Opening Bell: 09.23.14
Barclays will 'robustly' defend dark pool allegations: CEO (CNBC)
Jenkins said the matter was investigated fully by "internal and external resources." "We believe our defense is strong, and we intend to defend robustly those allegations that were made against us," he said in an interview with "Closing Bell." "Obviously if we have made mistakes, if we have gotten things wrong, then we'll acknowledge that, we'll take the sanction, we'll learn and we'll move on but where we think we are on strong ground, then we will defend our position." New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman brought the lawsuit against Barclays in June, and last week he defended it in court documents filed in the case. He also reasserted allegations that Barclays employees misled clients about their exposure to high-speed and potentially predatory market participants.
Morgan Stanley Trader Misses Bunnies as She Quits Playboy Club (Bloomberg)
The Morgan Stanley trader-turned-chef has quit the London club to open a restaurant and recalls the fun she had over three years, cooking for celebrities from Justin Bieber to Kate Moss. “Talk about a massive fun factor with the brand, and the stories I walked away from there,” Joo says. “It was incredible, hanging out in the Playboy Mansion in L.A. and looking after tons of rappers and footballers. ‘‘And I miss the bunnies. I love those girls. Who doesn’t love being surrounded by beautiful people? Come on!’’ To say that she has had a varied career is an understatement. Joo, 39, a Columbia engineering graduate, interned at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. She spent more than four years with Morgan Stanley in New York and San Francisco before studying at the French Culinary Institute in New York. She then moved to London and got a job as a pastry chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Television beckoned and she appeared on ‘‘Iron Chef’’ before being named executive chef when the Playboy Club returned to London in 2011. The Korean-American is now set to open a restaurant in London’s Soho in December. It will be called Jinjuu, which means ‘‘pearl’’ in Korean and will occupy a site on Kingly Street. She’s bringing her head chef from the Playboy Club, Andrew Hales, as well as pastry chef Jaime Garbutt.
Alibaba Banks Bring Home $261 Million in Fees (Bloomberg)
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s underwriters raked in $300 million in fees after completing the largest initial public offering in history. The banks received 1.2 percent of the proceeds in fees, according to a regulatory filing. The total IPO size increased to $25 billion the company said today, after the underwriters exercised the option to purchase 15 percent more shares. Pulling off Alibaba’s IPO is a coup for the five lead banks, which were all given an equal stake in the deal’s success. The fee structure is different from typical IPOs in the U.S., where there’s one lead manager that is awarded much of the fees. Alibaba also used an incentive bonus to coax better performance from underwriters.
Crackdown Targets Inversions Designed to Limit U.S. Taxes (Bloomberg)
The Treasury Department announced steps that will make it harder for U.S. companies to move their addresses outside the country to reduce taxes, clamping down on the practice known as inversions. The rules, which apply to deals that closed starting [yesterday], include a prohibition on “hopscotch” loans that let companies access foreign cash without paying U.S. taxes, and impose new curbs on actions that companies can use to make such transactions qualify for favorable tax treatment. The changes will have the biggest effect on eight U.S. companies with pending inversions, including Medtronic Inc. and AbbVie Inc., which plan the two largest such deals in U.S. history. In its purchase of Covidien Plc, Medtronic is loaning some of its untaxed profits outside the U.S. to its new Irish parent company, and that transaction could be penalized by the new anti-hopscotch rule.
German Firms Go on U.S. Buying Spree (WSJ)
The forces fueling the activity include record-low interest rates and stagnation in Europe, economic growth and declining energy prices in the U.S., and expanding cash hoards at thriving German companies. "German companies want to be where their customers are," said Dietmar Rieg, president of the German American Chamber of Commerce in New York. The latest deals bring to almost $70 billion the total value of German acquisitions announced in the U.S. so far this year, according to Dealogic. That ranks second to $77 billion in proposed takeovers by Canadian companies during a global M&A boom. German firms have already spent more on U.S. investments so far in 2014 than in every full year of the past two decades, according to Dealogic.
Man who has suffered 100 orgasms a day for past two years after slipping a disc in his back – but can't enjoy sex (DM)
For the last two years, Dale Decker has suffered 100 orgasms a day - but has not enjoyed one. The 37-year-old is the first man to speak out about suffering persistent genital arousal syndrome. He developed the condition in September 2012 after slipping a disc in his back while getting out of a chair. While he was en route to the hospital, he suffered five orgasms. Since that moment he has been plagued by the condition, he describes as 'disgusting and horrendous'. According to medical literature, trauma to the pelvic nerves can trigger hypersensitivity in this area. The painful pelvic condition has left him housebound and isolated, through fear of suffering a public orgasm. He said: 'Imagine being on your knees at your father's funeral beside his casket - saying goodbye to him and then you have nine orgasms right there. 'While your whole family is standing behind you. It makes you never want to have another orgasm for as long as you live.
Carl Icahn might save Trump Taj Mahal under right conditions (NYP)
Carl Icahn is ready to saddle up and ride in to save the Trump Taj Mahal — under certain circumstances, The Post has learned. The investor stands ready to pump $100 million into the ailing Atlantic City casino — but only if its unions and Atlantic City make big concessions, sources close to the situation said. Taj’s owner, Trump Entertainment Resorts, filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 9 after years of red ink, and is proposing a restructuring deal that needs the participation of Icahn, the unions and Atlantic City in order to save the 24-year-old boardwalk casino. If an agreement is not reached by Oct. 3, Taj executives will tell New Jersey authorities it is planning to close the casino — a move that will result in the loss of more than 4,000 jobs, a source close to the situation said.
BlackRock Urges Changes in ‘Broken’ Corporate Bond Market (Bloomberg)
BlackRock, a major competitor in the bond market with $4.3 trillion in client assets, urged changes including unseating banks as the primary middlemen in the market and shifting transactions to electronic markets. Another solution BlackRock proposed: reducing the complexity of the bond market by encouraging corporations to issue debt with more standardized terms.
Starbucks testing stout beer-flavored 'dark barrel latte' (Reuters)
The non-alcoholic drink includes a chocolaty stout flavored sauce, whipped cream and dark caramel drizzle, a spokeswoman said on Monday. Among other things, Starbucks is known for flavored lattes such as the "pumpkin spice" latte. The Seattle-based chain has sold more than 200 million of those seasonal drinks since their debut in 2003.
Wells Fargo brokerage arm fined $5m (FT)
Wells Fargo Advisors, the brokerage arm of the US bank, was fined $5m on Monday for failing to stop an employee from trading on customer information ahead of the 2010 acquisition of Burger King dubbed “the sandwich deal”. Internal compliance groups responsible for ensuring brokers did not abuse customers’ confidential information “ultimately failed to act”, the Securities and Exchange Commission said as it detailed the allegations. The brokerage declined to comment. The penalty is the first by the SEC against a broker-dealer for failing to protect a customer’s market-sensitive information. The case involved a broker trading on his own account and allegedly tipping off others about a client’s private information related to the acquisition of Burger King by 3G Capital Partners, the Brazilian private equity firm.
Assault by cake reported at North Seattle KFC (Seattle Times)
On Saturday, Seattle police Officer Nic Abts-Olsen responded to reports of an assault at the KFC in the 13200 block of Aurora Avenue North. The weapon of choice: Cake...As Abts-Olsen and his partner Cliff Borjeson rolled to the scene, details of the attack trickled in from dispatchers: “Unknown male was throwing cake at employees.” Followed by the ominous: “They can no longer sell the cake.” Employees told the two officers that a man walked into the store, threw a KFC-brand cake at them and then left. Fortunately, the man’s aim was off. Staff at the KFC were only able to provide a vague description of the man. But they offered a much more vivid description of his weapon: “The cake was described as a lemon cake, yellow in color and circular and costs exactly $5.19,” Officer Abts-Olsen wrote in a report.