Wall Street Folly

• Rajaratnam’s Brother Drew Scrutiny
• Galleon Chief Attacks Government’s Case Against Him
• Galleon Sells Commercial Bank, Sri Lanka Shares, Regulator Says
• Benmosche Reaffirms His Commitment to Leading AIG
• AIG’s Benmosche Signs Noncompete Deal
• Lehman Creditors Want Barclays Data From U.K.’s FSA
• Madoff Victim’s Proposed Probe of Liquidator Denied
• UBS, Ernst & Young Face Test Cases Over Madoff Funds
• Hedge funds set for rebound to pre-crisis level Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: AIG, Bernie Madoff, Compensation, Galleon, Hedge funds, Insider Trading, Legal, Lehman Brothers, LSE, Microsoft, Raj Rajaratnam, UBS

• Closely Watched Buffett Recalculating His Bets
• LSE welcomes high-frequency traders as source of liquidity
• Gold Rallies to 18-Month High on Dollar’s Weakness, Inflation
• Greenspan Says Capital Requirements Must Be Raised
• Allan Sloan: A Year After Lehman, Wall Street’s Acting Like Wall Street Again
• Eurotunnel Says Goldman Fund Becomes Biggest Investor
• Swiss Deal With I.R.S. May Hide Some Tax Cheats
• Martin Feldstein op ed: ObamaCare’s Crippling Deficits Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Barclays, Casinos, Eurotunnel, Gold, Goldman Sachs, Healthcare, IRS, Lehman Brothers, LSE, M&A, Politics, Warren Buffett

• ‘Margin Debt’ Hits Record $353 Billion on NYSE
• Frank Says Hedge Funds Pose Potential Risks to System
• LBO Credit Quality Falls to Lowest in Nine Months
• London seeks more alternative funds

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Tags: Distressed, Hedge funds, LBO / MBO, LSE, NYSE, Private equity

Nasdaq Lands OMX for $3.7 Billion; Are More Merger Deals on the Way? Dubai group eyes move for OMX A New Jewel in Nasdaq’s Crown

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Tags: LSE, Nasdaq

• Former SEC head urges hedge funds to self-regulate
• LSE attacks tax advantages enjoyed by private predators
• TPG says more funds will be white knights in Japan

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Tags: Hedge funds, LSE, Private equity

Another U.S. listed firm is abandoning these shores for listing a-broad: Private Media Group, one of Europe’s biggest purveyors of porn that is currently listed on Nasdaq, is moving its listing to the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative investment Market (AIM) by this summer:

The company’s president, chairman and chief executive, Berth Milton Jnr, said it was also switching exchanges because it was "extremely unhappy with the treatment small cap companies get from the US market and US regulatory bodies". Mr Milton added that moving "seems like a good idea and also a way of saving money".

Private Media was founded in Sweden in 1965 when Berth Milton Snr, Mr Milton’s father, began publishing Private magazine, widely considered to be the world’s first legal hardcore title.

Mr Milton bought out his father in 1991 and began expanding the business into new areas, including videos and then DVDs. He licensed the company’s name for a variety of products, including condoms, and set up websites.

Porn group turns its back on Wall Street – The Independent

Tags: LSE, Nasdaq, Porn

London Stock Exchange Plc challenged Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. to raise its takeover offer, saying the company should “shut up or put up” as the bid deadline nears.

LSE is waiting for “any indication from Nasdaq regarding an offer price that the board could recommend to shareholders,” Chairman Chris Gibson-Smith said in a statement filed with regulators today. He made the comments after Nasdaq said its 1,243 pence-a-share offer is “full and fair.”

The clock is ticking for Nasdaq to convince shareholders to accept its offer, which expires on Jan. 26, or make a higher bid. The New York-based company replied in a second statement that “nothing in LSE’s behavior suggests they have any real interest in taking part in a dialogue which could lead to a recommended offer” for the company.

LSE Tells Nasdaq to `Shut Up or Put Up’ as Bid Looms – Bloomberg

Tags: LSE, Nasdaq

Seven investment banking firms, expected to include Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS, will be announcing the formation of their own pan-European electronic share trading platform that would go head to head with the London Stock Exchange.

The new exchange would be up and running in early 2008, just months after the implementation of the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) in November next year.

None of the participants was prepared to comment ahead of the formal launch today. But the new facility would be run as a utility and so not required to make a profit, which suggests that it would undercut fee levels on existing exchanges.

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Tags: Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, LSE, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley

Fighting words:  The CEO of the London Stock Exchange penned a comment in the Financial Times claiming that Sarbanes-Oxley is not the reason that companies are flocking to the LSE.  It’s because it’s just plain better:

At one level, it has been suggested that international companies listing outside America want to avoid submitting themselves to the highest standards of regulation. As the head of one US exchange put it: “By setting the bar so high in the US, Sox has had the unintended consequence of triggering a ‘race to the bottom’ by stock markets and companies.”

This line of argument may reflect a combination of sour grapes and a tendency to believe that bigger must mean better; that in creating the world’s heaviest rulebook the US has also created the most effective and trusted regulatory environment. However, this view does a disservice to both the international companies that are coming to London and the world-class standards of regulation to which they aspire….

Sox is not to blame – London is just better as a market – Financial Times

Tags: LSE

Are some companies listed on the NYSE gonna bail on account of the Sarbanes-Oxley red tape?  That’s what "The Independent" suggests.  The article doesn’t name names, but at least one law firm has been contacted by companies possibly looking to flee from the NYSE to the LSE’s AIM (Alternative Investment Market for smaller stocks).

"Because of the lighter touch of regulation, there are at least a dozen companies that are looking to leave the US and want to come to London," said one source close to the process. "Despite the heavy cost of a delisting, it is far more cost-effective in the long run."…..

Delphine Currie, a corporate finance partner at the UK law firm SJ Berwin, said she had been in talks with several US-listed stocks that wanted to move to the LSE. "These companies are in the preliminary stages of preparing to shift their listing to AIM," she added.

Sarbanes refugees heading for AIM - The Independent

Tags: LSE, NYSE