For all the anger and vitriol directed at Wall Street, finance and financiers, things haven’t gotten to the point where violence is more than a passing concern. Not so, we fear, elsewhere in the world.
A Greek militant group threatened in a statement published Thursday to continue its bombing campaign, saying recent attacks against Citibank were in response to the international financial crisis.
The Pontiki weekly newspaper published a statement from the Revolutionary Struggle group, which claimed responsibility for a failed car-bomb attack Feb. 18 on Citibank offices in Athens and a bomb attack Monday on a suburban Citibank branch that caused damage but no injuries.
Bad news: Citi a target of terrorist organizations because of complicity in financial crisis.
Good news: Terrorist organization can’t seem to bat more than .200 against southpaw Vikram Pandit.
Greek terror group: Citibank attacked over crisis [Yahoo Finance]
It literally was only a matter of time, and it really makes no difference how “temporarily” businesses are absolutely-definitely-totally-not-really nationalized. Patronage politics will show their ugly face and give us the insanity of a government tempted to dumb down a business it had to take over because of poor performance. Citi isn’t even technically nationalized yet and already, it’s starting. Latest nonsense follows:
Citigroup’s rivals are lobbying the government to shackle its investment banking business and international operations if the authorities nationalise or take a large stake in the troubled financial group.
The increasing likelihood the US Treasury will end up with a big holding in return for throwing Citi its third lifeline in less than four months has prompted other Wall Street groups to go on the offensive in Washington.
Apparently, the slippery slope is covered in melted butter runoff from all the popcorn being consumed on the sidelines.
Rivals want curb on nationalised Citi [The Financial Times]
FOX Business Network has won a victory against the Treasury Department in its Freedom of Information Act request for details about the government’s bailout plan.
Judge Richard J. Holwell of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said in a decision Friday that the government is directed to comply with FOX Business’s request under the FOIA “within 30 days and to produce a Vaughn index with 45 days.”
[...]
The initial request, filed on Nov. 25, sought actual data on the use of the bailout funds for American International Group and the Bank of New York Mellon, and an additional request, filed on Dec. 1, sought similar data on the bailout funds for Citigroup.
FBN asked the Treasury Department to identify, among other issues, the troubled assets purchased, any collateral extended, and any restrictions placed on these financial institutions for their participation in this program.
Cody must be thrilled.
FOX Business Wins FOIA Lawsuit Against Treasury [FBN]
And you thought you had it bad:
The investment firm of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the largest private shareholder in Citigroup, posted a $8.26 billion net loss in the fourth quarter as the value of its assets dove.
I suppose we had to find someone to fill the part of “foreign investors fleeced by U.S. assets” since the Japanese engaged in the ruinous purchase (and subsequent firesale back to original owners) of U.S. real estate assets. This time it was China and Petrodollars and the assets were financial. Chant it with me: U-S-A, U-S-A….
Saudi’s Kingdom Holding posts $8.3 bln Q4 loss [Reuters]
Customers of New York City-based Citibank have lost access to much of their account information because of a computer outage.
Many of the troubled bank’s clients haven’t been able to retrieve account details online or by telephone since Tuesday afternoon. Others can access only parts of their account profiles.
First the trains… now this. Seriously, Citi, what gives?
Citibank’s computers down, blocking account info [AP]
Surely you remember the era when we jumped from one record breaking buyout to another. It wasn’t that long ago, after all. Or does it seem forever ago? The peak a year and a half ago had the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn and Merrill Lynch’s private equity group teaming up to slurp down Canadian telecom giant BCE for a record $41 billion. The announcement by the firms that the deal is dead puts this one squarely into the next superlative era, i.e. waiting for the next litigation bout to mount over the biggest breakup fee ever. ($1.2 billion in this case, which the core four, unsurprisingly, claim they are not going to be paying- damn your eyes, man).
There was, you see, a little twist.
Somewhere, out there, there is a KPMG “valuation expert” who, by delivering the opinion that the resultant entity would be insolvent, may well have saved the core four not just having to own the thing, but the big bil-point-two in breakup.
KPMG’s analysis took Wall Street by surprise. Unlike the targets in many other failed buyouts, BCE has seen its operating performance remain solid. The company also has an investment-grade credit rating and almost $3 billion of cash on its balance sheet.
The conspiracy theorist in us can just picture the smoky back room meeting that preceded that report writing. And if it wasn’t the core four delivering a big fat carrot and a thinly veiled “Ontario can be a very dangerous place to raise a family, Mr. KPMG valuation expert” threat or two, just imagine what Citigroup, the Germans, the Scotts AND the Canadian bankers would have done to avoid putting $34 billion in debt on the street. So, if you meet a “former KPMG valuation expert” off the coast of Martinique some months hence, looking a bit young for the 70 foot Hinckley he commands, well, you know the scoop.*
*Of course, this is just our imagination running wild. Really wild.
BCE Leveraged Buyout Deal Collapses [The Wall Street Journal]
When it comes to creative narrative, you have to look pretty hard to beat the plaintiff’s bar. Take, for instance, the federal lawsuit jabbing Citi management with the accusation that their repackaging and remarketing of CDOs amounted to a Ponzi scheme, propping up CIti shares until insiders could exit. Chuck Prince and Robert Rubin are at the center of the mess, and, whatever you think of the claims, the timing could probably be better for Robert Rubin.
Still, who are we to turn our nose up at a well written complaint or the New York Post article that brings it to us in Technicolor?
‘PONZI SCHEME’ AT CITI [The New York Post]
