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Reuters – CIT Group Inc (CIT.N), which is looking at selling off some assets, is most likely to sell its aviation-finance and rail-finance operations, the Wall Street Journal said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The people, who said evaluations were still in the early stages, told the paper that CIT was approached by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) and Leucadia National (LUK.N) to buy parts of the company, but spurned the offers because of low bids.
CIT, which is a lender to nearly a million small- and mid-sized businesses, averted a crisis and bought some time this week with a $3 billion emergency financing from large bondholders to restructure its debt and avoid bankruptcy, after the collapse of rescue talks with the U.S. government.
The DIFC has clarified its position on news reports that have recently appeared regarding ‘Rashed Investment Bank’ an Islamic investment bank which has been proposed to be set up in Dubai. The DIFC said that while it welcomes initiatives within the Islamic finance industry, the “DIFC clarifies that it is not a member of the founding consortium of ‘Rashed Investment Bank’ and does not have a financial stake in the venture.”
Word had appeared in some media outlets that a new Islamic investment bank was going to be set up in Dubai, would have authorised capital of around $1 billion. The report which initially broke in the UAE’s Al Bayan newspaper claimed that the new bank would deal in hedge funds, structured products and equity capital markets.
It claimed that a number of investors from the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were behind the new entity, although their identities were not made public, adding that it would be headquartered in the DIFC.
Independent- Citigroup is coming under pressure to bail out investors in one of its troubled hedge funds, in another embarrassment for a company already among the biggest losers from the credit crisis.
The company has begun quietly asking private clients to accept a $250m compensation package, in return for dropping legal claims against the company. Banks which have sunk an estimated $1.6bn into the fund are also examining their legal options.
The problems stem from Citigroup’s Falcon Strategies hedge fund, an investment vehicle that traded mortgage bonds, government debt and a range of credit derivatives, which began experiencing big losses when the credit markets ran into difficulties last summer. Thousands of Citigroup clients – advised to invest in the fund by brokers at its Smith Barney wealth management division – face being wiped out.
