really isn’t that much money when you factor in how sad the sale will make the old crocodile, who’s had some great times in that thing. Making spur of the moment visits to Fresno for the ego boosts derived from thinking about how many people he and his associates fucked in town. Entertaining tanning bed distributers at the cabin bar during the flight to Dubuque, Iowa for their missionary work (if ever there was a population comprised solely of pasty individuals in need of a little “face paint,” as Moz likes to call it, it was in Dubque). Throwing $500,000 in small bills out the window over a cattle ranch in Montana, and making 100 Countrywide staffers pick up and return every last dollar. Shit like that.
And now he’s being involuntarily stripped of these memories, like the chemical peel he so desperately needs but refuses to get. Anyway. I’m not sure there’s anything any of us can do about it, but I just felt you should know. If I’m wrong, and you do have the scratch, there’s contact information for some Countrywide guy named Patrick Johnson who I guess is handling the sale. Give him a buzz in the office at (818) 778-1770, or try him on his cell at (203) 890-2000. This is important.
1990 GULFSTREAM IV [Controller]
* Yeah I know he “said” he wouldn’t use the company plane but we’re talking about Angelo Mozillo here and need to take everything that comes out of his mouth with a giant grain of If I’d screw you for a nickle, you don’t even want to know what I’d do to you for a free ride on the corporate jetTM salt.
A former Countrywide employee informs us that Capital Market layoffs began this morning, with a 30-35 percent reduction in CMBS and 10 percent on the RMBS sales/trading desk. Packages were predictably weak (approximately 3 months on average with bonus allocations from 2007 ranging from 40-60 percent of the prior year, plus one free pass to the Hollywood Tans of their choice), but surveyed to be “better than ML and CS” (and, one hopes, BoA). He didn’t make mention of the larger issues– specifically, being burdened with the task of finding a new employer who furnishes the office with tanning beds instead of desks, and generally, how it’ll feel to no longer bask in the reflected glow of the big guy, but we’ll check back in a few days, when the shock’s worn off, and reality’s set in. And by reality setting in, we mean the recognition that each and everyone one of them played a small part in the historic effort of rooking millions of homeowners and investors — but the spoonful of sugar is that many deserved it. Good luck with your conscience. And the melonoma.
Is Bank of America’s acquisition of Countrywide in trouble? You wouldn’t think so if you’re looking at the spread between where the shares of the two companies are trading. The spread between the shares and the offering price has narrowed dramatically in the last few days, from a high of nearly 25% to the current 15% gap.
But today the Monaco-based hedge fund SRM Global Fund filed a 13D complaining that the merger plan does not deliver “sufficient value” to Countrywide shareholders. SRM has acquired a 5.19% stake in Countrywide.
Most commentary on the deal has focused on whether Bank of America might back out. It has been described as a “bailout” and Bank of America’s role as that of a “White Knight.” The idea that Countrywide’s shareholders would balk at the deal comes as a surprise.
SRM seems to specialize in troubled home lenders. They also have a major stake in Northern Rock.
SRM 13D [SEC]
Countrywide merger criticized, BoA names mortgage exec [Reuters]
There’s a shocking story in today’s Post about how Countrywide’s Angelo Mozillo said the company would be profitable in the fourth-quarter and—HOMG—it wasn’t. An investor in Georgia is “a little bit disappointed” that he lost $3,200 and a lot of people are just plain hurt that they were taken for a ride (in AM’s red Iroc, whose plates read: ‘mohazard’). The shocking part is that the paper is supposedly surprised that Mystic Tan man would lie about the mortgage lender’s outlook, even though it’s been established for some time that Ang. would, in his own words, “screw you for a nickel, or a used tanning bed and some UV goggles.” We’d expect this sort of bright-eyed innocence from Andrew Ross Sorkin or Don Klarney but the Post? You guys are supposed to be better—and more versed in jabroni—than that. Oh well. You know we can’t stay mad at you for too long. Not when you’re turning out graphics like that.
No Bottom Yet [NYP]
There’s little in Countrywide’s earnings announcement that seem likely to shake Bank of America from its desire to own the home lending giant. Indeed, shares of Countrywide moved up this morning and the merger arb gap narrowed to 80% or so, implying that traders are getting more confident the deal will eventually close.
This morning the Wall Street Journal carried an interesting article that claims to explain why Countrywide agreed to sell out to Bank of America. Pressure from ratings agencies and regulators threatened to end the way Countrywide did business, the article claims, and this drove the mortgageer into the arms of Bank of America.
But to really understand the article you have to read it backwards, like a teenager spinning a record backwards to hear the hidden demonic exhortation. The real story here is how the government has been funding Countrywide by lending it money through the Federal Home Loan Banks system and guaranteeing deposits in its CDs through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Countrywide CDs had enormous interest rates, and those government guarantees allowed depositors to derive risk free yields of more than 5% in recent months. As those deposits grew, so did its ability to borrow through the FHLB, which allows borrowing on up to 50% of a home loan banks deposit assets.
In short, these government programs allowed Countrywide to escape the discipline of the marketplace for several months. And it was only recent attention from lawmakers and regulator that cast doubt on the willingness of the government to continue these subsidies.
Countrywide Deal Driven by Crackdown Fear [Wall Street Journal]
Merger arbitrageurs were widely expected to be even more concerned about Bank of America’s plan to buy Countrywide Financial yesterday but, surprisingly, they seem to have become more confident. In early morning trading yesterday, Bank of America stock slid 6 percent and Countrywide fell 12 percent. As both stocks hit their lows for the day shortly after 10 am Tuesday morning, the spread between the share prices of the two companies and acquisition price they agreed to more than a week ago grew to its widest level since the deal was announced on January 11th. But as the day wore on, shares of Countrywide climbed back for a gain of 7.86 percent and Bank of America climbed 4 percent, the share prices and the agreed acquisition price narrowed a bit.
We’ve been talking to our sources at Bank of America (a rapidly dwindling pool of investment bankers who have begun to carry their resumes with them at all times), trying to figure out what the business rationale for buying Countrywide might be. The best answer we’ve heard is that the deal reduces Countrywide’s cost of funding. As a stand alone entity, Countrywide’s borrowing costs had grown so high that it was going to be teetering on the verge of insolvency. But as a part of the ginormous BofA, it will be able to greatly reduce those costs to the extent that its business can be very profitable even in the short term.
Felix Salmon over at Portfolio talks to the sources inside his head and comes to a very different conclusion. Salmon thinks it is about Lewis’s plan to concentrate on retail banking and get out of investment banking. “Bank of America has now, overnight, become by far the biggest and strongest and most important operator in the world of US mortgages. Over the long term, that status is going to be hugely valuable for Lewis, even if he has to take some write-downs along the way,” he writes. “Finally, the Countrywide acquisition solidifies BofA’s status as a consumer bank, and helps Lewis’s decision to move slowly out of the investment-banking business look strategic.”
Our political friends are already crying bailout. They expect there to be some sort of liability limiting move from Washington, DC as part of this deal. The conspiratorial minded set also believe that this confirms that Countrywide really was as close to bankruptcy as many thought yesterday.
But we first learned of this deal from our commenters, who tend to be our best sources for scoops and analysis. So don’t let us tell you what to think on this. Let’s do it the other way. Tell us what’s going on. Why is BofA so hot to buy Countrywide? And would you buy Countrywide if you were Ken Lewis?
Update:Herb Greenberg says the Fed is engineering this deal and that the government will likely provide Bank of America with guarantees limiting the losses. He also quotes Jon Najarian of Optionsmonster.com, on the very, very suspicious options activity prior to the news of this deal breaking.
To say there was HUGE unusual activity in Countrywide Financial ahead of today’s news that Bank America was close to finalizing a deal to buy the troubled mortgage giant would be as surprising as seeing Dennis Kucinich end his presidential run! We show over 304,000 calls traded against 248,000 puts, but the interesting thing here is that the bulk, some 76 percent of these calls were bought before the announcement! To us this means the likelihood of someone being tipped off was quite high. Like Burj Dubai Tower high!
Why BofA Bought Countrywide [Market Movers]
