February 29, 2012, 2:56 AM EST
By Elisa Martinuzzi and Zijing Wu
Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) — Investment banks including Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley are vying for as much as $2 billion in annual fees in Europe arranging customized equity derivatives — a secretive market that has defied the downturn.
The business, about as large as underwriting initial public offerings before the 2008 financial crisis, is now three times bigger and held steady last year, according to estimates from six bankers who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The contracts accounted for almost 10 percent of total investment-banking fees last year in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as revenue from dealmaking and trading sank, data compiled by research firm Freeman & Co. show.
Because the deals, whose value is tied to stocks, are customized and not traded on exchanges, banks are able to charge higher fees than for contracts in which customers seek competing bids. They’re also attractive to lenders because new rules demanding capital buffers against potential losses aren’t as punitive as for other derivatives.
“Regulatory change may drive banks back to the business, not away from it,” said Rachel Lord, Citigroup Inc.’s London- based global head of corporate equity derivatives. “This is one part of the investment-banking industry where, despite compressed margins, the business remains a high priority because it’s so important to the client base.”
Tailor-Made
Investors such as Aabar Investments PJSC, the Abu Dhabi- based sovereign-wealth fund, and Italy’s Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, owner of the world’s oldest bank, sought derivatives to protect the value of their holdings or to borrow against equity stakes.
Banks including Deutsche Bank AG, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are competing in a region that’s the biggest in the world by fees, surpassing the U.S. and Asia. The annual notional value of tailor-made equity derivatives is typically more than $50 billion in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to estimates from two of the bankers.
The market is so big and lucrative that even lenders shrinking their investment-banking arms want to keep the business going. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which is selling or closing brokerage, merger-advisory and IPO- underwriting units, will continue arranging “profitable” equity derivatives, the London-based firm said last month. Credit Agricole SA, France’s second-largest bank by assets, will do the same for corporate clients, said Bertrand Hugonet, a Paris-based spokesman.
“There’s a lot of competition because there’s been a history of profitable transactions in this space,” said Samuel Losada, London-based head of European corporate equity derivatives at Bank of America Corp. “You can achieve over the long run, if risks are managed properly, above-market returns.”
Daimler Derivative
Because the deals are private, there aren’t any publicly available rankings. Based on bankers’ own assessments and the sharing of information among them, the business is dominated by the region’s top equity brokers and better-capitalized firms. Industry leaders include Frankfurt based Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, all in New York, and Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG, the bankers said.
Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America arranged a derivative in May that allows Abu Dhabi’s Aabar to keep its share of the potential near-term gains of Daimler AG, even as the fund sold a 1.25 billion-euro ($1.7 billion) bond exchangeable for the German automaker’s shares. The sale could cut Aabar’s Daimler holding to 7.2 percent from 9.1 percent when the bond matures in 2016.
The deal was the region’s largest ever derivative overlay, a strategy to hold multiple contracts against the same assets, linked to an exchangeable bond, according to Losada.
Emerging Markets
“There’s a clear trend that the emerging-market business is becoming more important,” said Losada. “We saw continuous activity in this space over the last 12 months.”
Increasing demand from emerging-market clients, such as Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds, has helped buck a slowdown in Western European deal flows.
“The business can be divided into two parts: the growth markets, where it’s harder for some to obtain liquidity and hence is driven by financing, and developed markets, where clients seek to manage their equity positions,” said Simon Watson, a managing director at Goldman Sachs in London who heads corporate equity derivatives for the region.
While financial firms are cutting employees in other investment-banking areas, many are looking to add to their equity-derivatives businesses in the region.
‘Beefing Up’
Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, may hire two bankers this year to join the eight it has in London today, said Losada. Citigroup this month named Sophie Lecoq to the new position of head of corporate equity derivatives for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Morgan Stanley also may increase its team’s headcount, according to Daniel Palmer, the firm’s London-based global head of corporate equity derivatives.
“We expanded our business significantly over the past three years,” said Palmer. “Our team is now almost complete, but we might add one or two heads later in the year.”
Nomura Holdings Inc., which took over Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s European business in 2008, may add one senior banker to its 12-person team in London, said Kenneth Brown, global head of equity capital markets. Lenders are “beefing up their European teams” of corporate equity derivatives because Europe is a now a bigger market than the U.S., he said.
It’s also a more resilient market, and the teams, which typically employ about a dozen people, are small compared with those that manage IPOs, said Christopher Wheeler, a banking analyst at Mediobanca SpA in London.
“It’s a business driven by the sweat of the brow,” Wheeler said.
Margin Loans
While banks can earn more arranging tailor-made equity derivatives than underwriting stock sales, increasing competition has driven down fees for financing some deals, including margin loans, or loans from securities firms backed by clients’ equity holdings used as collateral, the bankers said.
Margin loans are a way for investors who have limited access to bank funding or capital markets to raise money. At least 10 firms competed to win a margin loan from an Italian client this year, compared with three or four that would have bid for the business a couple of years ago, said one banker, who declined to be identified citing client confidentiality.
Monte dei Paschi
Fondazione Monte dei Paschi, the biggest investor in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, last year raised about 600 million euros through loans backed by collateral on its stake in the lender.
Eleven banks participated in the deal, which helped raise funds to pay for shares sold by the bank in June, said Gianni Tiberi, a spokesman for the foundation. The firms, which included Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase & Co., participated equally, Tiberi said, declining to elaborate. The loan was reduced to about 525 million euros as Monte dei Paschi shares fell, he said.
In one type of equity derivative, known as an equity swap, one party agrees to receive gains in a stock or basket of stocks and in return makes interest payments to the other party on the value of the securities it bet on. Investment banks typically act as intermediaries between the two parties in the swap.
Under the so-called Basel III rules, approved by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and scheduled to be phased in through 2019, banks will face a capital charge for potential mark-to-market losses on over-the-counter derivatives.
Data Gaps
“Because credit markets tend to be less liquid and transparent than equities, banks often need proxies to measure the counterparty risk in credit derivatives, creating data gaps and higher capital charges,” said Anastasios Zavitsanakis, a financial-risk consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London. “The actual exposure in equities is more measurable in the short term, and there might be more collateral, reducing further the capital charges.”
Still, banks’ waning risk appetite is spreading the business around more evenly, said Citigroup’s Lord.
“In the past 10 years, two to three banks would typically lead the industry, while over the last year it has been much more broad-based,” Lord said. “Before 2008, banks would have been happy to be sole books on very large deals. It’s not feasible to do that now, so there’s a lot more deal-sharing.”
Morgan Stanley has expanded its business by building up a book of margin loans, said Palmer.
“Some competitors are looking to sell their loans,” he said. “As banks de-lever, we’ve come across clients coming to us seeking to raise money on a shareholding, for example.”
‘Bespoke Solutions’
Even with the increased competition, Deutsche Bank sees demand from clients “as high as ever,” said Ian Holt, the bank’s London-based global head of equity structuring.
“It’s a good business because you are providing bespoke solutions and providing clients with what they need in and around complex situations, which makes higher margins naturally achievable,” said Holt.
Success for most firms this year depends on whether there’s a pick-up in mergers, bankers said. When companies combine, a seller left with a minority stake may seek to raise funds against the holding by buying put options on the shares and using the options to raise cash. Banks can also use derivatives to help investors who receive stock protect the value of their holdings.
“In M&A, you’re the exclusive adviser, and that’s where you can have prime access to interesting situations before they become public knowledge,” said Bank of America’s Losada. “That’s where the real alpha is.”
–With assistance from Ben Moshinsky in Brussels. Editors: Robert Friedman, Edward Evans
To contact the reporters on this story: Elisa Martinuzzi in Milan at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net; Zijing Wu in London at zwu17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net; Jacqueline Simmons at jackiem@bloomberg.net
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2012年2月24日星期五
A lesson on student loans
A lesson on student loans
Student Financial Education Services presents students with advice for dealing with loans.
Student Financial Education Services presents students with advice for dealing with loans.
by STUDENT FINANCIAL EDUCATION SERVICES
This article originally appeared in The Tiger on February 24, 2012 | PRINT
Understanding Your Student Loans
The majority of college students have them: student loans. Student loans have increased in popularity in recent years, mostly due to the increasing tuition rates seen across the country. As you near the end of your tenure here at Clemson, there are a few things to keep in mind that will better prepare you to deal with your student loans.
Where do I find my loans?
If you are like many students, you remember receiving the many pieces of mail over the past four years detailing your loans, but now you cannot seem to find the information. You most likely know your loans by the types of loans they are, like Stafford Loan, Perkins Loan and others. These loans are not all made by one company, but are sold off and serviced by a wide variety.
There is an easy-to-use resource to help locate all of your student loans and who they are owned or serviced by. The website to help you locate your student loans is http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/.
If you have private loans, such as those often made by banks or financial companies such as Discover, Citi, Bank of America or others, you may need to contact that financial institution directly, as their information is sometimes not located in the online database.
How do I pay my loans?
Once you graduate, you should be proactive about finding out when you need to start paying your student loans back.
Graduating from college can be a hectic time, and with all the address changes that you may be going through, it’s easy for mail to get misplaced or sent to the wrong address. It is the responsibility of the borrower, which would be you, to make contact with the owner or servicer of your loan(s) in order to find out when payments begin.
The owner or servicer of your loan will most likely offer you several options for repaying your loans, although not all companies offer these options, and some companies may offer more options. Here are a few basic options:
Standard Repayment: Think of this payment option as a standard loan, you make fixed payments that do not change from month to month for the standard repayment period (which is typically 10 years).
Extended Repayment: This payment option is similar to the standard payment option, except the payment period (which is the time it takes to pay back the loan) will be longer than the standard period. This type of repayment plan may be beneficial to those who have extremely large amounts of student loans and cannot afford the monthly payment under the standard repayment plan.
Graduated Repayment: A graduated repayment plan offers the advantage of allowing you to make lower monthly payments right when you get out of school with the monthly payment increasing every set period of time (such as every two or three years). This type of repayment plan is based on the ideal that your income will increase over time.
Income Dependent Repayment: This payment plan is available in certain government loan situations and allows the borrower to pay a certain percentage of their income toward the loan until the loan is paid off or until a time limit of 25 years is reached. If the time limit of 25 years is reached, the government will forgive the remaining balance on the debt, although tax implications may apply.
Although these are just a few of the standard payment options, it is important to keep your current situation in mind when determining which payment plan is right for you. It is also important to think of the payment plan in terms of which will cost you the most in interest, as opposed to those repayment plans that will accrue the least amount of interest. Students are responsible for verifying the information in this article prior to making financial decisions.
If you would like additional information on student loan payment plans or help understanding your student loan situation, please visit the Student Financial Education Office located in The Union, Office 805. You can set up an appointment by emailing us at sfes1@clemson.edu or calling us at (864) 656-7337.
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The majority of college students have them: student loans. Student loans have increased in popularity in recent years, mostly due to the increasing tuition rates seen across the country. As you near the end of your tenure here at Clemson, there are a few things to keep in mind that will better prepare you to deal with your student loans.
Where do I find my loans?
If you are like many students, you remember receiving the many pieces of mail over the past four years detailing your loans, but now you cannot seem to find the information. You most likely know your loans by the types of loans they are, like Stafford Loan, Perkins Loan and others. These loans are not all made by one company, but are sold off and serviced by a wide variety.
There is an easy-to-use resource to help locate all of your student loans and who they are owned or serviced by. The website to help you locate your student loans is http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/.
If you have private loans, such as those often made by banks or financial companies such as Discover, Citi, Bank of America or others, you may need to contact that financial institution directly, as their information is sometimes not located in the online database.
How do I pay my loans?
Once you graduate, you should be proactive about finding out when you need to start paying your student loans back.
Graduating from college can be a hectic time, and with all the address changes that you may be going through, it’s easy for mail to get misplaced or sent to the wrong address. It is the responsibility of the borrower, which would be you, to make contact with the owner or servicer of your loan(s) in order to find out when payments begin.
The owner or servicer of your loan will most likely offer you several options for repaying your loans, although not all companies offer these options, and some companies may offer more options. Here are a few basic options:
Standard Repayment: Think of this payment option as a standard loan, you make fixed payments that do not change from month to month for the standard repayment period (which is typically 10 years).
Extended Repayment: This payment option is similar to the standard payment option, except the payment period (which is the time it takes to pay back the loan) will be longer than the standard period. This type of repayment plan may be beneficial to those who have extremely large amounts of student loans and cannot afford the monthly payment under the standard repayment plan.
Graduated Repayment: A graduated repayment plan offers the advantage of allowing you to make lower monthly payments right when you get out of school with the monthly payment increasing every set period of time (such as every two or three years). This type of repayment plan is based on the ideal that your income will increase over time.
Income Dependent Repayment: This payment plan is available in certain government loan situations and allows the borrower to pay a certain percentage of their income toward the loan until the loan is paid off or until a time limit of 25 years is reached. If the time limit of 25 years is reached, the government will forgive the remaining balance on the debt, although tax implications may apply.
Although these are just a few of the standard payment options, it is important to keep your current situation in mind when determining which payment plan is right for you. It is also important to think of the payment plan in terms of which will cost you the most in interest, as opposed to those repayment plans that will accrue the least amount of interest. Students are responsible for verifying the information in this article prior to making financial decisions.
If you would like additional information on student loan payment plans or help understanding your student loan situation, please visit the Student Financial Education Office located in The Union, Office 805. You can set up an appointment by emailing us at sfes1@clemson.edu or calling us at (864) 656-7337.
Views: 32
View the discussion thread.
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2012年2月8日星期三
Mortgage Compliance and Real Estate Loss Mitigation Company, American Loan Compliance, Featured in National Business …
NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – American Loan Compliance, America’s leading loss mitigation and commercial mortgage loan audit report experts, were recently featured in the press showcasing the advantages to having loans investigated prior to negotiating terms on restructuring real estate loans. The experts interviewed and featured are dedicated to spreading knowledge, educational products, tools and awareness in their field of expertise and making significant contributions to the mortgage loan modification, real estate finance and mortgage violation audit and analysis industry and the marketplace as a whole.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120207/LA48812LOGO)
American Loan Compliance (ALC), specializes in strategic mortgage compliance analysis and audit report services and has recently opened its doors to consumers allowing homeowners seeking mortgage assistance and loan modification to obtain these services direct. Viewed as America’s most knowledgeable, proven and experienced mortgage compliance auditing firms to correspondent lending institutions, federal banking associations, law firms, wholesale lenders and direct lending institutions across the country. American Loan Compliance will concentrate their efforts on helping the general population more effectively obtain accurate investigative mortgage audit reports and ensure clarification on enforceable loans. A very effective and experienced management team that is sure to make a huge impact in an industry with an ambiguous reputation in anxious need of assistance leads the dynamic force overseeing operational management at the private held company.
American Loan Compliance has shifted momentum, acting as a national strategic investigative analysis and enforcement management firm which provides professional, advisory, and consulting services to financial institutions, consumer protection, financial and regulatory agencies, including mortgage bankers, real estate attorneys, commercial and retail lending entities, and property owners. American Loan Compliance sets the standard in mortgage compliance in the United States providing a variety of audit reports no other firm has come close to close its competitive advantage in an ambiguous industry in demand for supplemental mortgage loan analysis and homeland assistance. The quality control behind closed doors, displays strategic expertise and addresses all critical areas associated with American mortgage loan compliance regulatory matters, observance and quality control in U.S. residential and commercial real estate mortgage finance. American Loan Compliance can assist clients in meeting the oversight of regulators, fair lending mandates and maintaining internal lending integrity and validation practices through independent quality control audit reports.
American Loan Compliance will provide you with the evidence and support you can trust to help you seek better loan modification terms, restructuring of new terms via loan workouts, principal/rate reductions, or continued discovery. With the greatest potential to alleviate “normal modification” setbacks and re-occurrence of default, qualified and objective evidence helps simplify negotiations and stay using the information and support provided by American Loan Compliance.
A 2009, FDIC Office of Inspector General Report revealed:
83% of the institutions examined were cited for “significant” compliance violations
43% of those institutions were “repeat offenders”
85% of those repeat offenders were highly rated by the FDIC for their in-place compliance process
The other importance of the mortgage loan audit findings is that it may be the grounds to help move a non-judicial foreclosure action (currently in 29 states), if necessary, into jurisdiction, which can stop foreclosure in its tracks. More importantly, borrowers regardless of financial hardship and payment history now have the chance for a better position to negotiate new terms or loan settlement. Violations found in a loan audit can help place the borrower in the offense! We at American Loan Compliance help legal professionals navigate through the process with our learning channels, which we find critical for those legal advisors that are looking to make the audit solution part of their business practice. Information is only as good as the ones that know how best to use it
The driving force behind American Loan Compliance consist of executive and management teams which include best-selling authors and speakers who are regularly sought out by the media to give expert opinions. Many have been featured on NBC, CNBC, CBS, ABC and FOX affiliates as well as seen in USA Today, Newsweek, Forbes, Market watch, Ask The Experts©, Los Angeles Business Journal and the Wall Street Journal. American Loan Compliance mission is homeland assistance from business to consumers, ensuring the most intelligent solutions and accurate analysis obtained via their flagship mortgage compliance analysis reports. Audit Reports allow the ability and vision to direct arbitration on residential and commercial mortgages and through strategic analysis ensure enforcement of mortgage loan modification and payment assistance at the best results attainable.
American Loan Compliance has collaborated with other established agencies and most recently, Homeland Assistance Agency based in Washington D.C. and the Federal Relief Organization based in Los Angeles. This collaboration of powerhouse agencies has vowed to allow consumers a unique option of working with trusted and proven sources as a one stop merger of industry experts to determine and proceed with their ultimate goals related to the property in distress, in need of assistance or available for more lucrative cash flow options.
American Loan Compliance is located in New York City, New York. Their corporate address is 1330 Avenue of the Americas, Floor 23A, New York City, NY 10019. For more information about American Loan Compliance, please visit http://www.AmericanLoanCompliance.com for consumer information. Please visit www.AmericanLoanCompliance.info for general information or call (888) 929-2829.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120207/LA48812LOGO)
American Loan Compliance (ALC), specializes in strategic mortgage compliance analysis and audit report services and has recently opened its doors to consumers allowing homeowners seeking mortgage assistance and loan modification to obtain these services direct. Viewed as America’s most knowledgeable, proven and experienced mortgage compliance auditing firms to correspondent lending institutions, federal banking associations, law firms, wholesale lenders and direct lending institutions across the country. American Loan Compliance will concentrate their efforts on helping the general population more effectively obtain accurate investigative mortgage audit reports and ensure clarification on enforceable loans. A very effective and experienced management team that is sure to make a huge impact in an industry with an ambiguous reputation in anxious need of assistance leads the dynamic force overseeing operational management at the private held company.
American Loan Compliance has shifted momentum, acting as a national strategic investigative analysis and enforcement management firm which provides professional, advisory, and consulting services to financial institutions, consumer protection, financial and regulatory agencies, including mortgage bankers, real estate attorneys, commercial and retail lending entities, and property owners. American Loan Compliance sets the standard in mortgage compliance in the United States providing a variety of audit reports no other firm has come close to close its competitive advantage in an ambiguous industry in demand for supplemental mortgage loan analysis and homeland assistance. The quality control behind closed doors, displays strategic expertise and addresses all critical areas associated with American mortgage loan compliance regulatory matters, observance and quality control in U.S. residential and commercial real estate mortgage finance. American Loan Compliance can assist clients in meeting the oversight of regulators, fair lending mandates and maintaining internal lending integrity and validation practices through independent quality control audit reports.
American Loan Compliance will provide you with the evidence and support you can trust to help you seek better loan modification terms, restructuring of new terms via loan workouts, principal/rate reductions, or continued discovery. With the greatest potential to alleviate “normal modification” setbacks and re-occurrence of default, qualified and objective evidence helps simplify negotiations and stay using the information and support provided by American Loan Compliance.
A 2009, FDIC Office of Inspector General Report revealed:
83% of the institutions examined were cited for “significant” compliance violations
43% of those institutions were “repeat offenders”
85% of those repeat offenders were highly rated by the FDIC for their in-place compliance process
The other importance of the mortgage loan audit findings is that it may be the grounds to help move a non-judicial foreclosure action (currently in 29 states), if necessary, into jurisdiction, which can stop foreclosure in its tracks. More importantly, borrowers regardless of financial hardship and payment history now have the chance for a better position to negotiate new terms or loan settlement. Violations found in a loan audit can help place the borrower in the offense! We at American Loan Compliance help legal professionals navigate through the process with our learning channels, which we find critical for those legal advisors that are looking to make the audit solution part of their business practice. Information is only as good as the ones that know how best to use it
The driving force behind American Loan Compliance consist of executive and management teams which include best-selling authors and speakers who are regularly sought out by the media to give expert opinions. Many have been featured on NBC, CNBC, CBS, ABC and FOX affiliates as well as seen in USA Today, Newsweek, Forbes, Market watch, Ask The Experts©, Los Angeles Business Journal and the Wall Street Journal. American Loan Compliance mission is homeland assistance from business to consumers, ensuring the most intelligent solutions and accurate analysis obtained via their flagship mortgage compliance analysis reports. Audit Reports allow the ability and vision to direct arbitration on residential and commercial mortgages and through strategic analysis ensure enforcement of mortgage loan modification and payment assistance at the best results attainable.
American Loan Compliance has collaborated with other established agencies and most recently, Homeland Assistance Agency based in Washington D.C. and the Federal Relief Organization based in Los Angeles. This collaboration of powerhouse agencies has vowed to allow consumers a unique option of working with trusted and proven sources as a one stop merger of industry experts to determine and proceed with their ultimate goals related to the property in distress, in need of assistance or available for more lucrative cash flow options.
American Loan Compliance is located in New York City, New York. Their corporate address is 1330 Avenue of the Americas, Floor 23A, New York City, NY 10019. For more information about American Loan Compliance, please visit http://www.AmericanLoanCompliance.com for consumer information. Please visit www.AmericanLoanCompliance.info for general information or call (888) 929-2829.
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2012年2月6日星期一
$800 Million Chinese Fund to Back Film Projects
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
Published: February 6, 2012
LOS ANGELES — If Chinese versions of Rupert Murdoch and Oprah Winfrey teamed up with, say, China’s J. P. Morgan to start a film fund, this would be it.
Sun Media Group, founded by Bruno Wu, who is often compared to Mr. Murdoch, and his wife, Yang Lan, sometimes likened to Ms. Winfrey, is joining Harvest Fund Management to create an $800 million fund that will back entertainment ventures in China and around the world, company executives said Saturday. “The goal is pretty straightforward; it’s to make a maximum return, of course, for the investors,” Mr. Wu said of the enterprise, which is aimed at a booming Chinese market for global film. He and Lindsay Wright, the vice chairman of a Harvest global investment unit, spoke jointly by telephone.
The fund, called Harvest Seven Stars Media Private Equity, is expected to invest in existing entertainment companies. But it also will provide backing for individual filmmakers and build an entertainment distribution system in China and elsewhere, Mr. Wu and Ms. Wright said. Its initial pool of capital, they added, will probably be expanded in the near future.
Last year, the Motion Picture Association of America said it expected the number of cinema screens in China to increase to more than 16,000 in 2015 from about 6,200 in 2011, as Chinese box-office receipts grow to a projected $5 billion from $1.5 billion. At the same time, China has been under pressure from the entertainment industry in the United States to ease censorship, open its markets and crack down on chronic film piracy.
“The awareness, and urge, and strong desire to protect” intellectual property has never been higher in China, Mr. Wu said. He and others, he said, have been lobbying the Chinese government for tougher antipiracy measures.
Regarding markets, Mr. Wu said he and fellow investors are eager to ease the way in China for blockbuster-style films from abroad — one of the biggest hits there lately has been “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” — by joining in substantial co-productions.
Asked whether the venture might back a company as large as the current incarnation of DreamWorks Studios, which was built around a $325 million stake from Reliance Entertainment of India but is now in search of new financing, Mr. Wu said, “Yes.” Harvest Seven Stars is being advised by the Creative Artists Agency, through its Beijing office. Several deals with film producers are being completed, Ms. Wright and Mr. Wu said. Given the agency’s involvement and the producer negotiations under way, the new venture appears to be pointed toward a Hollywood alliance sooner rather than later.
Mr. Wu, one of China’s wealthier entrepreneurs, and Ms. Yang, long a television talk show hostess, already control a media empire with television, print and online components. The new film-oriented fund is backed by their Sun Redrock Investment Group. Harvest is participating in the new venture through its Harvest Alternative Investment Group, which Ms. Wright leads. She described Harvest as the second-largest asset manager in mainland China.
The new venture will operate from Hong Kong and Beijing, Ms. Wright and Mr. Wu said.
2012年2月3日星期五
Geithner says 2010 law made financial system 'stronger and safer'
Reporting from Washington—
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has a message for voters as they listen to Republican presidential candidates call for repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law: Remember the pain.
“I would say remember 2008 and 2009,” Geithner told reporters Thursday during a news conference touting the benefits of the overhaul. “Remember the fact that the reason why we’re living with very high unemployment with millions of Americans that have lost their homes, terrible damage to the basic economics of America is because of the failures that caused this crisis in the financial system.”
“And if you want to go back to that,” he said, “if you want to choose that future, then you should be in favor of the repeal of the law.”
Republican presidential candidates have hammered away at the sweeping rewrite of financial regulations.
At a debate in Florida last month, GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney said the law was “just killing the residential home market and it’s got to be replaced.”
Newt Gingrich was more blunt. Asked what could be done to help struggling homeowners, he said, “I think, first of all, if you could repeal Dodd-Frank tomorrow morning, you would see the economy start to improve overnight.”
In the face of such criticism on the campaign trail and from Republicans in Congress, Geithner defended the law.
He said it already had helped the financial system become “stronger and safer” even as some key provisions, such as the Volcker Rule restriction on banks trading with their own money, are still being implemented by regulators.
Speaking as the head of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators created by the law to monitor the financial system for signs of problems, Geithner said the law had helped the economy recover.
Regulators this year would designate the large financial firms outside the banking system that will receive tougher oversight because their failure would pose a risk to the financial system, he said.
And the Obama administration would release more details about its plans to overhaul the housing finance system and replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the government seized in 2008.
Republicans and business groups have criticized the hundreds of regulations required by the new law and tough new oversight, including the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
They have said that the uncertainty about pending regulations has made businesses hesitant to hire, and that tough new rules on banks, such as requiring them to hold more reserves, was limiting the banks’ ability to make loans to boost the recovery.
But Geithner said the new rules were badly needed to prevent a repeat of the crisis, and he criticized opponents who were trying to drag out implementation of the Volcker rule and other provisions. Slowing those changes would only increase uncertainty, he said.
“No financial system is invulnerable to crisis. We have a lot of challenges ahead. We still have a lot of unfinished business on the path of reform,” Geithner said. “But the American financial system now is much less vulnerable than it was and is now able to help finance a growing economy, rather than being a drag on overall economic growth.”
RELATED:
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Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has a message for voters as they listen to Republican presidential candidates call for repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law: Remember the pain.
“I would say remember 2008 and 2009,” Geithner told reporters Thursday during a news conference touting the benefits of the overhaul. “Remember the fact that the reason why we’re living with very high unemployment with millions of Americans that have lost their homes, terrible damage to the basic economics of America is because of the failures that caused this crisis in the financial system.”
“And if you want to go back to that,” he said, “if you want to choose that future, then you should be in favor of the repeal of the law.”
Republican presidential candidates have hammered away at the sweeping rewrite of financial regulations.
At a debate in Florida last month, GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney said the law was “just killing the residential home market and it’s got to be replaced.”
Newt Gingrich was more blunt. Asked what could be done to help struggling homeowners, he said, “I think, first of all, if you could repeal Dodd-Frank tomorrow morning, you would see the economy start to improve overnight.”
In the face of such criticism on the campaign trail and from Republicans in Congress, Geithner defended the law.
He said it already had helped the financial system become “stronger and safer” even as some key provisions, such as the Volcker Rule restriction on banks trading with their own money, are still being implemented by regulators.
Speaking as the head of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators created by the law to monitor the financial system for signs of problems, Geithner said the law had helped the economy recover.
Regulators this year would designate the large financial firms outside the banking system that will receive tougher oversight because their failure would pose a risk to the financial system, he said.
And the Obama administration would release more details about its plans to overhaul the housing finance system and replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the government seized in 2008.
Republicans and business groups have criticized the hundreds of regulations required by the new law and tough new oversight, including the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
They have said that the uncertainty about pending regulations has made businesses hesitant to hire, and that tough new rules on banks, such as requiring them to hold more reserves, was limiting the banks’ ability to make loans to boost the recovery.
But Geithner said the new rules were badly needed to prevent a repeat of the crisis, and he criticized opponents who were trying to drag out implementation of the Volcker rule and other provisions. Slowing those changes would only increase uncertainty, he said.
“No financial system is invulnerable to crisis. We have a lot of challenges ahead. We still have a lot of unfinished business on the path of reform,” Geithner said. “But the American financial system now is much less vulnerable than it was and is now able to help finance a growing economy, rather than being a drag on overall economic growth.”
RELATED:
Timothy Geithner says a second stint at Treasury is unlikely
Financial regulatory overhaul faces new criticism on first birthday
Consumer agency chief’s appointment is invalid, GOP senators say
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2012年2月1日星期三
Spain tries again to clean up troubled banks
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s government will force its banks to recognize some 50 billion euros (41.3 billion pounds) in losses on bad loans to builders in a fresh financial sector reform on Friday, but doubts will still linger over the worthless property on the banks’ books.
The aim is to trigger a fresh wave of mergers to create stronger new banks four years after a property boom went bust and restore confidence to Spain, which has yet to shake off the euro zone debt crisis.
The new centre-right government has pledged to straighten out the banks once and for all, but officials are worried the reform will put great strain on Bankia, Spain’s fourth-biggest bank by market value, which is particularly exposed to real estate.
The reform will give newly merged banks up to two years to write down toxic assets by setting aside provisions on their books, other banks will get one year, said several sources close to the negotiations on the new rules.
The government will also lend funds to banks that struggle to meet the steep new provisions, through 5-year preferential shares bearing an 8 percent coupon in exchange for curbs on bank executives’ pay and bonuses, the sources said.
Spanish banks underwent a round of mergers and recapitalization under the former Socialist government. At that time banks boosted provisions against problem loans and property losses to about 30 percent. That will rise to 50 percent or higher with another 50 billion euros in coverage.
With the deeper reform the new government hopes to revive international interbank lending, mostly closed to Spain’s banks since the first Greek bailout in 2010, so that they can restart lending at home.
Bank lending continues to be stagnant as Spain heads into a second recession in four years and unemployment soars to 23 percent. The bank reform, as well as labour market reform and austerity measures are all part of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s efforts to prove to investors that Spain is solvent.
But the banks’ potential losses are so deep — total exposure is some 176 billion euros or 18 percent of Spain’s economic output — markets may still be wary.
“We’ve got to be aware that investors could still ask for more provisioning after this. You can’t say categorically that doubling provisions means the uncertainty is over,” said a source in the financial sector.
BOOKING LOSSES
The new measures to be decreed by the cabinet on Friday will break down what losses banks must recognize on assets linked to real estate — foreclosed property, unrecoverable loans and substandard loans.
“What is key is what assets are priced and how they are priced,” said Carmen Munoz, senior director at Fitch Ratings.
The system will need an additional 64 billion euros if foreclosed property assets are marked down by 65 percent, bad loans with housebuilders at 80 percent and substandard loans at 50 percent, says Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Total potential additional capital needed is equivalent to 79 percent of the system’s two-year pre-provision profit, the bank says. However, this rises to 248 percent if profits from Spain’s two biggest banks Santander and BBVA are removed.
INDISCRIMINATE LENDING
Spanish lenders lent indiscriminately to developers over a decade-long property bubble. When developers went bust, many creditor banks took on their land and unfinished housing blocks, booking them on their balance sheets at unrealistic prices.
Land classified for building has practically no resale value in Spain since there are between 700,000 and a million unsold homes and no appetite to build more.
The government hopes the most highly exposed banks get folded into stronger ones.
Particularly in focus is Bankia, the result of a merger between seven regional banks. Bankia has more customers than any other bank in Spain and is defined as a systemic bank that could drag down other lenders if it had trouble.
“The real problem they have is Bankia. The rest is minor,” said one Madrid-based banker.
Nomura estimates Bankia will need 5 billion euros in extra provisions — 12 times its estimated 2011 pre-tax profit. This compares with 4 billion for Santander at 0.3 times 2011 pre-tax profit and 3.3 billion euros for BBVA at 0.5 times profit.
Bankia, which has already received 4.5 billion euros in public money, has 41 billion euros in developer loans and 11 billion euros in foreclosed property on its books.
Finding a partner to take it on could be difficult, seeing as a stronger bank would only take it on if given generous guarantees by the government.
“At the end of the day, it will cost the government more to pay a private bank to take over Bankia than bail it out themselves, because buyers are only going to step in if it comes with a whopping big cheque from the state,” said one banking analyst.
WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM?
Spain’s government, unwilling to swell state debt as the euro zone crisis has forced up borrowing costs, will probably have to raise some 10 billion to 12 billion euros to loan to the most troubled banks.
One source close to the deal said that since the loans will be at a market rate they will not count towards the public deficit, which Spain must reduce this year under European Union rules.
European help looks unlikely, as it will come attached with conditions and will be politically negative for the government.
“I don’t think appealing to the European rescue fund will be an option for bank restructuring in Spain,” said Santander Chief Executive Alfredo Saenz on Tuesday.
(Additional reporting by Andres Gonzalez, Carlos Ruano and Jesus Aguado; Editing by Mike Nesbit)
The aim is to trigger a fresh wave of mergers to create stronger new banks four years after a property boom went bust and restore confidence to Spain, which has yet to shake off the euro zone debt crisis.
The new centre-right government has pledged to straighten out the banks once and for all, but officials are worried the reform will put great strain on Bankia, Spain’s fourth-biggest bank by market value, which is particularly exposed to real estate.
The reform will give newly merged banks up to two years to write down toxic assets by setting aside provisions on their books, other banks will get one year, said several sources close to the negotiations on the new rules.
The government will also lend funds to banks that struggle to meet the steep new provisions, through 5-year preferential shares bearing an 8 percent coupon in exchange for curbs on bank executives’ pay and bonuses, the sources said.
Spanish banks underwent a round of mergers and recapitalization under the former Socialist government. At that time banks boosted provisions against problem loans and property losses to about 30 percent. That will rise to 50 percent or higher with another 50 billion euros in coverage.
With the deeper reform the new government hopes to revive international interbank lending, mostly closed to Spain’s banks since the first Greek bailout in 2010, so that they can restart lending at home.
Bank lending continues to be stagnant as Spain heads into a second recession in four years and unemployment soars to 23 percent. The bank reform, as well as labour market reform and austerity measures are all part of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s efforts to prove to investors that Spain is solvent.
But the banks’ potential losses are so deep — total exposure is some 176 billion euros or 18 percent of Spain’s economic output — markets may still be wary.
“We’ve got to be aware that investors could still ask for more provisioning after this. You can’t say categorically that doubling provisions means the uncertainty is over,” said a source in the financial sector.
BOOKING LOSSES
The new measures to be decreed by the cabinet on Friday will break down what losses banks must recognize on assets linked to real estate — foreclosed property, unrecoverable loans and substandard loans.
“What is key is what assets are priced and how they are priced,” said Carmen Munoz, senior director at Fitch Ratings.
The system will need an additional 64 billion euros if foreclosed property assets are marked down by 65 percent, bad loans with housebuilders at 80 percent and substandard loans at 50 percent, says Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Total potential additional capital needed is equivalent to 79 percent of the system’s two-year pre-provision profit, the bank says. However, this rises to 248 percent if profits from Spain’s two biggest banks Santander and BBVA are removed.
INDISCRIMINATE LENDING
Spanish lenders lent indiscriminately to developers over a decade-long property bubble. When developers went bust, many creditor banks took on their land and unfinished housing blocks, booking them on their balance sheets at unrealistic prices.
Land classified for building has practically no resale value in Spain since there are between 700,000 and a million unsold homes and no appetite to build more.
The government hopes the most highly exposed banks get folded into stronger ones.
Particularly in focus is Bankia, the result of a merger between seven regional banks. Bankia has more customers than any other bank in Spain and is defined as a systemic bank that could drag down other lenders if it had trouble.
“The real problem they have is Bankia. The rest is minor,” said one Madrid-based banker.
Nomura estimates Bankia will need 5 billion euros in extra provisions — 12 times its estimated 2011 pre-tax profit. This compares with 4 billion for Santander at 0.3 times 2011 pre-tax profit and 3.3 billion euros for BBVA at 0.5 times profit.
Bankia, which has already received 4.5 billion euros in public money, has 41 billion euros in developer loans and 11 billion euros in foreclosed property on its books.
Finding a partner to take it on could be difficult, seeing as a stronger bank would only take it on if given generous guarantees by the government.
“At the end of the day, it will cost the government more to pay a private bank to take over Bankia than bail it out themselves, because buyers are only going to step in if it comes with a whopping big cheque from the state,” said one banking analyst.
WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM?
Spain’s government, unwilling to swell state debt as the euro zone crisis has forced up borrowing costs, will probably have to raise some 10 billion to 12 billion euros to loan to the most troubled banks.
One source close to the deal said that since the loans will be at a market rate they will not count towards the public deficit, which Spain must reduce this year under European Union rules.
European help looks unlikely, as it will come attached with conditions and will be politically negative for the government.
“I don’t think appealing to the European rescue fund will be an option for bank restructuring in Spain,” said Santander Chief Executive Alfredo Saenz on Tuesday.
(Additional reporting by Andres Gonzalez, Carlos Ruano and Jesus Aguado; Editing by Mike Nesbit)
Wells Fargo moving into investment banking arena
The sun was rising over San Francisco’s financial district in November 2009 when Richard Kovacevich picked up the phone in his 12th-floor office to call Omaha, Neb.
It was about a year after Wells Fargo and Kovacevich, the bank’s chairman at the time, had announced a plan to purchase Wachovia, and he was reaching out to Warren Buffett for help. Just days before, Buffett had heralded his own acquisition of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $26 billion.
The billionaire chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway had lined up JPMorgan Chase for financing, Kovacevich recalls. Berkshire also is Wells Fargo’s largest shareholder. The two men spoke for no more than 10 minutes, Kovacevich says, and the banker’s message was simple.
The phone call marked a turning point for Wells Fargo, founded in 1852 to serve Gold Rush pioneers. Far from Wall Street, the bank had long rejected the more volatile and transaction-oriented culture of investment banking. In 2005, Kovacevich, then also CEO, said having superstar bankers focused on one-time deals was “incompatible” with his company.
Now, Wells Fargo is pushing into the business it once shunned, even as rivals facing fickle markets, meager revenue and new restrictions scale back. Financial firms worldwide announced plans last year to cut more than 230,000 jobs as global stock offerings plunged 29 percent and U.S. bond issuance fell 6.8 percent.
The move may help Wells Fargo, led since 2007 by CEO John Stumpf, weather head winds facing commercial banks. Firms are struggling to find growth as rules limit overdraft and debit card fees and lending remains sluggish.
“The government has really limited their ability to grow their operations, so I can understand why they are trying to move out of traditional banking, but it’s a tough thing to do,” said William Frels, CEO of money manager Mairs & Power, which held more than 3.6 million Wells Fargo shares at the end of September. “It’s not a positive. My take is that they are desperate to find new avenues of growth.”
After Kovacevich’s call, Buffett added Wells Fargo to the Burlington deal. The bank has gone on to manage Burlington bond issues and in January 2011 helped underwrite Berkshire’s $1.5 billion debt offering. Buffett declined, through a spokeswoman, to comment.
“Before the crisis, we would have had to compromise both our culture and ethics in order to compete,” said Kovacevich, who, during an almost 35-year banking career that began at Citicorp, pursued his own agenda in defiance of industry trends.
The collapse of Lehman Bros. Holdings and the sales of Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch in 2008 led Kovacevich and Stumpf to rethink their stance.
Buffett’s imprimatur notwithstanding, Wells Fargo has a big hill to climb. The bank ranked 12th among U.S. debt underwriters in 2011, with 1,824 deals valued at $53.1 billion, behind London’s HSBC Holdings and France’s BNP Paribas SA. In U.S. mergers and acquisitions, Wells Fargo ranked 21st, advising on 31 deals last year valued at $27.6 billion.
Wells Fargo also will have to convince naysayers it won’t go the way of other commercial banks that have sought to enter the investment-banking business only to retreat, says Brian Foran, a New York analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. Bank of America tried expanding into investment banking with limited success until it purchased Merrill Lynch, he said.
“Investors are nervous,” Foran said. “They feel like they’ve seen this movie before.”
This article appeared on page D – 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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It was about a year after Wells Fargo and Kovacevich, the bank’s chairman at the time, had announced a plan to purchase Wachovia, and he was reaching out to Warren Buffett for help. Just days before, Buffett had heralded his own acquisition of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $26 billion.
The billionaire chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway had lined up JPMorgan Chase for financing, Kovacevich recalls. Berkshire also is Wells Fargo’s largest shareholder. The two men spoke for no more than 10 minutes, Kovacevich says, and the banker’s message was simple.
‘This is important’
“Here we are, our largest shareholder, and we had never done any meaningful investment banking for him,” said Kovacevich, who stepped down as chairman in 2009 but continues to consult with management and represent the company to customers. “I called him and said we’ve got some great bankers here now, this is important, and we’d really like to show you what we can do.”The phone call marked a turning point for Wells Fargo, founded in 1852 to serve Gold Rush pioneers. Far from Wall Street, the bank had long rejected the more volatile and transaction-oriented culture of investment banking. In 2005, Kovacevich, then also CEO, said having superstar bankers focused on one-time deals was “incompatible” with his company.
Now, Wells Fargo is pushing into the business it once shunned, even as rivals facing fickle markets, meager revenue and new restrictions scale back. Financial firms worldwide announced plans last year to cut more than 230,000 jobs as global stock offerings plunged 29 percent and U.S. bond issuance fell 6.8 percent.
The move may help Wells Fargo, led since 2007 by CEO John Stumpf, weather head winds facing commercial banks. Firms are struggling to find growth as rules limit overdraft and debit card fees and lending remains sluggish.
“The government has really limited their ability to grow their operations, so I can understand why they are trying to move out of traditional banking, but it’s a tough thing to do,” said William Frels, CEO of money manager Mairs & Power, which held more than 3.6 million Wells Fargo shares at the end of September. “It’s not a positive. My take is that they are desperate to find new avenues of growth.”
Record profit
Still, the bank has been profitable for 12 consecutive quarters, through the three-month period that ended on Dec. 31, setting records in the past six. It reported net income of $15.9 billion in 2011.After Kovacevich’s call, Buffett added Wells Fargo to the Burlington deal. The bank has gone on to manage Burlington bond issues and in January 2011 helped underwrite Berkshire’s $1.5 billion debt offering. Buffett declined, through a spokeswoman, to comment.
“Before the crisis, we would have had to compromise both our culture and ethics in order to compete,” said Kovacevich, who, during an almost 35-year banking career that began at Citicorp, pursued his own agenda in defiance of industry trends.
The collapse of Lehman Bros. Holdings and the sales of Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch in 2008 led Kovacevich and Stumpf to rethink their stance.
Buffett’s imprimatur notwithstanding, Wells Fargo has a big hill to climb. The bank ranked 12th among U.S. debt underwriters in 2011, with 1,824 deals valued at $53.1 billion, behind London’s HSBC Holdings and France’s BNP Paribas SA. In U.S. mergers and acquisitions, Wells Fargo ranked 21st, advising on 31 deals last year valued at $27.6 billion.
Wells Fargo also will have to convince naysayers it won’t go the way of other commercial banks that have sought to enter the investment-banking business only to retreat, says Brian Foran, a New York analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. Bank of America tried expanding into investment banking with limited success until it purchased Merrill Lynch, he said.
“Investors are nervous,” Foran said. “They feel like they’ve seen this movie before.”
This article appeared on page D – 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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2012年1月31日星期二
Peter O'Malley teams with South Korea investor in bid for Dodgers
Peter O’Malley’s bid to buy back the Dodgers is supported by financing from the South Korean conglomerate E-Land, two people familiar with the Dodgers’ sale process said Monday.
If the O’Malley bid is successful, E-Land Chairman Song Soo Park will become a major investor in the Dodgers, one of the people said.
The ownership group also would have investors from Los Angeles. O’Malley has had discussions with Tony Ressler, a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and co-founder of Los Angeles-based Ares Capital, according to a person familiar with the talks.
O’Malley would be the Dodgers’ chief executive. Foreign investment is not necessarily an obstacle to MLB ownership; the Seattle Mariners’ ownership group includes a significant Japanese presence.
An E-Land spokesman confirmed Tuesday the company is involved in the Dodgers bidding but would not elaborate. O’Malley declined to comment.
On Tuesday, as South Koreans woke up to the news that local investors might own one of America’s most storied baseball teams, the Korean Baseball Organization — the top professional league in South Korea — had no comment.
Among the baseball fans in chat rooms and on bulletin boards, the reaction leaned negative.
Rather than being proud of owning a foreign franchise as a way to extend Korean cultural and economic influence abroad, many fans here wondered why their moneyed elite didn’t invest their millions in Korean clubs. And, despite the experience of the Mariners, the fans expressed skepticism that foreign-backed ownership would be permitted.
“If an outsider could purchase a Major League Baseball team, then Chinese companies would’ve gotten their hands on it already,” wrote one bulletin board contributor.
Wrote another: “Why won’t they invest in finding a new Korean Baseball team instead?”
The people who liked the idea said it would pave the way for more Korean talent to make its way to the major leagues.
“Having a hand in the Dodgers will allow Korean players to more easily make the jump. It’s good marketing,” wrote one fan.
O’Malley is one of at least eight prospective owners to make last Friday’s first cut.
The others include East Coast investment baron Steven Cohen, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, and groups led by Magic Johnson, Beverly Hills developer Alan Casden, Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso and former Dodgers manager Joe Torre, investor and civic leader Stanley Gold and the family of the late Roy Disney, and New York media investor Leo Hindery and investor Tom Barrack of Santa Monica-based Colony Capital.
Frank McCourt, the Dodgers’ departing owner, expects the team to sell for at least $1.5 billion. That would be almost double the previous record price for a major league club, set when the Ricketts family bought the Chicago Cubs for $845 million in 2009.
Under O’Malley, the Dodgers were pioneers in international baseball, particularly in Asia. In 1994, three years before O’Malley sold the team to News Corp., Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park became the first Korean player to appear in a major league game.
In November, O’Malley joined Park and former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo — the second Japanese player to appear in the majors — in an investment partnership to own and operate the Dodgers’ old spring home in Vero Beach, Fla. Park and Nomo agreed to use their homeland connections to help lure teams, camps and clinics to Vero Beach.
E-Land, a dominant fashion retailer in South Korea, has expanded its business interests into such areas as hotels and resorts, restaurants and construction, according to the company website. The company is family-run and privately held.
According to the E-Land website, the company opened its first U.S. retail store in 2007 at a mall in Stamford, Conn., under the brand name “Who A.U.” The slogan for the brand: California Dream.
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
twitter.com/BillShaikin
Shaikin reported from Los Angeles and Glionna reported from Seoul.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
If the O’Malley bid is successful, E-Land Chairman Song Soo Park will become a major investor in the Dodgers, one of the people said.
The ownership group also would have investors from Los Angeles. O’Malley has had discussions with Tony Ressler, a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and co-founder of Los Angeles-based Ares Capital, according to a person familiar with the talks.
O’Malley would be the Dodgers’ chief executive. Foreign investment is not necessarily an obstacle to MLB ownership; the Seattle Mariners’ ownership group includes a significant Japanese presence.
An E-Land spokesman confirmed Tuesday the company is involved in the Dodgers bidding but would not elaborate. O’Malley declined to comment.
On Tuesday, as South Koreans woke up to the news that local investors might own one of America’s most storied baseball teams, the Korean Baseball Organization — the top professional league in South Korea — had no comment.
Among the baseball fans in chat rooms and on bulletin boards, the reaction leaned negative.
Rather than being proud of owning a foreign franchise as a way to extend Korean cultural and economic influence abroad, many fans here wondered why their moneyed elite didn’t invest their millions in Korean clubs. And, despite the experience of the Mariners, the fans expressed skepticism that foreign-backed ownership would be permitted.
“If an outsider could purchase a Major League Baseball team, then Chinese companies would’ve gotten their hands on it already,” wrote one bulletin board contributor.
Wrote another: “Why won’t they invest in finding a new Korean Baseball team instead?”
The people who liked the idea said it would pave the way for more Korean talent to make its way to the major leagues.
“Having a hand in the Dodgers will allow Korean players to more easily make the jump. It’s good marketing,” wrote one fan.
O’Malley is one of at least eight prospective owners to make last Friday’s first cut.
The others include East Coast investment baron Steven Cohen, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, and groups led by Magic Johnson, Beverly Hills developer Alan Casden, Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso and former Dodgers manager Joe Torre, investor and civic leader Stanley Gold and the family of the late Roy Disney, and New York media investor Leo Hindery and investor Tom Barrack of Santa Monica-based Colony Capital.
Frank McCourt, the Dodgers’ departing owner, expects the team to sell for at least $1.5 billion. That would be almost double the previous record price for a major league club, set when the Ricketts family bought the Chicago Cubs for $845 million in 2009.
Under O’Malley, the Dodgers were pioneers in international baseball, particularly in Asia. In 1994, three years before O’Malley sold the team to News Corp., Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park became the first Korean player to appear in a major league game.
In November, O’Malley joined Park and former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo — the second Japanese player to appear in the majors — in an investment partnership to own and operate the Dodgers’ old spring home in Vero Beach, Fla. Park and Nomo agreed to use their homeland connections to help lure teams, camps and clinics to Vero Beach.
E-Land, a dominant fashion retailer in South Korea, has expanded its business interests into such areas as hotels and resorts, restaurants and construction, according to the company website. The company is family-run and privately held.
According to the E-Land website, the company opened its first U.S. retail store in 2007 at a mall in Stamford, Conn., under the brand name “Who A.U.” The slogan for the brand: California Dream.
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
twitter.com/BillShaikin
Shaikin reported from Los Angeles and Glionna reported from Seoul.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月27日星期五
Adara Media Secures $12.4 M in Financing Led by August Capital
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA–(Marketwire -01/24/12)- Global precision marketing platform company Adara Media Inc. has secured $12.4 million in funding from venture capital firm August Capital, with participation from existing investors Morgenthaler Ventures, Onset Ventures, and Baseline Ventures. This financing will fuel increased investment in Adara Media’s award winning TruPrecision Targeting Platform, delivering highly targeted media and ecommerce campaigns based upon specific customer relevance across top travel and hospitality brands. It will also advance Adara Media’s mission to expand its platform into new verticals and invest in sales, marketing and operational resources.
The funding follows exponential spending increases from Adara Media’s clients in 2011. Working with complex customer data sets and valuable audience segments, such as frequent flyers, business and international travelers, Adara Media enables top brand advertisers to connect with a highly desired consumer base via online media channels.
“This new round of funding from an esteemed group of partners represents continued investment in the growth of our business,” says Layton Han, chief executive officer of Adara Media. “Our business has achieved revenue growth every month during 2011 and is now poised to grow more aggressively and efficiently. We’re excited to have the support of August Capital, and the continued backing of our existing investors, as we invest heavily in our platform development and continue to expand globally.”
Han added that Adara will also use the funding to take the TruPrecision platform into new vertical categories. The company’s growth in 2011 has come from travel, hospitality and closely related verticals. Through Adara Media’s TruPrecision Targeting Platform, brands can reach and activate more than 225 million traveler profiles.
Dave Marquardt and Tripp Jones of August Capital led the investment in Adara Media. “We pride ourselves on investing in companies that show entrepreneurial excellence and technical innovation,” said August Capital co-founder Dave Marquardt. “Adara Media and its management have shown that this platform can bring brands closer to their best customers through the use of technology. We’re excited about Adara’s future as they expand globally and develop into new verticals.”
Adara Media’s industry leadership has been acknowledged through many industry awards including AlwaysOn OnMedia 100, Red Herring North America, and the Mega Awards, hosted by Airline Information. Adara Media has recently established an office in Chicago and announced the promotion of Scott Garner to EVP of business strategy, now responsible for strategic partnerships as well as new product strategy.
About August Capital:
Founded in 1995, August Capital has funded an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs who have built significant, long-term value across the full range of information technologies. These companies represent an aggregate market capitalization of well over $250 billion, generate in excess of $75 billion in annual revenue around the world. This success is a testament to the entrepreneurs themselves, as well as the fundamental technologies they have created. August Capital has $1.3 billion under management, and has invested in more than 75 companies including Atheros, Cobalt Networks, Iridigm, Mimosa Systems, Postini, Seagate, Shopping.com, SixApart and Silicon Image. Recent investments range from $500,000 to $130 million in information technology businesses from semiconductors to ecommerce. The firm’s partners have previously invested in a number of ground breaking technology companies, including Actel, Adaptec, Compaq, Grand Junction, Intuit, Linear Technology, Microsoft, MMC Networks, Skype, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, Symantec, and Visio. August Capital is located in Menlo Park, California. For more information, please visit: www.augustcap.com.
About Adara Media:Adara Media offers a loyalty audience platform that enables top brands to monetize and nurture their loyalty program customers online and helps advertisers reach exclusive, qualified audiences. Using proprietary loyalty data, Adara Media enables advertisers to reach real individuals, ensuring authenticity while maintaining complete anonymity. Adara Media’s brand partners then gain ancillary revenue streams and the ability to deepen their relationships with loyalty consumers through targeted offers and consistent communication. Adara Media was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Mountain View, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.adaramedia.com/.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
The funding follows exponential spending increases from Adara Media’s clients in 2011. Working with complex customer data sets and valuable audience segments, such as frequent flyers, business and international travelers, Adara Media enables top brand advertisers to connect with a highly desired consumer base via online media channels.
“This new round of funding from an esteemed group of partners represents continued investment in the growth of our business,” says Layton Han, chief executive officer of Adara Media. “Our business has achieved revenue growth every month during 2011 and is now poised to grow more aggressively and efficiently. We’re excited to have the support of August Capital, and the continued backing of our existing investors, as we invest heavily in our platform development and continue to expand globally.”
Han added that Adara will also use the funding to take the TruPrecision platform into new vertical categories. The company’s growth in 2011 has come from travel, hospitality and closely related verticals. Through Adara Media’s TruPrecision Targeting Platform, brands can reach and activate more than 225 million traveler profiles.
Dave Marquardt and Tripp Jones of August Capital led the investment in Adara Media. “We pride ourselves on investing in companies that show entrepreneurial excellence and technical innovation,” said August Capital co-founder Dave Marquardt. “Adara Media and its management have shown that this platform can bring brands closer to their best customers through the use of technology. We’re excited about Adara’s future as they expand globally and develop into new verticals.”
Adara Media’s industry leadership has been acknowledged through many industry awards including AlwaysOn OnMedia 100, Red Herring North America, and the Mega Awards, hosted by Airline Information. Adara Media has recently established an office in Chicago and announced the promotion of Scott Garner to EVP of business strategy, now responsible for strategic partnerships as well as new product strategy.
About August Capital:
Founded in 1995, August Capital has funded an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs who have built significant, long-term value across the full range of information technologies. These companies represent an aggregate market capitalization of well over $250 billion, generate in excess of $75 billion in annual revenue around the world. This success is a testament to the entrepreneurs themselves, as well as the fundamental technologies they have created. August Capital has $1.3 billion under management, and has invested in more than 75 companies including Atheros, Cobalt Networks, Iridigm, Mimosa Systems, Postini, Seagate, Shopping.com, SixApart and Silicon Image. Recent investments range from $500,000 to $130 million in information technology businesses from semiconductors to ecommerce. The firm’s partners have previously invested in a number of ground breaking technology companies, including Actel, Adaptec, Compaq, Grand Junction, Intuit, Linear Technology, Microsoft, MMC Networks, Skype, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, Symantec, and Visio. August Capital is located in Menlo Park, California. For more information, please visit: www.augustcap.com.
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2012年1月19日星期四
Resource fuels Toronto market surge
The Toronto stock market was higher Wednesday on rising resource and financial sector stocks that benefited from word the International Monetary Fund is looking to bolster its financial firepower to help defuse a global economic crisis.
The S&P TSX Composite Index eased into noon hour Wednesday up 52.64 points to 12,285.47.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.14 cents to 98.62 cents U.S.
On the TSX, the financial sector rose while Royal Bank advanced 58 cents to $52.40 while Bank of Nova Scotia gained 71 cents to $52.52.
Major deal making helped send the TSX industrials sector up sharply. Shares in Finning International Inc. climbed $1.35, or 5.53%, to $25.75 after it said it will acquire the Caterpillar distribution and support business formerly operated by Bucyrus in South America, the U.K., and Western Canada. The deal is worth $465 million U.S. Vancouver-based Finning is the world’s biggest Caterpillar dealer.
Canadian National Railways advanced 97 cents to $78.89.
The energy sector ran up as the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange improved on Tuesday’s $2 jump (see below). Suncor Energy gained 69 cents to $33.91 and Cenovus Energy climbed 83 cents to $35.89.
The base metals sector gained as other commodity prices were weak with March copper ahead two cents at $3.75 U.S. a pound after the Chinese economic report in particular sent the metal jumping nine cents Tuesday. China is the world’s biggest copper consumer. Teck Resources was up 94 cents to $40.79 while HudBay Minerals was ahead 26 cents to $10.96.
The gold sector was higher as Goldcorp Inc. climbed 32 cents to $45.99.
The consumer discretionary sector provided lift with auto parts giant Magna International ahead 95 cents to $40.95.
The IMF said it aims to add $500 billion U.S. to its resources so it can give out new loans to help mitigate a worsening financial crisis. The Washington-based institution said its staff estimates that countries around the world will need about $1 trillion U.S. in loans over the coming years.
Most of the concerns centre on the 17-nation euro-zone, which has been embroiled in a debt crisis for around two years.
Thanks to some $200 billion U.S. that European countries have recently promised to the IMF, it is already more than one third on its way to reaching its fundraising goal.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange rallied 4.90 points to 1,542.62, while the Nasdaq Canada index sifted off 0.39 points to 403.03
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained by lunch hour. Industrials progressed 1.5%, global base metals gained 1.4%, and the metals and mining group was 0.9% stronger.
The lone laggard was in information technology, down 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities edged higher Wednesday, as investors welcomed the International Monetary Fund plan to boost its bailout fund to contain Europe’s debt crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 49.01 points midday to 12,531.10
The S&P 500 added 5.66 points to 1,299.33, while the Nasdaq Composite picked up 21.96 points to 2,750.04.
Investors also had the latest bank earnings report to mull over, with Goldman Sachs reporting fourth-quarter earnings that beat forecasts but revenue well below expectations. Goldman shares spiked 5% as CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement that he was seeing “encouraging” signs of improvement in the markets and economy.
Goldman’s mixed results came a day after Citigroup missed earnings estimates, while results from Wells Fargo were in line with expectations. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are scheduled to release their results on Thursday.
Yahoo shares rose after the Web portal announced late Tuesday that co-founder Jerry Yang has resigned from the board of directors and all other positions at the company.
Shares of Carnival rose modestly, after falling 14% the day before. The cruise line operator said it may suffer a more than $100 million U.S. hit to its profit from the grounding of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy.
The euro firmed above $1.28 against the U.S. dollar on the news.
While the IMF’s beefed up lending capacity is good news, obstacles remain on the path toward a resolution to Europe’s debt crisis.
Greek government officials and the group representing private sector investors and banks are resuming talks Wednesday to try to nail down how big a writedown private investors are willing to take on the country’s bonds.
Economically speaking, producer prices fell 0.1% in December, the government reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected a rise of 0.1% during the month.
A report from the Federal Reserve showed that industrial production rose 0.4% in December, slightly below expectations, while capacity utilization rose to 78.1%, in line with economist expectations.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note dipped, pushing yields up to 1.86% from Tuesday’s 1.85%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery gained another 23 cents to $100.94 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery fell $7.00 to $1,648.60 U.S. an ounce.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
The S&P TSX Composite Index eased into noon hour Wednesday up 52.64 points to 12,285.47.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.14 cents to 98.62 cents U.S.
On the TSX, the financial sector rose while Royal Bank advanced 58 cents to $52.40 while Bank of Nova Scotia gained 71 cents to $52.52.
Major deal making helped send the TSX industrials sector up sharply. Shares in Finning International Inc. climbed $1.35, or 5.53%, to $25.75 after it said it will acquire the Caterpillar distribution and support business formerly operated by Bucyrus in South America, the U.K., and Western Canada. The deal is worth $465 million U.S. Vancouver-based Finning is the world’s biggest Caterpillar dealer.
Canadian National Railways advanced 97 cents to $78.89.
The energy sector ran up as the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange improved on Tuesday’s $2 jump (see below). Suncor Energy gained 69 cents to $33.91 and Cenovus Energy climbed 83 cents to $35.89.
The base metals sector gained as other commodity prices were weak with March copper ahead two cents at $3.75 U.S. a pound after the Chinese economic report in particular sent the metal jumping nine cents Tuesday. China is the world’s biggest copper consumer. Teck Resources was up 94 cents to $40.79 while HudBay Minerals was ahead 26 cents to $10.96.
The gold sector was higher as Goldcorp Inc. climbed 32 cents to $45.99.
The consumer discretionary sector provided lift with auto parts giant Magna International ahead 95 cents to $40.95.
The IMF said it aims to add $500 billion U.S. to its resources so it can give out new loans to help mitigate a worsening financial crisis. The Washington-based institution said its staff estimates that countries around the world will need about $1 trillion U.S. in loans over the coming years.
Most of the concerns centre on the 17-nation euro-zone, which has been embroiled in a debt crisis for around two years.
Thanks to some $200 billion U.S. that European countries have recently promised to the IMF, it is already more than one third on its way to reaching its fundraising goal.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange rallied 4.90 points to 1,542.62, while the Nasdaq Canada index sifted off 0.39 points to 403.03
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained by lunch hour. Industrials progressed 1.5%, global base metals gained 1.4%, and the metals and mining group was 0.9% stronger.
The lone laggard was in information technology, down 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities edged higher Wednesday, as investors welcomed the International Monetary Fund plan to boost its bailout fund to contain Europe’s debt crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 49.01 points midday to 12,531.10
The S&P 500 added 5.66 points to 1,299.33, while the Nasdaq Composite picked up 21.96 points to 2,750.04.
Investors also had the latest bank earnings report to mull over, with Goldman Sachs reporting fourth-quarter earnings that beat forecasts but revenue well below expectations. Goldman shares spiked 5% as CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement that he was seeing “encouraging” signs of improvement in the markets and economy.
Goldman’s mixed results came a day after Citigroup missed earnings estimates, while results from Wells Fargo were in line with expectations. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are scheduled to release their results on Thursday.
Yahoo shares rose after the Web portal announced late Tuesday that co-founder Jerry Yang has resigned from the board of directors and all other positions at the company.
Shares of Carnival rose modestly, after falling 14% the day before. The cruise line operator said it may suffer a more than $100 million U.S. hit to its profit from the grounding of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy.
The euro firmed above $1.28 against the U.S. dollar on the news.
While the IMF’s beefed up lending capacity is good news, obstacles remain on the path toward a resolution to Europe’s debt crisis.
Greek government officials and the group representing private sector investors and banks are resuming talks Wednesday to try to nail down how big a writedown private investors are willing to take on the country’s bonds.
Economically speaking, producer prices fell 0.1% in December, the government reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected a rise of 0.1% during the month.
A report from the Federal Reserve showed that industrial production rose 0.4% in December, slightly below expectations, while capacity utilization rose to 78.1%, in line with economist expectations.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note dipped, pushing yields up to 1.86% from Tuesday’s 1.85%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery gained another 23 cents to $100.94 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery fell $7.00 to $1,648.60 U.S. an ounce.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
The Motley Fool financial advice
ASK THE FOOL
Explaining the prime number
Q: What’s the prime rate? – T.W., Norwich, Conn.
A: It’s the interest rate that banks charge their best (lowest-risk) commercial customers. It matters because many other interest rates, such as those for mortgages, home equity loans, credit cards and other business loans, take their lead from the prime rate. A car loan rate, for example, might be calculated by taking the current prime rate and adding a certain amount to it.
The prime rate doesn’t change every day. It stays put for a while until major banks change their rates, generally moving in step with economic conditions. (That often happens when the Federal Reserve changes its discount rate, which is what it charges banks that borrow short-term money.)
There actually isn’t a single prime rate. Each bank may set its own, but the major commercial banks tend to use the same one most of the time. You’ll find the prime rate in most newspapers’ business sections.
Who’s in charge here, anyway?
Q: How can I find out who’s on a company’s board of directors? – N.B., Ashland, Ky.
A: You’ll frequently find a list of a company’s board members on its website. Look for links labeled something like “Company Information,” “About Us,” “Investor Relations” or “Corporate Governance.” You can also just call the investor relations department and ask.
Most annual reports list the members of the board, often with a glossy color photo. Another option is to check out the reports that the company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The annual 10-K report is your best bet, and you can get it by entering the company’s name or ticker symbol at http://finance.yahoo.com. It’s a long and informative document.
Foolish Trivia
Name that company
Founded in 1865 and based in Minneapolis, I started as an Iowa grain storage warehouse. Today I’m a global giant in food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. My offerings include grains, oilseeds, sugar, meats, salt, cotton and animal nutrition products. I’m versatile. With corn alone, I’ve traded it, processed it into ethanol and fructose, and created renewable products such as plastics and fiber from it. I employ roughly 140,000 people and rake in about $120 billion annually. You can’t buy stock in me, because I’m a privately held company – America’s largest one, in fact. Who am I?
Last week’s answer: Gannett
THE TAKE
AT&T in 2012
The proposed $39 billion merger between AT&T (NYSE: T) and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA is history, but AT&T’s future still holds promise.
AT&T had hoped to increase the number of its radio frequency licenses with the merger. Instead, as part of a breakup fee in the agreement, AT&T will have to fork over $3 billion worth of spectrum and roaming agreements to T-Mobile, along with $3 billion in cash.
So job No. 1 for AT&T in the new year will be to gain additional spectrum just to tread water. It’s waiting for the FCC to OK its deal to buy $1.9 billion worth of spectrum from Qualcomm.
The biggest reason AT&T is going to need as much spectrum as it can get is to catch up to Verizon in the race to smother the country with 4G LTE coverage. Verizon seems to have quite a head start in that regard. Its LTE network covers 179 cities across the country, vs. just 15 cities for AT&T.
The coming year is definitely going to be challenging for AT&T, but it’s certainly not in dire straits. The company just upped its quarterly dividend for the 28th year in a row.
Think twice before selling off your AT&T shares in a panic. That 6 percent dividend yield can be quite effective as an anti-anxiety pill. (The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm.)
Write to us. Send questions for Ask the Fool and your trivia entries to: The Motley Fool c/o Houston Chronicle P.O. Box 4260 Houston, TX 77210 Universal Press Syndicate
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Explaining the prime number
Q: What’s the prime rate? – T.W., Norwich, Conn.
A: It’s the interest rate that banks charge their best (lowest-risk) commercial customers. It matters because many other interest rates, such as those for mortgages, home equity loans, credit cards and other business loans, take their lead from the prime rate. A car loan rate, for example, might be calculated by taking the current prime rate and adding a certain amount to it.
The prime rate doesn’t change every day. It stays put for a while until major banks change their rates, generally moving in step with economic conditions. (That often happens when the Federal Reserve changes its discount rate, which is what it charges banks that borrow short-term money.)
There actually isn’t a single prime rate. Each bank may set its own, but the major commercial banks tend to use the same one most of the time. You’ll find the prime rate in most newspapers’ business sections.
Who’s in charge here, anyway?
Q: How can I find out who’s on a company’s board of directors? – N.B., Ashland, Ky.
A: You’ll frequently find a list of a company’s board members on its website. Look for links labeled something like “Company Information,” “About Us,” “Investor Relations” or “Corporate Governance.” You can also just call the investor relations department and ask.
Most annual reports list the members of the board, often with a glossy color photo. Another option is to check out the reports that the company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The annual 10-K report is your best bet, and you can get it by entering the company’s name or ticker symbol at http://finance.yahoo.com. It’s a long and informative document.
Foolish Trivia
Name that company
Founded in 1865 and based in Minneapolis, I started as an Iowa grain storage warehouse. Today I’m a global giant in food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. My offerings include grains, oilseeds, sugar, meats, salt, cotton and animal nutrition products. I’m versatile. With corn alone, I’ve traded it, processed it into ethanol and fructose, and created renewable products such as plastics and fiber from it. I employ roughly 140,000 people and rake in about $120 billion annually. You can’t buy stock in me, because I’m a privately held company – America’s largest one, in fact. Who am I?
Last week’s answer: Gannett
THE TAKE
AT&T in 2012
The proposed $39 billion merger between AT&T (NYSE: T) and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA is history, but AT&T’s future still holds promise.
AT&T had hoped to increase the number of its radio frequency licenses with the merger. Instead, as part of a breakup fee in the agreement, AT&T will have to fork over $3 billion worth of spectrum and roaming agreements to T-Mobile, along with $3 billion in cash.
So job No. 1 for AT&T in the new year will be to gain additional spectrum just to tread water. It’s waiting for the FCC to OK its deal to buy $1.9 billion worth of spectrum from Qualcomm.
The biggest reason AT&T is going to need as much spectrum as it can get is to catch up to Verizon in the race to smother the country with 4G LTE coverage. Verizon seems to have quite a head start in that regard. Its LTE network covers 179 cities across the country, vs. just 15 cities for AT&T.
The coming year is definitely going to be challenging for AT&T, but it’s certainly not in dire straits. The company just upped its quarterly dividend for the 28th year in a row.
Think twice before selling off your AT&T shares in a panic. That 6 percent dividend yield can be quite effective as an anti-anxiety pill. (The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm.)
Write to us. Send questions for Ask the Fool and your trivia entries to: The Motley Fool c/o Houston Chronicle P.O. Box 4260 Houston, TX 77210 Universal Press Syndicate
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
China property, other data, add to slowdown worries
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s course through the most testing economic conditions since the global financial crisis is getting bumpier, as data on Wednesday showed stuttering investment flows, tight credit and falling home prices coinciding with a difficult trade outlook.
The final rush of indicators ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday reinforced the view that economic growth will slowdown further in the first three months of 2012, a trend that gathered momentum at the end of 2011 and resulted in the slackest quarter of expansion in 2- years.
Pro-growth government policies applied so far should help avoid an outright hard landing, but the risk remains that the scale of the slowdown engineered domestically in the once-rocketing real estate sector and the size of the drop-off in external demand from debt-ridden Europe have been underestimated.
“Headline GDP growth shows a soft landing definitely, but if you look at some of the underlying sectors — particularly real estate investment — we see lots of vulnerabilities. It could be a pretty rough ride,” said Ren Xianfang, senior China analyst at IHS Global Insight in Beijing.
“By the final quarter of last year I think the government started to lose its grip on the pace of the slowdown and that’s largely because of the external shock,” she added.
That shock has come in the form of both slower exports growth — which ended December at roughly a third of the year-on-year level seen in January — and capital outflows, which ended the year with the first quarterly outflow since 1998, calculations by Nomura analysts show.
Still, while trade and capital flows including foreign direct investment might be sagging, they are doing so from record highs.
Even so, the Ministry of Commerce warned in a regular news conference on Wednesday that the near-term outlook was difficult and that only a modest growth in trade was anticipated in the first quarter.
REAL ESTATE SCRUTINY
A number of indicators this week showed China’s economic growth weakened in the fourth quarter, but it is the real estate sector that economists are scrutinising most carefully to assess the scale of the domestic slowdown.
With Europe in danger of slipping into a recession and U.S. growth looking lacklustre, China’s role in the global economy is magnified — particularly its ability to generate domestic demand that could absorb exports from struggling developed nations.
Real estate is the backbone of China’s domestic growth story. Property investment was worth 13 percent of total output in 2011 and it links some 40 major industrial sectors.
Data on Wednesday showed China’s new home prices fell for the third straight month in December and may drop further as Beijing sticks to its campaign to bring housing costs back to levels that the government considers reasonable.
That followed data on Tuesday showing annual growth in China’s real estate investment slowed in December to its weakest pace in a year.
“Today’s report is consistent with the unambiguously deteriorating trends seen in property sales, construction, starts, and investments. The data just turned from bad to worse,” Yao Wei, China economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong wrote in a note to clients.
“The economy as a whole has not felt much chill yet, but H1 2012 is going to be difficult not just for property developers. Contraction in sales and sharp deceleration in investments will send shockwaves along the industry chain, which is expected to drag overall growth below the 8 percent mark in H1,” she said.
Intriguingly, tight monetary conditions revealed by the central bank’s total social financing aggregate — the measure it developed to offer a clearer picture of money supply than simple M2 — underline credit constraints in the real economy.
Total social financing fell to 12.8 trillion yuan (1 trillion pounds) in 2011 from 13.9 trillion in 2010, even as an estimated 350 billion yuan was injected into the financial system after November’s cut of 50 basis points to the ratio of deposits banks must hold as reserves.
BATTLE OF THE BUBBLE
China tightened policy to deflate the twin bubbles created in real estate and local government borrowing by the 4 trillion yuan stimulus package launched in 2008 to help the country through the global financial crisis.
The battle to bring those bubbles back under control is still being fought, even as the government faces another downturn that delivered a fourth successive quarter of slowing growth in October to December.
That battle is a key factor uniting economists in the view that even though China’s economy will decelerate further in the months ahead, a cut to policy lending rates by the People’s Bank of China is not on the cards.
“China started a deflating cycle last year and it will be very dangerous, very risky for them to end it prematurely because if they end it too early it will be an even larger macro economic risk for China going forward,” said Ren of IHS.
Up to 200 basis points of bank reserve cuts are expected in 2012 by analysts polled recently by Reuters, as that helps keep money supply growth stable in the face of capital outflows.
Beijing is likely to stick to what Premier Wen Jiabao has called “fine-tuning” of economic policy settings to counter the downturn for now, rather than adopting more aggressive measures such as a interest rate cuts.
That leaves the main area of uncertainty for economists the question of how sharp the slowdown in GDP growth will be in the first quarter of 2012. Many expect the next 12 months to be the most sluggish growth for China in a decade.
The most bearish call in the latest Reuters poll is Deutsche Bank’s 7.3 percent. That’s too steep for many and an unfathomable call to the likes of Ting Lu, Hong Kong-based China economist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.
A fall to there from 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter implies a decline wiping some 6 percentage points off growth at an annualised rate that would leave the economy expanding at barely 3 percent.
“That’s just not going to happen,” Lu said. “I think the chance of growth slowing to below 8 percent in the first quarter is very low. Calls below that are just too pessimistic. There’s a slowdown yes, but not that dramatic.”
(Additional reporting by Zhou Xin and Langi Chiang; Editing by Neil Fullick)
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
The final rush of indicators ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday reinforced the view that economic growth will slowdown further in the first three months of 2012, a trend that gathered momentum at the end of 2011 and resulted in the slackest quarter of expansion in 2- years.
Pro-growth government policies applied so far should help avoid an outright hard landing, but the risk remains that the scale of the slowdown engineered domestically in the once-rocketing real estate sector and the size of the drop-off in external demand from debt-ridden Europe have been underestimated.
“Headline GDP growth shows a soft landing definitely, but if you look at some of the underlying sectors — particularly real estate investment — we see lots of vulnerabilities. It could be a pretty rough ride,” said Ren Xianfang, senior China analyst at IHS Global Insight in Beijing.
“By the final quarter of last year I think the government started to lose its grip on the pace of the slowdown and that’s largely because of the external shock,” she added.
That shock has come in the form of both slower exports growth — which ended December at roughly a third of the year-on-year level seen in January — and capital outflows, which ended the year with the first quarterly outflow since 1998, calculations by Nomura analysts show.
Still, while trade and capital flows including foreign direct investment might be sagging, they are doing so from record highs.
Even so, the Ministry of Commerce warned in a regular news conference on Wednesday that the near-term outlook was difficult and that only a modest growth in trade was anticipated in the first quarter.
REAL ESTATE SCRUTINY
A number of indicators this week showed China’s economic growth weakened in the fourth quarter, but it is the real estate sector that economists are scrutinising most carefully to assess the scale of the domestic slowdown.
With Europe in danger of slipping into a recession and U.S. growth looking lacklustre, China’s role in the global economy is magnified — particularly its ability to generate domestic demand that could absorb exports from struggling developed nations.
Real estate is the backbone of China’s domestic growth story. Property investment was worth 13 percent of total output in 2011 and it links some 40 major industrial sectors.
Data on Wednesday showed China’s new home prices fell for the third straight month in December and may drop further as Beijing sticks to its campaign to bring housing costs back to levels that the government considers reasonable.
That followed data on Tuesday showing annual growth in China’s real estate investment slowed in December to its weakest pace in a year.
“Today’s report is consistent with the unambiguously deteriorating trends seen in property sales, construction, starts, and investments. The data just turned from bad to worse,” Yao Wei, China economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong wrote in a note to clients.
“The economy as a whole has not felt much chill yet, but H1 2012 is going to be difficult not just for property developers. Contraction in sales and sharp deceleration in investments will send shockwaves along the industry chain, which is expected to drag overall growth below the 8 percent mark in H1,” she said.
Intriguingly, tight monetary conditions revealed by the central bank’s total social financing aggregate — the measure it developed to offer a clearer picture of money supply than simple M2 — underline credit constraints in the real economy.
Total social financing fell to 12.8 trillion yuan (1 trillion pounds) in 2011 from 13.9 trillion in 2010, even as an estimated 350 billion yuan was injected into the financial system after November’s cut of 50 basis points to the ratio of deposits banks must hold as reserves.
BATTLE OF THE BUBBLE
China tightened policy to deflate the twin bubbles created in real estate and local government borrowing by the 4 trillion yuan stimulus package launched in 2008 to help the country through the global financial crisis.
The battle to bring those bubbles back under control is still being fought, even as the government faces another downturn that delivered a fourth successive quarter of slowing growth in October to December.
That battle is a key factor uniting economists in the view that even though China’s economy will decelerate further in the months ahead, a cut to policy lending rates by the People’s Bank of China is not on the cards.
“China started a deflating cycle last year and it will be very dangerous, very risky for them to end it prematurely because if they end it too early it will be an even larger macro economic risk for China going forward,” said Ren of IHS.
Up to 200 basis points of bank reserve cuts are expected in 2012 by analysts polled recently by Reuters, as that helps keep money supply growth stable in the face of capital outflows.
Beijing is likely to stick to what Premier Wen Jiabao has called “fine-tuning” of economic policy settings to counter the downturn for now, rather than adopting more aggressive measures such as a interest rate cuts.
That leaves the main area of uncertainty for economists the question of how sharp the slowdown in GDP growth will be in the first quarter of 2012. Many expect the next 12 months to be the most sluggish growth for China in a decade.
The most bearish call in the latest Reuters poll is Deutsche Bank’s 7.3 percent. That’s too steep for many and an unfathomable call to the likes of Ting Lu, Hong Kong-based China economist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.
A fall to there from 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter implies a decline wiping some 6 percentage points off growth at an annualised rate that would leave the economy expanding at barely 3 percent.
“That’s just not going to happen,” Lu said. “I think the chance of growth slowing to below 8 percent in the first quarter is very low. Calls below that are just too pessimistic. There’s a slowdown yes, but not that dramatic.”
(Additional reporting by Zhou Xin and Langi Chiang; Editing by Neil Fullick)
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月14日星期六
Hometownstations.com-WLIO- Lima, OH News Weather SportsAP source: House Republicans got discounted loans
By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) – Two veteran House Republicans received discounted mortgage loans from the now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp. under a VIP program, a congressional official said Friday.
The discounts went to Reps. Howard McKeon and Elton Gallegly of California, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the loans and requested anonymity. Their identities were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating whether members of Congress received VIP discounts. The Associated Press reported previously that four House members had received the discounts. One of the four remains unidentified publicly.
Records show that Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y, also received discounts. Towns told the AP previously that he was not aware of receiving any discounts. McKeon and Gallegly told the Journal that they also were not aware of receiving discounted loans and did not know their mortgages were processed by the VIP unit.
The Journal said the 1998 loan to McKean, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, totaled $315,000. Gallegly’s 2005 loan totaled $77,000 in 2005.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the oversight committee, informed both lawmakers that documents received from Bank of America – it bought Countrywide – showed they went through the special unit.
Issa has sent the information to the House Ethics Committee, which determines whether House members violated standards of conduct. A discounted loan could be considered a gift. Gifts are virtually banned under House rules.
None of the lawmakers has been accused by the ethics panel of any wrongdoing, and may never be if they convince investigators they had no knowledge of the discounts.
Countrywide was the nation’s largest mortgage company and played a major role in the U.S. financial crisis by issuing subprime loans. The company also had its VIP program, with some of the favored customers known as “Friends of Angelo” – a reference to chief executive Angelo Mozilo.
Mozilo in 2010 agreed to more than $67 million in penalties in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) – Two veteran House Republicans received discounted mortgage loans from the now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp. under a VIP program, a congressional official said Friday.
The discounts went to Reps. Howard McKeon and Elton Gallegly of California, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the loans and requested anonymity. Their identities were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating whether members of Congress received VIP discounts. The Associated Press reported previously that four House members had received the discounts. One of the four remains unidentified publicly.
Records show that Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y, also received discounts. Towns told the AP previously that he was not aware of receiving any discounts. McKeon and Gallegly told the Journal that they also were not aware of receiving discounted loans and did not know their mortgages were processed by the VIP unit.
The Journal said the 1998 loan to McKean, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, totaled $315,000. Gallegly’s 2005 loan totaled $77,000 in 2005.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the oversight committee, informed both lawmakers that documents received from Bank of America – it bought Countrywide – showed they went through the special unit.
Issa has sent the information to the House Ethics Committee, which determines whether House members violated standards of conduct. A discounted loan could be considered a gift. Gifts are virtually banned under House rules.
None of the lawmakers has been accused by the ethics panel of any wrongdoing, and may never be if they convince investigators they had no knowledge of the discounts.
Countrywide was the nation’s largest mortgage company and played a major role in the U.S. financial crisis by issuing subprime loans. The company also had its VIP program, with some of the favored customers known as “Friends of Angelo” – a reference to chief executive Angelo Mozilo.
Mozilo in 2010 agreed to more than $67 million in penalties in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AP source: House Republicans got discounted loans
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two veteran House Republicans received discounted mortgage loans from the now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp. under a VIP program, a congressional official said Friday.
The discounts went to Reps. Howard McKeon and Elton Gallegly of California, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the loans and requested anonymity. Their identities were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating whether members of Congress received VIP discounts. The Associated Press reported previously that four House members had received the discounts. One of the four remains unidentified publicly.
Records show that Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y, also received discounts. Towns told the AP previously that he was not aware of receiving any discounts. McKeon and Gallegly told the Journal that they also were not aware of receiving discounted loans and did not know their mortgages were processed by the VIP unit.
The Journal said the 1998 loan to McKean, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, totaled $315,000. Gallegly’s 2005 loan totaled $77,000 in 2005.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the oversight committee, informed both lawmakers that documents received from Bank of America — it bought Countrywide — showed they went through the special unit.
Issa has sent the information to the House Ethics Committee, which determines whether House members violated standards of conduct. A discounted loan could be considered a gift. Gifts are virtually banned under House rules.
None of the lawmakers has been accused by the ethics panel of any wrongdoing, and may never be if they convince investigators they had no knowledge of the discounts.
Countrywide was the nation’s largest mortgage company and played a major role in the U.S. financial crisis by issuing subprime loans. The company also had its VIP program, with some of the favored customers known as “Friends of Angelo” — a reference to chief executive Angelo Mozilo.
Mozilo in 2010 agreed to more than $67 million in penalties in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission
The discounts went to Reps. Howard McKeon and Elton Gallegly of California, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the loans and requested anonymity. Their identities were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating whether members of Congress received VIP discounts. The Associated Press reported previously that four House members had received the discounts. One of the four remains unidentified publicly.
Records show that Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y, also received discounts. Towns told the AP previously that he was not aware of receiving any discounts. McKeon and Gallegly told the Journal that they also were not aware of receiving discounted loans and did not know their mortgages were processed by the VIP unit.
The Journal said the 1998 loan to McKean, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, totaled $315,000. Gallegly’s 2005 loan totaled $77,000 in 2005.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the oversight committee, informed both lawmakers that documents received from Bank of America — it bought Countrywide — showed they went through the special unit.
Issa has sent the information to the House Ethics Committee, which determines whether House members violated standards of conduct. A discounted loan could be considered a gift. Gifts are virtually banned under House rules.
None of the lawmakers has been accused by the ethics panel of any wrongdoing, and may never be if they convince investigators they had no knowledge of the discounts.
Countrywide was the nation’s largest mortgage company and played a major role in the U.S. financial crisis by issuing subprime loans. The company also had its VIP program, with some of the favored customers known as “Friends of Angelo” — a reference to chief executive Angelo Mozilo.
Mozilo in 2010 agreed to more than $67 million in penalties in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission
2012年1月13日星期五
GE ordered to defend lawsuit tied to 2008 crisis
(Reuters) – A federal judge refused on Thursday to throw out a lawsuit accusing General Electric Co and its chief executive of misleading investors about the conglomerate’s financial health and exposure to risky debt during the 2008 financial crisis.
The decision by District Judge Richard Holwell in Manhattan keeps alive litigation seeking to hold the company responsible for investor losses during a six-month period when its stock price fell to about $10 from about $26, causing its market value to tumble by more than $150 billion.
Investors claimed that GE withheld information regarding its health and the health of its GE Capital finance arm, including exposures to subprime and other low-quality loans. They also said GE misleadingly touted itself as being safer than rivals, despite the effects of the financial crisis.
Holwell also let stand some claims accusing bank underwriters of omitting statements from offering documents for a $12.2 billion GE stock offering in October 2008. He dismissed several other claims, and did not rule on the case’s merits.
A GE spokesman and lawyers for the investors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Antonio Yanez, a lawyer for the banks, declined to comment.
Holwell said investors led by the State Universities Retirement System of Illinois adequately alleged that GE made material misrepresentations during the crisis about its access to commercial paper and ability to maintain its dividend.
He also let the investors pursue claims alleging that company officers, including Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt and Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin, misled them and had sufficient intent, known as “scienter,” to mislead.
CATEGORICAL STATEMENTS
“Immelt’s categorical statements that investors could ‘count on’ a dividend and that GE was having ‘no difficulties’ issuing commercial paper are not the sort of cautious statements one would expect of a CEO attempting to come to grips with the effects of the economic crisis on his company,” Holwell wrote in a 53-page decision.
“A CEO is allowed to convince the public to invest in his company, but not at the expense of providing it with accurate information about the company’s financial health,” Holwell continued. “Taking the factual allegations in the (complaint) as true, the inference that Immelt acted with scienter is at least as compelling as the inference that he did not.”
Among the banks that were sued were Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Morgan Stanley, court records show.
The lawsuit covered investors who owned GE stock from September 25, 2008 to March 19, 2009.
During that period the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company cut its dividend and lost its “triple-A” credit rating. It also received a $3 billion infusion from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
GE’s many products include jet engines, turbines and light bulbs. It also owns part of NBC Universal, in which Comcast Corp holds a majority stake.
The case is In re: General Electric Co Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-01951.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Andre Grenon, Phil Berlowitz)
The decision by District Judge Richard Holwell in Manhattan keeps alive litigation seeking to hold the company responsible for investor losses during a six-month period when its stock price fell to about $10 from about $26, causing its market value to tumble by more than $150 billion.
Investors claimed that GE withheld information regarding its health and the health of its GE Capital finance arm, including exposures to subprime and other low-quality loans. They also said GE misleadingly touted itself as being safer than rivals, despite the effects of the financial crisis.
Holwell also let stand some claims accusing bank underwriters of omitting statements from offering documents for a $12.2 billion GE stock offering in October 2008. He dismissed several other claims, and did not rule on the case’s merits.
A GE spokesman and lawyers for the investors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Antonio Yanez, a lawyer for the banks, declined to comment.
Holwell said investors led by the State Universities Retirement System of Illinois adequately alleged that GE made material misrepresentations during the crisis about its access to commercial paper and ability to maintain its dividend.
He also let the investors pursue claims alleging that company officers, including Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt and Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin, misled them and had sufficient intent, known as “scienter,” to mislead.
CATEGORICAL STATEMENTS
“Immelt’s categorical statements that investors could ‘count on’ a dividend and that GE was having ‘no difficulties’ issuing commercial paper are not the sort of cautious statements one would expect of a CEO attempting to come to grips with the effects of the economic crisis on his company,” Holwell wrote in a 53-page decision.
“A CEO is allowed to convince the public to invest in his company, but not at the expense of providing it with accurate information about the company’s financial health,” Holwell continued. “Taking the factual allegations in the (complaint) as true, the inference that Immelt acted with scienter is at least as compelling as the inference that he did not.”
Among the banks that were sued were Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Morgan Stanley, court records show.
The lawsuit covered investors who owned GE stock from September 25, 2008 to March 19, 2009.
During that period the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company cut its dividend and lost its “triple-A” credit rating. It also received a $3 billion infusion from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
GE’s many products include jet engines, turbines and light bulbs. It also owns part of NBC Universal, in which Comcast Corp holds a majority stake.
The case is In re: General Electric Co Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-01951.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Andre Grenon, Phil Berlowitz)
2012年1月12日星期四
Bank profit reports could be lifted by business loans
(Reuters) – A recent rise in loans to businesses is spurring hope that U.S. bank earnings reports, which begin on Friday, will show the outlook for this economically critical industry is better than battered stock prices and weak investment banking volumes suggest.
Loans by large banks to commercial and industrial companies picked up sharply through the last week of the year, according to Federal Reserve data, and in recent days have started to catch the attention of investors.
“Loan growth will be one of the hottest topics throughout the earnings season,” said David Long, a bank stock analyst at Raymond James & Associates.
A lasting upturn in demand for loans to finance investment would be good for the economy and, in turn, rebuild profits from consumer lending, investment banking and asset management.
Promising signs in loan portfolios, though, are expected to be countered by another rough patch for capital markets businesses. Banks are also still trying to shake off mortgage-related losses tied to the housing bust and struggling to increase revenue in the face of new regulations that crimp the fees they can charge for debit card swipes.
JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest U.S. bank, is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and full-year results on Friday morning, kicking off the earnings season for financial companies. The report will break out results from JPMorgan’s large investment banking, business lending, and consumer franchises, which could foreshadow earnings reports in the next two weeks from companies concentrated in those segments.
Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc , Wells Fargo & Co , Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley report the following week after the Martin Luther King holiday.
JPMorgan is expected to report earnings per share that are 18 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Estimates for Bank of America, on the other hand, call for the bank to rebound from a loss at the end of 2010 amid a raft of unusual charges for bad mortgages.
Quarterly earnings for the broader financial sector represented by about 80 large companies, including insurance companies and money management firms, are expected to be down about 1.6 percent from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Bank analysts and investors, though, will be looking beyond year-ago profit comparisons to what institutions reveal about current profit margins for lending, cost controls, regulatory burdens and any change in demand from borrowers for money.
Weak demand from consumers who borrowed too much during the housing bubble has combined with tougher requirements from governments for financial safety to push bank stocks down to record lows compared with the companies’ earnings and net worth, also known as book value.
That is why solid new business loan growth could alter the industry’s outlook. In fact, bank stocks are off to a strong start this year on hopes the worst is behind the industry. The KBW Bank Index is up 10 percent this year, while Bank of America shares, down nearly 60 percent in 2011, have surged 24 percent.
“If we do see some loan growth, that starts to reflect that the economy is starting to stabilize and we’re starting to see some growth,” said Marty Mosby, analyst with Guggenheim Partners. “As banks start to see some lending growth that turns into some job growth.”
Outstanding loans to commercial and industrial businesses by large banks grew 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter through December 28, according to Federal Reserve data. That is more than a 20 percent annualized rate and an acceleration from the 3.1 percent and 3.4 percent increases in the two previous quarters, said Long.
To be sure, much of the increase was likely not so much additional demand from companies as it was a shift in market share of existing borrowings, said Long. European banks lending to U.S. companies backed away to trim their balance sheets in the sovereign debt storm. And bond investors in the capital markets gave up some of the business when they were unwilling to refinance large loans as cheaply as large U.S. banks.
“It isn’t an indication of super-charged growth,” Mike Mayo, an analyst with CLSA and author of “Exile on Wall Street: One Analyst’s Fight to Save Big Banks from Themselves,” said in an interview.
CONTINUING CHALLENGES
More business loans are especially important because loans to consumers and loans for commercial and residential real estate have declined from their levels a year ago, according to Paul Miller, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
Miller cautions the earnings reports could include unpleasant surprises. For example, some banks may decide to take charges to clear their books of inflated values on assets before they start the new year. Charges like those will not be as easily offset as in recent quarters, when improving consumer creditworthiness allowed banks to reverse the large reserves they booked for bad loans.
“I don’t think we will get the improvements in credit like we’ve seen in the past,” said Miller.
Other challenges for banks in the fourth quarter, according to Miller, include reduced income from debit card swipe fees and tighter net interest margins – the spread between what banks make on loans versus what they pay on deposits.
To make up for lost revenue, banks are tightening their belts. Bank of America said it will eliminate 30,000 jobs in the consumer bank and staff functions over the next few years. It is also preparing for cutbacks in capital markets and wealth management operations, starting this spring. Wells Fargo is looking to reduce quarterly expenses by $1.5 billion by the fourth quarter of this year through a wide-ranging efficiency program, that also includes job cuts.
EUROPEAN UNCERTAINTY REMAINS
Analysts expect Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to report the worst annual earnings since the financial crisis, due to tremendous market volatility stemming from the European sovereign debt crisis. Big swings in stock and bond prices led clients to pull back sharply on trading and deal-making.
Overall investment banking revenue declined 9 percent across Wall Street compared with the third quarter, which was already weak, according to a report by JPMorgan analyst Kian Abouhossein. He expects banks to report a quarterly decline of 17 percent in deal-making revenue, with a 3 percent drop in fixed income trading revenue and a 2 percent drop in equities trading revenue.
Investors remain concerned about Wall Street’s exposure to Europe, as well as whether big banks’ trading desks can earn more than their cost of capital, given market stress and new regulations that aim to cut back on risk-taking.
Goldman Sachs is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of $1.50 per share, less than half of what it earned in the year-ago period, according to Thomson Reuters data. Morgan Stanley is expected to report a loss of 56 cents per share due to a special charge related to a settlement with MBIA Inc. It earned 41 cents a share in the year-earlier quarter.
Analysts do not see an end to the investment banking woes any time soon, which explains why both Goldman and Morgan Stanley have outlined plans to lay off staff and are expected to cut bonuses by billions of dollars to trim costs. Fourth-quarter reports will provide more insight on the compensation the firms have set aside for the year.
“Unfortunately, we do not anticipate a robust capital markets recovery in 2012,” Brad Hintz, an analyst at the brokerage Sanford Bernstein & Co and a former Morgan Stanley treasurer, said in a recent report.
(Reporting by David Henry in New York and Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, North Carolina. Additional reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York; editing by Andre Grenon)
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Loans by large banks to commercial and industrial companies picked up sharply through the last week of the year, according to Federal Reserve data, and in recent days have started to catch the attention of investors.
“Loan growth will be one of the hottest topics throughout the earnings season,” said David Long, a bank stock analyst at Raymond James & Associates.
A lasting upturn in demand for loans to finance investment would be good for the economy and, in turn, rebuild profits from consumer lending, investment banking and asset management.
Promising signs in loan portfolios, though, are expected to be countered by another rough patch for capital markets businesses. Banks are also still trying to shake off mortgage-related losses tied to the housing bust and struggling to increase revenue in the face of new regulations that crimp the fees they can charge for debit card swipes.
JPMorgan Chase & Co
Bank of America Corp
JPMorgan is expected to report earnings per share that are 18 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Estimates for Bank of America, on the other hand, call for the bank to rebound from a loss at the end of 2010 amid a raft of unusual charges for bad mortgages.
Quarterly earnings for the broader financial sector represented by about 80 large companies, including insurance companies and money management firms, are expected to be down about 1.6 percent from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Bank analysts and investors, though, will be looking beyond year-ago profit comparisons to what institutions reveal about current profit margins for lending, cost controls, regulatory burdens and any change in demand from borrowers for money.
Weak demand from consumers who borrowed too much during the housing bubble has combined with tougher requirements from governments for financial safety to push bank stocks down to record lows compared with the companies’ earnings and net worth, also known as book value.
That is why solid new business loan growth could alter the industry’s outlook. In fact, bank stocks are off to a strong start this year on hopes the worst is behind the industry. The KBW Bank Index is up 10 percent this year, while Bank of America shares, down nearly 60 percent in 2011, have surged 24 percent.
“If we do see some loan growth, that starts to reflect that the economy is starting to stabilize and we’re starting to see some growth,” said Marty Mosby, analyst with Guggenheim Partners. “As banks start to see some lending growth that turns into some job growth.”
Outstanding loans to commercial and industrial businesses by large banks grew 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter through December 28, according to Federal Reserve data. That is more than a 20 percent annualized rate and an acceleration from the 3.1 percent and 3.4 percent increases in the two previous quarters, said Long.
To be sure, much of the increase was likely not so much additional demand from companies as it was a shift in market share of existing borrowings, said Long. European banks lending to U.S. companies backed away to trim their balance sheets in the sovereign debt storm. And bond investors in the capital markets gave up some of the business when they were unwilling to refinance large loans as cheaply as large U.S. banks.
“It isn’t an indication of super-charged growth,” Mike Mayo, an analyst with CLSA and author of “Exile on Wall Street: One Analyst’s Fight to Save Big Banks from Themselves,” said in an interview.
CONTINUING CHALLENGES
More business loans are especially important because loans to consumers and loans for commercial and residential real estate have declined from their levels a year ago, according to Paul Miller, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
Miller cautions the earnings reports could include unpleasant surprises. For example, some banks may decide to take charges to clear their books of inflated values on assets before they start the new year. Charges like those will not be as easily offset as in recent quarters, when improving consumer creditworthiness allowed banks to reverse the large reserves they booked for bad loans.
“I don’t think we will get the improvements in credit like we’ve seen in the past,” said Miller.
Other challenges for banks in the fourth quarter, according to Miller, include reduced income from debit card swipe fees and tighter net interest margins – the spread between what banks make on loans versus what they pay on deposits.
To make up for lost revenue, banks are tightening their belts. Bank of America said it will eliminate 30,000 jobs in the consumer bank and staff functions over the next few years. It is also preparing for cutbacks in capital markets and wealth management operations, starting this spring. Wells Fargo is looking to reduce quarterly expenses by $1.5 billion by the fourth quarter of this year through a wide-ranging efficiency program, that also includes job cuts.
EUROPEAN UNCERTAINTY REMAINS
Analysts expect Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to report the worst annual earnings since the financial crisis, due to tremendous market volatility stemming from the European sovereign debt crisis. Big swings in stock and bond prices led clients to pull back sharply on trading and deal-making.
Overall investment banking revenue declined 9 percent across Wall Street compared with the third quarter, which was already weak, according to a report by JPMorgan analyst Kian Abouhossein. He expects banks to report a quarterly decline of 17 percent in deal-making revenue, with a 3 percent drop in fixed income trading revenue and a 2 percent drop in equities trading revenue.
Investors remain concerned about Wall Street’s exposure to Europe, as well as whether big banks’ trading desks can earn more than their cost of capital, given market stress and new regulations that aim to cut back on risk-taking.
Goldman Sachs is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of $1.50 per share, less than half of what it earned in the year-ago period, according to Thomson Reuters data. Morgan Stanley is expected to report a loss of 56 cents per share due to a special charge related to a settlement with MBIA Inc
Analysts do not see an end to the investment banking woes any time soon, which explains why both Goldman and Morgan Stanley have outlined plans to lay off staff and are expected to cut bonuses by billions of dollars to trim costs. Fourth-quarter reports will provide more insight on the compensation the firms have set aside for the year.
“Unfortunately, we do not anticipate a robust capital markets recovery in 2012,” Brad Hintz, an analyst at the brokerage Sanford Bernstein & Co and a former Morgan Stanley treasurer, said in a recent report.
(Reporting by David Henry in New York and Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, North Carolina. Additional reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York; editing by Andre Grenon)
http://tourism9.com/
The Love Affair Between Politicians And Private Equity
Image via WikipediaAs Mitt Romney knows well, private equity and politics don’t always mix well during election season. The front runner for the Republican presidential nomination has been under attack from his Republican rivals because of his private equity roots. Newt Gingrich’s super PAC is releasing a short movie that attacks Romney for controversial private equity deals. “I am totally for capitalism,” Newt Gingrich recently said, “I do draw a distinction between [it] and looting a company.” Rick Perry has called Romney’s past private equity life a form of “vulture capitalism.”
But the fact is that politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, love the private equity industry. When Romney ran Bain Capital he was constantly searching for what private equity guys like to call an exit, which means selling a company for a big return. For a long time in Washington, the richest exit has been landing at a private equity firm, or in some cases, a hedge fund that makes private equity-like investments. Romney is only unique because he moved from the buyout business into politics and not the other way around.
The recent attacks on Romney have led to the inevitable debate about whether private equity is good for America. But there can be no debate about whether private equity is good for politicians once they leave the political arena. The New York Times recently highlighted the fact that Newt Gingrich himself was on the advisory board of Forstmann Little, a pioneering private equity firm. The truth is it is tough to find a former prominent politician who has not joined the private equity club.
In addition to Clinton, there is former Vice President Dan Quayle, who is chairman for global investments at Cerberus Capital Management, where former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow is chairman. Evan Bayh, the former Democratic Indiana senator and governor, is a senior advisor at Apollo Global Management. Rudy Giuliani was chairman of the advisory board of a Leeds Weld private equity fund, which was partly headed by former Massachusetts Governor William Weld. That private equity firm is now known as Leeds Equity Partners and the chair of its advisory board is Colin Powell. Two former U.S. education secretaries are also there.
David Stockman, a former congressman from Michigan and Ronald Reagan’s budget director, joined a private equity shop and eventually founded his own big-time private equity firm. Things did not work out for Stockman at Heartland Industrial Partners. He was indicted in connection with his role at a failed auto parts company, even though the federal government later dropped the charges.
Blackstone, the world’s biggest private equity firm, was co-founded by Pete Peterson, who was Secretary of Commerce during the Nixon Administration. Then there is the Carlyle Group, another massive private equity firm that has long been part of Washington mythology. Former President George H. W. Bush, former Secretary of State James Baker, former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, former Securities & Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt, and Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff Mack McLarty, have all worked for Carlyle.
The private equity industry is one of the most lucrative places to work in America today. Buyout barons make huge political contributions. It is really hard to see this close relationship ending anytime soon.
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2012年1月10日星期二
Financial Stocks: Analysts Expect Bank Profits To Rise 57% in 2012
(Written by Alexander Crawford. Institutional data sourced from Fidelity.)
The perennial bullishness of analysts is back again this year, and it (surprisingly) still includes the financial sector. According to a Bloomberg survey, analysts expect profits for the six largest banks (including JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs) to jump 57% in 2012, despite 2011 being a dismal year for the sector.
This time last year analysts expected financial institutions to see profits rise 32% over 2011, but profits probably fell 18% as financials were the worst performing sector in the US for 2011. Now, analysts are pinning their hopes on “improved trading results, more investment-banking deals, expense-cutting measures and lower credit costs.” (via Bloomberg)
Last year, banking profits were pummeled by Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis, protests across the world, and natural disasters in Japan. US GDP only expanded an estimated 1.8% last year, when 3.1% growth was expected. According to Paul Miller, analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp., “The banks need GDP growth to grow loans. We all thought there would be loan growth, and Europe didn’t help anybody.”
Analysts predict that the 2012 rise in banking earnings will be led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which are most reliant on trading revenue and investment-banking operations according to Bloomberg.
Business Section: Investment Ideas
Do you agree with analysts that 2012 will see the grand return of the financial sector? If so, here are some ideas to get you started.
We ran a screen on the financial sector for stocks exhibiting the technical “golden cross,” in which the stock’s 50-day moving average has recently crossed above its 200-day moving average. This indicates recent momentum to the upside that may persist.
We screened these momentum stocks for those seeing the most significant net institutional purchases over the current quarter.
Do you think these companies will see the large earnings growth analysts expect for the industry?
Analyze These Ideas (Tools Will Open In A New Window)
1. Access a thorough description of all companies mentioned
2. Compare analyst ratings for all stocks mentioned below
3. Visualize annual returns for all stocks mentioned
List sorted by net institutional purchases as a percent of share float.
1. First Republic Bank (FRC): Provides private banking, private business banking, investment management, brokerage, trust services, and real estate lending services in California, Nevada, and New York. Market cap of $4.04B. SMA50 at $28.85 vs. SMA200 at $28.80 (current price at $31.26). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 20.2M, which is 37.57% of the company’s 53.77M share float.
2. EastGroup Properties Inc. (EGP): Focuses on the development, acquisition, and operation of industrial properties in the United States. Market cap of $1.19B. SMA50 at $41.98 vs. SMA200 at $41.16 (current price at $43.83). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.8M, which is 10.87% of the company’s 25.76M share float.
3. Avalonbay Communities Inc. (AVB): Engages in the development, redevelopment, acquisition, ownership, and operation of multifamily communities in the United States. Market cap of $12.12B. SMA50 at $125.73 vs. SMA200 at $124.94 (current price at $127.48). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 8.0M, which is 8.49% of the company’s 94.24M share float.
4. Presidential Life Corp. (PLFE): Engages in the marketing and sale of various fixed annuity, life insurance, and accident and health insurance products in the United States. Market cap of $311.96M. SMA50 at $9.85 vs. SMA200 at $9.80 (current price at $10.55). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.1M, which is 8.43% of the company’s 24.91M share float.
5. Glimcher Realty Trust (GRT): Operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. Market cap of $976.01M. SMA50 at $8.69 vs. SMA200 at $8.69 (current price at $9.08). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 7.8M, which is 7.41% of the company’s 105.32M share float.
6. Excel Trust, Inc. (EXL): Engages in financing, developing, leasing, owning and managing community and power centers, grocery anchored neighborhood centers and freestanding retail properties. Market cap of $367.11M. SMA50 at $10.99 vs. SMA200 at $10.75 (current price at $12.12). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 1.8M, which is 6.26% of the company’s 28.75M share float.
7. Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd. (PTP): Provides property and marine, casualty, and finite risk reinsurance products worldwide. Market cap of $1.26B. SMA50 at $33.37 vs. SMA200 at $33.30 (current price at $33.87). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.2M, which is 6.07% of the company’s 36.23M share float.
8. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB): Operates as a real estate investment trust. Market cap of $983.90M. SMA50 at $18.43 vs. SMA200 at $18.42 (current price at $19.33). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.3M, which is 4.55% of the company’s 50.58M share float.
9. Health Care REIT, Inc. (HCN): Engages in investment, development, and management of properties. Market cap of $10.29B. SMA50 at $50.81 vs. SMA200 at $49.67 (current price at $53.77). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 7.9M, which is 4.44% of the company’s 178.01M share float.
10. Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. (AHL): Provides insurance and reinsurance products and services worldwide. Market cap of $1.85B. SMA50 at $25.95 vs. SMA200 at $25.58 (current price at $26.17). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.9M, which is 4.43% of the company’s 65.39M share float.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, IncThe perennial bullishness of analysts is back again this year, and it (surprisingly) still includes the financial sector. According to a Bloomberg survey, analysts expect profits for the six largest banks (including JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs) to jump 57% in 2012, despite 2011 being a dismal year for the sector.
This time last year analysts expected financial institutions to see profits rise 32% over 2011, but profits probably fell 18% as financials were the worst performing sector in the US for 2011. Now, analysts are pinning their hopes on “improved trading results, more investment-banking deals, expense-cutting measures and lower credit costs.” (via Bloomberg)
Last year, banking profits were pummeled by Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis, protests across the world, and natural disasters in Japan. US GDP only expanded an estimated 1.8% last year, when 3.1% growth was expected. According to Paul Miller, analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp., “The banks need GDP growth to grow loans. We all thought there would be loan growth, and Europe didn’t help anybody.”
Analysts predict that the 2012 rise in banking earnings will be led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which are most reliant on trading revenue and investment-banking operations according to Bloomberg.
Business Section: Investment Ideas
Do you agree with analysts that 2012 will see the grand return of the financial sector? If so, here are some ideas to get you started.
We ran a screen on the financial sector for stocks exhibiting the technical “golden cross,” in which the stock’s 50-day moving average has recently crossed above its 200-day moving average. This indicates recent momentum to the upside that may persist.
We screened these momentum stocks for those seeing the most significant net institutional purchases over the current quarter.
Do you think these companies will see the large earnings growth analysts expect for the industry?
Analyze These Ideas (Tools Will Open In A New Window)
1. Access a thorough description of all companies mentioned
2. Compare analyst ratings for all stocks mentioned below
3. Visualize annual returns for all stocks mentioned
List sorted by net institutional purchases as a percent of share float.
1. First Republic Bank (FRC): Provides private banking, private business banking, investment management, brokerage, trust services, and real estate lending services in California, Nevada, and New York. Market cap of $4.04B. SMA50 at $28.85 vs. SMA200 at $28.80 (current price at $31.26). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 20.2M, which is 37.57% of the company’s 53.77M share float.
2. EastGroup Properties Inc. (EGP): Focuses on the development, acquisition, and operation of industrial properties in the United States. Market cap of $1.19B. SMA50 at $41.98 vs. SMA200 at $41.16 (current price at $43.83). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.8M, which is 10.87% of the company’s 25.76M share float.
3. Avalonbay Communities Inc. (AVB): Engages in the development, redevelopment, acquisition, ownership, and operation of multifamily communities in the United States. Market cap of $12.12B. SMA50 at $125.73 vs. SMA200 at $124.94 (current price at $127.48). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 8.0M, which is 8.49% of the company’s 94.24M share float.
4. Presidential Life Corp. (PLFE): Engages in the marketing and sale of various fixed annuity, life insurance, and accident and health insurance products in the United States. Market cap of $311.96M. SMA50 at $9.85 vs. SMA200 at $9.80 (current price at $10.55). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.1M, which is 8.43% of the company’s 24.91M share float.
5. Glimcher Realty Trust (GRT): Operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. Market cap of $976.01M. SMA50 at $8.69 vs. SMA200 at $8.69 (current price at $9.08). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 7.8M, which is 7.41% of the company’s 105.32M share float.
6. Excel Trust, Inc. (EXL): Engages in financing, developing, leasing, owning and managing community and power centers, grocery anchored neighborhood centers and freestanding retail properties. Market cap of $367.11M. SMA50 at $10.99 vs. SMA200 at $10.75 (current price at $12.12). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 1.8M, which is 6.26% of the company’s 28.75M share float.
7. Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd. (PTP): Provides property and marine, casualty, and finite risk reinsurance products worldwide. Market cap of $1.26B. SMA50 at $33.37 vs. SMA200 at $33.30 (current price at $33.87). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.2M, which is 6.07% of the company’s 36.23M share float.
8. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB): Operates as a real estate investment trust. Market cap of $983.90M. SMA50 at $18.43 vs. SMA200 at $18.42 (current price at $19.33). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.3M, which is 4.55% of the company’s 50.58M share float.
9. Health Care REIT, Inc. (HCN): Engages in investment, development, and management of properties. Market cap of $10.29B. SMA50 at $50.81 vs. SMA200 at $49.67 (current price at $53.77). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 7.9M, which is 4.44% of the company’s 178.01M share float.
10. Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. (AHL): Provides insurance and reinsurance products and services worldwide. Market cap of $1.85B. SMA50 at $25.95 vs. SMA200 at $25.58 (current price at $26.17). Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.9M, which is 4.43% of the company’s 65.39M share float.
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