Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
Lexington Herald – CIT Group Inc.’s shares soared Tuesday on a report that hedge fund manager John Paulson is considering merging the troubled finance company with failed mortgage lender IndyMac Federal Bank. But they plunged after-hours as a separate report said CIT is preparing a debt swap offer that could wipe out taxpayers’ investment or could file for bankruptcy protection.
CIT Group, one of the nation’s largest lenders to small and midsize businesses, spent the summer trying to stave off a potential collapse amid mounting loan losses and rising funding costs. It has been devastated by the downturn in the credit markets and is attempting to restructure its operations to remain in business. CIT in the past relied heavily on cheap, short-term debt to fund its operations – a type of funding that essentially evaporated during the peak of the credit crisis last year.
Reuters – The list of investors filing billion dollar claims against Lehman Brothers illustrates the global damage caused by its collapse, with companies from the United States, Europe and Abu Dhabi making some of the largest demands.
Barclays Bank, Morgan Stanley, GLG Partners, The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Reserve Primary Fund are among the companies that took the largest losses from debt and derivatives held with Lehman Brothers, according to claims.
BusinessWeek – The collapse of Lehman Brothers on Sept. 15, 2008, and the ensuing stock market crash forced Bob Olstein, who has been analyzing companies’ financial statements and managing money for 41 years, to change the way he evaluates and invests in stocks. Now, his new rules and focus on "quality" companies have enabled his fund, Olstein All Cap Value, to sail ahead of the market’s swift recovery.
Forbes – Britain’s financial regulator on Wednesday banned guaranteed banker bonuses of more than one year, as it leads a global crackdown on a culture of excessive risk-taking that has destabilised economies.
The Financial Services Athourity (FSA), which has been slammed for failing to address problems that led to the near collapse of the financial system last October, also said two thirds of bankers’ bonuses should be spread over three years to discourage short-term decision-making.
Citywire.co.uk – The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to probe UK banks for evidence that complex financial products were mis-sold to consumers before the recession hit.
SFO director Richard Alderman plans to investigate the sale of complicated financial instruments like credit default swaps and collateralised debt obligations. The SFO has changed its tactics and will take a more active tack with investigations and will intervene to prevent future frauds, according to a report in The Times.
SFO staff are already investigating Madoff’s UK operations, hedge funds accused of over valuing securities, AIG UK and the collapse of Weavering Capital, according to The Times. The government has also asked its fraud taskforce to examine the collapse of MG Rover in 2005. And the workload is set to grow with the decision to look into the Keydata saga, as reported by Citywire this week.
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.
New York Times Blogs – Of all the gloomy economic indicators since the Wall Street collapse, perhaps the most startling one seen by New Jersey residents is this: Gov. Jon S. Corzine with his hand out.
Mr. Corzine, whose investments include significant holdings in private equity and hedge funds, famously spent $60 million of his own money on a record-shattering Senate race in 2000, then $43 million more laying siege to Trenton four years ago.
Bloomberg – Billionaire Nelson Peltz and former Countrywide Financial Corp. President Stanford Kurland are among at least six investors turning to the public markets to finance purchases of distressed home loans and corporate debt.
The investors, most of whom previously relied on private partnerships for funding, have proposed since May 1 to raise $2.6 billion through public stock sales. They plan to use the money, along with government financing in some cases, to acquire mortgages and below-investment grade loans to companies that fell in value amid the collapse of the real estate and credit markets starting in mid-2007.
Stamford Advocate – Debra Ryan, the girlfriend of Samuel Israel, convicted for his role in a $400 million fraud involving the collapse of Stamford-based hedge-fund firm Bayou Group LLC, was sentenced to three years probation for aiding his escape.
Ryan, a decorator who once rented a house on Highland Avenue in Greenwich, also was ordered to be confined at home for four months and not to have any contact with Israel.
Israel, 49, pleaded guilty in March to faking his suicide by abandoning his car on the Bear Mountain bridge with the words "suicide is painless" written on the windshield and fleeing the day he was to begin a 20-year sentence. He pleaded guilty to fraud in 2005 after admitting he hid $400 million in losses at Bayou.
guardian.co.uk – Sterling fell against the dollar to near a two-week low on Monday after a collapse of support for the UK’s ruling Labour Party in the European election raised the chances of further challenges to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Despite its losses against the dollar, the pound rose against the euro, as the single European currency came under broad selling pressure after Standard & Poor’s cut its sovereign rating on Ireland for the second time in three months.
Analysts said Labour’s drubbing in weekend European elections added to the uncertainty surrounding the political future of Britain’s embattled prime minister, who reshuffled his Cabinet on Friday after six of the party’s ministers quit.
Citywire.co.uk – To analyse all of Europe’s absolute return funds on a variety ofg risk-return measures and see a comprehensive league table of performance visit our new zone here
The CF KB Endeavour Absolute Return fund slipped into negative territory last September as the fallout from the collapse of Lehman Brothers rippled across several major asset classes.
The fund suffered its highest drawdown to date, shedding -16.75%, which effectively wiped out all of the gains it had made since launch in July 2006, and then some.
Jamaica Observer – A Jamaican investment manager in the Cayman Islands has been charged in the collapse of four hedge funds based in the Caribbean offshore financial centre.
Robert Christopher Girvan was charged with forgery, obtaining a money transfer by deception and producing a false document, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Services said in a statement.
Girvan, 48, of Jamaica, made a brief appearance before a magistrate Tuesday but did not enter a plea. He was released on bail and ordered to appear back in court on May 26.
