- Stanford Surrenders to FBI in Virginia, Is Taken Into Custody
- Ex-Merrill trio discussed buying back bank
- GM, Chrysler Bailouts Trim Obama’s Approval Ratings
- SEC’s Schapiro Urges Vigilance in Defining Swap Deals
- Schapiro Says SEC May Force More Disclosure About ‘Dark Pools’
- CIC Said to Invest $500 Million in Hedge Funds, Blackstone
- Blackstone, Carlyle Pursue Bank LBOs as Obama Changes Landscape
- Big Change in Store for Brokers in Obama’s Oversight Overhaul
- KKR Holds Deal Talks to Delay Its NYSE Listing
- Libor Daily Survey May Include Larger Number of Banks, BBA Says
- Google Invests $2.6 Million in Genetics Company
- Business Gets Stronger Hand in Age Cases
- RIM Forecasts Profit, Sales That May Miss Estimates
- UAW nominates director to GM board
- Porsche May Fail to Avoid VW’s Grip, Even With Qatar
- Judge Orders Scrushy to Pay $2.88 Billion In Civil Suit
- Debbie Reynolds’ Hollywood Museum Enters Chapter 11
Stanford Surrenders to FBI in Virginia, Is Taken Into Custody – Bloomberg
Texas Financier R. Allen Stanford, under investigation in an alleged $8 billion fraud involving the sale of certificates of deposit through his Antigua bank, surrendered to federal agents and was taken into custody, his lawyer said.
Stanford, 59, surrendered today to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who were waiting outside his girlfriend’s house in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said Dick DeGuerin, a lawyer for Stanford.
Ex-Merrill trio discussed buying back bank – Financial Times
Three former Merrill Lynch executives approached Ken Lewis, Bank of America chief executive, this year to discuss buying back some or all of their old company but were politely rebuffed, the Financial Times has learnt.
The trio – Dan Tully, former Merrill chief executive; Launny Steffens, former head of Merrill’s private client business; and Winthrop Smith Jr, son of one of Merrill’s co-founders – flew to BofA’s hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, about two months ago to meet Mr Lewis and float the idea, Mr Smith said on Thursday……
GM, Chrysler Bailouts Trim Obama’s Approval Ratings – Bloomberg
The government’s bailouts of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are unpopular among large numbers of Americans, and that is helping to drag down President Barack Obama’s approval ratings, according to three new polls.
A survey published today by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that the percentage of respondents approving of the way Obama is handling the economy dropped to 52 percent from 60 percent in April. Fifty-eight percent said they opposed spending billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to keep the automakers afloat, compared with 36 percent in favor…..
SEC’s Schapiro Urges Vigilance in Defining Swap Deals – Bloomberg
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said regulators will have to be “vigilant” about the $592 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market so firms don’t evade reporting requirements.
President Barack Obama’s administration released a plan for overhauling financial regulation yesterday that would require standardized over-the-counter derivatives to be guaranteed by clearinghouses. Customized products would face less-stringent oversight. The Treasury Department’s plan didn’t spell out how the government would distinguish between the two…..
Schapiro Says SEC May Force More Disclosure About ‘Dark Pools’ – Bloomberg
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro, concerned that trading on private electronic markets may pose “emerging risks” to investors, said the agency may require firms to disclose more information on their transactions.
If trading systems known as “dark pools” expand substantially, they may “prompt speculation and suspicion” about price fluctuations because they don’t provide enough transparency, Schapiro said in speech prepared for delivery today in New York. Traders with access to the private markets’ pending orders also may gain an unfair advantage, she said……
CIC Said to Invest $500 Million in Hedge Funds, Blackstone – Bloomberg
China Investment Corp., the nation’s $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, may invest as much as $500 million in hedge funds including those run by Blackstone Group LP, said two people familiar with the matter.
CIC aims to allocate $6 billion to hedge funds by the end of 2009, company adviser Felix Chee said two days ago at the GAIM International hedge fund conference at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. Chee, who is a special adviser to the chief investment officer of CIC, said he will initially run CIC’s hedge fund and proprietary trading effort……
Blackstone, Carlyle Pursue Bank LBOs as Obama Changes Landscape – Bloomberg
The world’s two biggest leveraged buyout firms, poised to acquire their second bank in as many months, may have cracked the code to purchase U.S. lenders as President Barack Obama retools the financial regulatory system.
Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group, along with David Bonderman’s TPG Capital, are attempting to buy First Republic Bank, according to people familiar with the matter. With each firm seeking a minority stake, the takeover would resemble last month’s agreement by New York-based Blackstone and Carlyle in Washington to purchase BankUnited Financial Corp…..
Big Change in Store for Brokers in Obama’s Oversight Overhaul – Wall Street Journal
Buried in President Obama’s proposed regulatory overhaul is a change that could upend Wall Street: Brokers would be held to a higher “fiduciary” standard that would compel them to place their client’s interests ahead of their own.
Currently, brokers are only required to offer investments that are “suitable,” which means they can’t put clients in inappropriate investments, such as a highly risky stock for an 80-year-old grandmother. The move could change the way products are sold and marketed and even how brokers are compensated…..
KKR Holds Deal Talks to Delay Its NYSE Listing – Wall Street Journal
Private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts Co. is in talks to further delay its New York Stock Exchange listing by merging its operations with its Amsterdam-listed affiliate, according to people familiar with the discussions.
KKR has tried for two years to go public with its own stock, but it has been forced to put off plans amid the turmoil in the capital markets….
Libor Daily Survey May Include Larger Number of Banks, BBA Says – Bloomberg
The British Bankers’ Association may expand the pool of banks that set the London interbank offered rate in a bid to bolster confidence in the benchmark for more than $360 trillion of financial products around the world.
Banks without a physical presence in London may apply to join the panel of members that contribute to the Libor-setting process, the BBA said on its Web site today. Banks will have to be “material participants” in the London market, the BBA said yesterday in an e-mail. A year ago, the organization said it would look to expand the panel of contributors and possibly add a second daily survey….
Google Invests $2.6 Million in Genetics Company – Wall Street Journal
Google Inc. said Thursday that it has invested an additional $2.6 million in 23andMe Inc., a biotech startup launched by Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s wife.
Google’s initial $3.9 million investment in the personal genetics company sparked controversy in May 2007 for the manner in which it blurred the line between personal and corporate property.
Mr. Brin disclosed last year that he has a gene that increases his likelihood of developing Parkinson’s disease — a mutation he found out about through DNA analysis by 23andMe….
Business Gets Stronger Hand in Age Cases – Wall Street Journal
The Supreme Court, in a divided 5-4 holding, on Thursday gave businesses a stronger hand in deflecting claims from older workers who allege they were discriminated against because of their age.
The majority opinion said employees bringing federal age-discrimination claims bear the burden of proving their age was a primary factor against in their reassignment by an employer. The split vote fell along ideological lines with conservatives in the majority and the court’s liberal block registering an angry dissent.
The decision is a win for businesses that increasingly face age-discrimination lawsuits. But the ruling also drew an angry reaction from a top Senate Democrat on legal issues, who compared the ruling’s outcome to an earlier worker-discrimination ruling Congress overturned with new law…..
RIM Forecasts Profit, Sales That May Miss Estimates – Bloomberg
Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry phones, forecast second-quarter profit and sales that fell short of some analysts’ estimates, sending the shares down as much as 5.5 percent in extended trading.
Profit in the period that ends Aug. 29 will be 94 cents to $1.03 a share on sales of $3.45 billion to $3.7 billion, Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM said today in a statement. Analysts on average estimated profit of 98 cents and sales of $3.61 billion…..
UAW nominates director to GM board – Reuters
The United Auto Workers union named veteran auto analyst and union advisor Steve Girsky to the board of General Motors Corp (GMGMQ.PK).
Girsky will represent the GM retiree healthcare trust fund, dubbed Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), on the board….
Porsche May Fail to Avoid VW’s Grip, Even With Qatar – Bloomberg
Porsche SE may find its alliance with Qatar will hasten a takeover by Volkswagen AG.
Plans to sell a stake to the Persian Gulf state would bolster Porsche’s finances enough to raise the sports-car maker’s attraction for Volkswagen, and give Qatar a path into Europe’s largest carmaker. Porsche may sell as much as 25 percent for 2.5 billion euros ($3.5 billion) to Qatar, two people familiar with the plan said June 15…..
Porsche has gone from the potential buyer in the marriage to the one struggling to stay independent as the eight-month back-and-forth fight for control between the carmakers drags out. Porsche has been buying options and VW shares since 2005 to protect ties to its largest supplier and in October said it wants 75 percent ownership to add VW’s cash flow to its books….
Judge Orders Scrushy to Pay $2.88 Billion In Civil Suit – Wall Street Journal
Richard Scrushy was hit with a staggering $2.88 billion civil judgment in a suit brought by HealthSouth Corp. shareholders, one of the largest findings ever from the era of massive corporate scandals.
The plaintiffs said that the former chairman and chief executive helped artificially inflate HealthSouth’s earnings for at least six years through an accounting scam uncovered in 2003.
But after six years of legal wrangling over the fraud at the rehabilitation chain, the question is, does Mr. Scrushy have any money left to pay the judgment?….
Debbie Reynolds’ Hollywood Museum Enters Chapter 11 – Wall Street Journal
The California non-profit organization that actress Debbie Reynolds founded to build a museum for her collection of Hollywood memorabilia – including Judy Garland’s blue dress from “The Wizard of Oz” and the white dress Marilyn Monroe wore over the subway grate in “The Seven-Year Itch” – has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Bankruptcy Beat has learned…..
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