Wall Street Folly

Even as their investors have given them huge lack of confidence vote by opting to redeem billions from their hedge funds, Cerberus is apparently planning a three year lock up for their newest hedge fund offerings which will be looking for new cash in the not too distant future.  Talk about nervy.  In our opinion, anyone who invests in these funds is asking to be fucked royally.   In general, the distressed deals have been getting shorter in duration, not longer, so why the need for an incredibly long three year lock up?  Other than being expedient for Cerberus, a three year lock up is absurd in a hedge fund.  Talk about chutzpah. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cerberus, Chutzpah, Hedge funds, Lock ups, Stephen Feinberg

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bain, Barclays, Cerberus, Fees, Hedge funds, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, Nomura, Och Ziff, Real Estate

• Cerberus to Raise New Funds After Investors Pull $4.77 Billion
• Lehman’s Europe Administrator May Claim $100 Billion
• Frank Said to Back Broader Fed Audits
• Kennedy Death Cuts Broad Health Bill Odds, Hatch Says
• Raft of Deals for Failed Banks Puts U.S. on Hook for Billions
• Fed makes $14bn profit on loans provided during financial turmoil
• The Flash-Trading Thorn in NYSE’s Side Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Apple, Barney Frank, Cerberus, Fed, Fees, Health Care, Hedge fund redemptions, Lehman Brothers, NYSE, Politics

• Doubts Slow Financial Regulation Overhaul on Capitol Hill
• Budget Agreement Deepens California’s Pain
• GE Capital Approved for Plan to Exit FDIC-Backed Debt
• CIT Said to Have Spurned $2 Billion Secured GE Loan
• Microsoft Terminates Its Financing Relationship With CIT Group Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: California, Cerberus, CIT, Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan, Microsoft, Politics, Yahoo

• Contrite, Cerberus Looks to Appease Its Investors
• Cerberus Partners Fund Being Restructured
• TARP Watchdog Challenges Treasury On Warrant Repayments
• SEC calls for Calif. IOUs treated as securities
• California IOUs Spurned as Schwarzenegger State Shutdowns Begin
• AIG Seeks Clearance to Release Bonuses
• Citadel Group Sues Ex-Executives for Contract Breach Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: AIG, Bernie Madoff, California, Cerberus, Citadel, Goldman Sachs, Hedge funds, Politics, TARP, U.S. Treasury, UBS

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bankruptcy, Cerberus, Fidelity, GLG, Hedge funds, KKR, Private equity

Because it coult take years for that special purpose vehicle stake you might be getting to liquidate……

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cerberus, Hedge funds

Cerberus will be cutting around 10% of its 275 staff members according to the Financial Times….

Cerberus to cut staff as it seeks assistance – Financial Times

Tags: Cerberus, Hedge funds, Private equity, Revolving Door

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Activist Investing, Bankruptcy, Blackstone, Carlyle, Cerberus, Hedge funds, KKR, Private equity

We suspected on Monday that GMAC's silly 'we're still counting' excuse was bullshit:  As it turns out, it was.  GMAC announced that their debt swap deal is done, but they got far less than 75% originally required — only 59% of the GMAC notes and only 39% of the ResCap notes were ultimately tendered.  Of course, as we all know, they got their TARP funds anyway.  Here's the press release they put out:

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cerberus, Credit Crunch, GM

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cerberus, Hedge funds, Private equity

Cerberus is the latest fund to limit investors exit — it lost 16% this year through December in its $4 billion hedge fund.  And investors had submitted redemption requests in an amount more than 16.5%….

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cerberus, Chrysler, credit cards, Hedge funds

• Goldman’s Blankfein Says Credit Crisis Close to End
• Soros Says Credit Crisis Will Worsen Before Improving
• Vulture Firms Swoop in On Banks’ Debt

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cerberus, Distressed, George Soros, Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein

The Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column focuses on Cerberus today, wondering whether the fund is having problems under the hood with its acquisitions of GMAC LLC and Chrysler LLC….

Time for alarm?

"I’m not stressed," said Mark Neporent, the firm’s No. 2 executive and a confidant of its reclusive founder, Stephen Feinberg.

In a rare interview at the firm’s Park Avenue headquarters, Mr. Neporent dismissed any suggestion Cerberus was struggling or battening down the hatches. He said the firm has ample liquidity to do any deal that makes sense for its investors. If anything, Cerberus is slowly emerging out of its shell. Mr. Feinberg has been spending the week at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland.

The closely held firm, which has $26 billion under management, never commits more than 5% of the money in any one of its numerous funds to any single investment, Mr. Neporent said.

Cerberus’s Rocky Road – Wall Street Journal

Tags: Cerberus

At least reclusive Cerberus CEO Steve Feinberg’s public court appearance wasn’t in vain.  Cerberus won their case against United Rentals.  A judge said that they don’t have to follow through with their buyout of the firm: 

Delaware Chancery Court Judge William B.
Chandler III ruled today that United Rentals officials should have known that
Cerberus executives believed they had a right to pull out of the deal at any
time as long as they paid a $100 million fee.

“There’s some clarity here for the private-equity firms that if you have an
agreement, you’re protected,” Steven Kaplan, a professor at the University of
Chicago Graduate School of Business, said in a phone interview. “For United
Rentals, part of this can’t be recovered because it was predicated on debt
markets that no longer exist.”

United alleged Cerberus’s RAM Holdings buyout entities agreed in July to pay
$34.50 per share for United Rentals’ stock, and reneged on the deal in November
amid weakened U.S. credit markets.

United Rentals Can’t Force $4 Billion Cerberus Buyout – Bloomberg

Tags: Cerberus, Lawsuit, LBO / MBO

Thanks to recent litigation between Cerberus and United Rentals, famously reclusive Cerberus CEO was caught on tape.  So naturally, with our admitted fascination with the  OfficeMax elves, we present to you Stephen Feinberg, the dancing elf.

Prior elfings: Dancing Private Equity Elves, Dancing Hedge Fund Elves, and Dancing Wall Street Elves

Tags: Cerberus, Humor

Shareholders of Northern Rock — like RAB Capital who bought a 6% stake in Northern Rock last week after shares of the besieged bank plummeted — could be pretty pissed off if a Daily Telegraph report is correct.   Christopher Flowers, Cerberus and Citadel are said to be teaming up to pick off the company’s mortgage portfolio, leaving equity holders with bupkus….

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cerberus, Citadel, Credit Crunch, Distressed

Cerberus Capital, one of the main catalysts of a supposed bid for Equity Office Properties rivalling Blackstone’s behemoth $20 billion ($36 billion including debt) deal has dropped out of the consortium according to the Financial Times:

However, sources close to the matter said a counterbid could still materialise with a consortium including Vornado Realty Trust, Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital and Leon Bluhm’s Walton Street Capital. Representatives from all those groups declined comment.

Any counter offer would have to come before February 18, the deadline for EOP bondholders to sell to Blackstone. The purchase of the outstanding debt is a precondition for the Blackstone takeover….

People close to the situation said that Cerberus, which is chaired by former US Treasury secretary John Snow, dropped out after a weekend of talks but could still come back at a later stage, although that was unlikely.

Cerberus leaves EOP bid consortium – Financial Times

Tags: Cerberus

According to a Wall Street Journal report, sources say that Cerberus is preparing its own offer for Equity Office Properties:

Exact details of the transaction were not clear, and it is possible that a Cerberus-led group could pull back at the last moment.

But indications were mounting on Wednesday that Cerberus was set to top the $20 billion deal that the Blackstone Group had signed two months ago. With the addition of another $16 billion in debt, that deal was regarded as the largest leveraged buyout in history.

Addendum:  Bloomberg notes that Blackstone would walk away with a $200 million breakup fee in the event of a that their deal is topped:

Equity Office would owe Blackstone $200 million, or 1 percent of the cash portion of the bid, should it accept a competing offer, according to the terms of their agreement. That so-called breakup fee is less than half the standard 2 percent to 3 percent. A vote on the Blackstone acquisition by Equity Office shareholders is scheduled for Feb. 5 in Chicago.

Cerberus Is Preparing Offer For Equity Office Properties – Wall Street Journal

Cerberus May Top Blackstone’s Offer for Equity Office - Bloomberg

Tags: Blackstone, Cerberus

Cerberus made another high profile hire, adding former Goldman Sachs banker Ken Leet to its roster.  He’ll join Cerberus European Capital Advisors LLP as president.

In August Ford Motor Co. hired Leet, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc.veteran, to explore "strategic alternatives" for the automaker.

Leet spent more than 18 years at Goldman Sachs, where his responsibilities included heading investment banking for industrial companies.

Cerberus hires ex-Goldman banker for Europe – Reuters

Tags: Cerberus, Goldman Sachs

Page Six: Cerberus Capital Management Global Chairman (and former Vice President under George Dubya’s dad) Dan Quayle walked out of a John Mellencamp concert in Lake Tahoe last weekend:

The singer-songwriter introduced his tune "Wall Talk" by announcing, "This next one is for all the poor people who’ve been ignored by the current administration." As Quayle exited, the former veep explained, "I didn’t appreciate the comment, and besides, I didn’t think the show was very good." But Mellencamp said he couldn’t care less that Quayle got his knickers in a twist: "I certainly wouldn’t have changed a word." NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley backed Mellencamp, saying, "He’s right." While that may sound odd coming from a former conservative, Barkley told a local reporter, "I was a Republican – until they lost their minds." Quayle, known for his great golf game, served as veep under President Bush’s father from 1989-’93.

Bad Vibes Over Quayle Exit – New York Post

Tags: Cerberus

Cerberus Capital is the most recent hedge fund to find its way to Washington as a lobbyist following the news that Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates was forming the Coalition of Private Investment Companies, a lobby group that he will lead.

Cerberus Becomes Lobbyist as Hedge-Fund Oversight Grows – Dealbook

Tags: Cerberus, D.C., Lobbying