Banking Business Review – The board of directors of Barclays has entered into an agreement for the sale of its iShares business to Blue Sparkle, a new limited partnership established by CVC Capital Partners, for a total consideration of approximately $4.4 billion.

Barclays has said that this transaction gives the company the opportunity to maximise value through the sale of a business which represents a channel for Barclays Global Investors (BGI); and provides Barclays the opportunity to participate in future value creation through a continuing commercial relationship with the iShares business and the potential crystallisation of consideration through a cash-settled participation interest entitling Barclays to receive a portion of the value uplift on iShares if certain performance-related hurdles are met.

Read Complete Article

Tags: barclays, barclays global investors bgi, barclays-global-investors, blue sparkle, board-of-directors, commercial relationship, crystallisation, cvc-capital-partners, future value, hurdles, ishares, limited partnership, participation interest, uplift, value creation

Wall Street Journal – Some high-profile Bain Capital credit-investment funds are choking on losses of as much as 50%, said people familiar with the matter, the latest revelation in a day of shake-ups across the hedge-fund business.

The private-equity firm’s credit affiliate, Sankaty Advisors LLC, has lost between 40% and 50% across two funds that bought up highly secured corporate loans, these people said. The two vehicles had roughly $4 billion in assets just a few weeks ago, and used a relatively low amount of borrowed money to fund their investments.

Steep losses have also hit London hedge fund Centaurus Capital LP, which Wednesday offered its investors a chance to cut their fees. And, at Tudor Investment Corp., one of the oldest and best-regarded hedge funds, fund manager James Pallotta finalized a plan to run his own firm separate from longtime colleague Paul Tudor Jones.

Read Complete Article

Tags: alan-greenspan, asyst-technologies-inc, bridgewater-associates, capital-management-llc, cvc-capital-partners, journalism, judgment, korea-times, losses, proceeds, proportion, stock-market-crash, substantial-donation, time-difference, vendor-services, withdrawal-requests

NEW YORK – Deals involving asset managers rose in the July to September 2008 period, with the global credit crunch as the backdrop for a jump in divestitures to almost 40% of total sales, up from 23% a year earlier, according to Jefferies Putnam Lovell, the investment banking group of Jefferies & Company, Inc. focused on the asset management and financial technology industries.

Sixty-nine asset manager transactions worldwide were announced in the third quarter of 2008, 33% above the total of 52 in the July to September 2007 period, according to preliminary data from New York-based Jefferies Putnam Lovell. Total assets under management changing hands amounted to $1.0 trillion, more than three times the $300 billion total in the third quarter of 2007. Total disclosed deal value in the third quarter of 2008 increased to $6.4 billion from $6.1 billion a year earlier.

‘’As we anticipated, tremors transforming the global financial landscape have served as a catalyst to asset management deal flow,’’ said Aaron Dorr, a New York-based Managing Director at Jefferies Putnam Lovell. ‘’In the short-term, we expect more banks and other cash strapped financial institutions to retreat from owning money managers, private equity firms to step up their growing involvement in the sector, and consolidation among hedge fund companies and other alternative asset managers as firms grapple with investor redemptions and lack of liquidity. Consistent with the broader financial services industry, the asset management sector is quickly reshaping.’’
Highlights from asset management M&A activity in the third quarter of 2008 include:

• The announced sale of Lehman Brothers fund units, including Neuberger Berman, to Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman.

• Allianz’s takeover of Cominvest as part of a swap of its Dresdner Bank unit to Commerzbank.

• Fortis’ purchase of the minority stake it didn’t already own in Artemis Asset Management.

• Lazard’s acquisition of the remaining interest in Lazard Asset Management held by the unit’s executives.

• Nippon Life’s purchase of 5% of Russell Investments.

About Jefferies Putnam Lovell

Jefferies Putnam Lovell, the division of Jefferies & Company, Inc. focused on the financial institutions industry, offers a wide range of corporate advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advice and capital raising. Jefferies Putnam Lovell’s global client base is comprised of diversified financial services firms, institutional and mutual fund managers, alternative investment managers, banks, broker-dealers, insurers, and financial technology firms. Putnam Lovell was founded in 1987 and today operates from offices in New York, San Francisco, and London. Since July 2007, Putnam Lovell has been a division of Jefferies & Company, Inc., the principal operating subsidiary of Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF). For more information please visit www.jefferies.com/jpl

About Jefferies

Jefferies, a global investment bank and institutional securities firm, has served growing and mid-sized companies and their investors for 45 years. Headquartered in New York, with more than 25 offices around the world, Jefferies provides clients with capital markets and financial advisory services, institutional brokerage, securities research and asset management. The firm is a leading provider of trade execution in equity, high yield, convertible and international securities for institutional investors and high net worth individuals. Jefferies & Company, Inc. is the principal operating subsidiary of Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF; www.jefferies.com)

Contact:

Tom Tarrant

Jefferies & Company, Inc.

203-708-5989

ttarrant@Jefferies.com

Richard Chimberg

CL – Media Relations, LLC

617-312-4281

rich@cl-media.com

Tags: aozora-bank, chief-executive, commodities-prices, cvc-capital-partners, external-managers, global-footprint, jose-alberto, laurence-fink, lehman-brothers-holdings, management-platform, market-analyst, stock

International Herald Tribune – Lehman Brothers said Monday that it would sell for $2.15 billion much of its money management business, including its prized Neuberger Berman asset management unit, to Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman.

The sale of the business, more than a month in the making, has been among the biggest outstanding issues for Lehman, which filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks ago. Barclays of Britain bought Lehman’s United States capital markets division. Nomura Holdings of Japan is buying many of Lehman’s assets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Before Lehman collapsed, it had proposed selling off a major stake in its investment management division, which includes Neuberger, as an integral part of a self-help plan. Then, it expected to fetch bids that would have valued the unit as high as $7 billion.

Read Complete Article

Tags: aozora-bank, bad-news, bankruptcy-code, citigroup, cvc-capital-partners, deaths, diversity, domicile, labour, lehman-brothers-holdings, losses, nasd, personal-reasons, private-equity-investors, rough-price