- Tycoon attacks return of bankers’ bonuses
- Hedgies Exhale After Strong ‘09 Rebound
- Feds investigating Stanford ties to lawmakers-report
- Investors Reshape IndyMac
- New Hedge Funds Gain Momentum
- Holiday Retail Sales Rose an Estimated 3.6%, SpendingPulse Says
- ‘Avatar,’ Chipmunks lead worldwide box office
Tycoon attacks return of bankers’ bonuses – Financial Times
Guy Hands, the private equity tycoon, has launched a stinging assault on the return of big bonuses within the banking industry, lambasting bankers for taking home “wheelbarrows of money” on the back of taxpayers’ support…..
“I wrote my 2008 annual letter days after the failure of Lehman Brothers,” Mr Hands says. “At the time, the newspapers were full of bankers carrying cardboard boxes as they were sent home from their jobs . . . Only 12 months on and today’s papers are again full of photos of bankers – but this time they are going home with wheelbarrows of money as the bonus season kicks in.”…..
Hedgies Exhale After Strong ‘09 Rebound – Barron’s
THE YEAR 2009 WAS ONE OF RECOVERY and transparency for the hedge-fund industry, following a year of obfuscation, consolidation — and general devastation.
The global HFRI FundWeighted Composite Index showed a total return of 18.8% year-to-date through the end of November, after dropping a record 19.03% the year before. It is just 5.7% off its previous high-water mark, achieved in October 2007…..
Feds investigating Stanford ties to lawmakers-report – Reuters
U.S. federal authorities are investigating millions of dollars contributed by fraud suspect Allen Stanford and his staff to U.S. lawmakers in the past decade, the Miami Herald reported on Sunday…..
The newspaper said an e-mail sent to Stanford by Texas Republican Representative Pete Sessions on the day authorities announced fraud charges against the billionaire financier, as well as $2.3 million in contributions he made to Sessions and other U.S. lawmakers, were “part of the government’s inquiry.”,,,,,
Investors Reshape IndyMac – Wall Street Journal
A group of billionaires, hedge-fund managers and ex-Goldman Sachs executives are building a banking empire in California—with assistance from Uncle Sam.
Exactly a year ago these investors acquired the assets of collapsed mortgage lender IndyMac Bank from the federal government for about $1.5 billion and renamed it OneWest Bank. Earlier this month, OneWest purchased First Federal Bank of California, a failed Los Angeles-based lender…..
The OneWest ownership roster reads like an excerpt of the Forbes 400. It includes J.C. Flowers & Co., an investment firm run by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker J. Christopher Flowers; Paulson & Co., the large hedge fund; MSD Capital, which invests the fortune of computer mogul Michael Dell; and a fund controlled by famed speculator George Soros…..
New Hedge Funds Gain Momentum – Wall Street Journal
Investors’ appetite for hedge-fund start-ups is slowly returning. But managers typically are raising relatively small amounts and some are granting concessions on key terms.
The pace of new fund launches has picked up after plunging dramatically in late 2008, underscoring a broader trend of money generally flowing back into the sector. In the third quarter, 173 new funds launched, compared with 119 in the previous quarter and just 42 in the last three months of 2008, according to Chicago data-tracker Hedge Fund Research Inc. Bankers who provide services to hedge funds say there are a number of new launches in the pipeline…..
Holiday Retail Sales Rose an Estimated 3.6%, SpendingPulse Says – Bloomberg
U.S. retail sales rose an estimated 3.6 percent this holiday season from a year earlier, helped by online shopping and purchases of electronics, data from MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse showed.
The spending estimate for Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 excludes automotive and gasoline sales, the Purchase, New York-based researcher said in an e-mail yesterday. SpendingPulse measures retail sales across all payment forms, including cash and checks. The firm didn’t disclose dollar spending totals…..
‘Avatar,’ Chipmunks lead worldwide box office – Reuters
The 3-D extravaganza “Avatar” ruled the worldwide box office for a second weekend on Sunday, while the latest exploits of Alvin and the Chipmunks and Sherlock Holmes helped set a North American sales record.
“Avatar,” an eco-friendly morality tale from “Titanic” writer/director James Cameron, earned $220 million in North America and 108 foreign markets, taking its 10-day haul to $617.3 million…..
Tags: Allen Stanford, Banks, Bonuses, Compensation, Guy hands, Hedge funds, Retail sales
