Reporting from Los Angeles and New York—
JPMorgan Chase & Co. kicked off bank earnings season with a 23% decline in profit and sagging revenue that investors saw as an ominous precedent for other big financial companies that report results next week.
An increase in consumer credit card usage and an uptick in business lending couldn’t offset weaknesses elsewhere at JPMorgan, Friday’s report showed. Investment banking, where revenue fell 30%, was particularly hard hit.
The report landed at a rocky time for markets, with global uncertainties including the European debt crisis restraining major corporate expansions and takeovers. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the debt of eight Eurozone countries Friday, stripping France and Austria of their prized AAA ratings.
Closer to home, major players in the mortgage business, like JPMorgan, continue to struggle with mountains of defaulted loans, foreclosed properties and demands that they repurchase flawed mortgages from government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as private investors.
Despite recent increases in commercial lending, JPMorgan officials say loan demand from solid businesses is spotty, leaving them with deposits overflowing — and open to accusations that they are too tightfisted after having been bailed out by the government. JPMorgan’s deposits rose 21% over the last year to $1.13 trillion.
“Companies are flush with cash and their cash balances are growing,” JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said during a call with bank analysts.
JPMorgan, the nation’s biggest bank, reported net income of $3.7 billion, or 90 cents a share, for the fourth quarter of 2011, down from $4.8 billion, or $1.12, a year earlier.
The profit was about as expected on Wall Street. But the bank’s quarterly revenue fell to $21.5 billion from $26.1 billion a year earlier, coming in well below analysts’ consensus forecast of $23 billion.
JPMorgan shares fell 93 cents, or 2.5%, to $35.92.
Since JPMorgan is the largest bank as measured by assets, and regarded as one of the best managed banks, investors reassessed their holdings across the board. Many banks stocks fell 4% in early trading. At the end of the day, Morgan Stanley declined 3.2% to $16.63, Bank of America was down 2.7% at $6.61, Citigroup fell 2.7% to $30.74 and Goldman Sachs slid 2.2% to $98.96.
An exception to the trend was Wells Fargo & Co., which closed the day unchanged at $29.61.
In a reversal of the situation immediately after the financial crisis, investors are betting on stronger showings from banks like Wells Fargo that have focused more on consumers than on trading.
The San Francisco bank, the largest bank as measured by stock market value, has seen its year-over-year earnings rise steadily. Analysts predicted that it would show a quarterly profit of $3.6 billion when it releases its results Tuesday, up from $3.4 billion a year earlier but down from $4 billion in the third quarter.
Bank of America Corp., which is in the middle of a major campaign to scale back risks and raise capital at the behest of regulators, was expected to reverse a loss of $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 and report a profit of more than $2 billion Thursday.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts said JPMorgan’s loan loss and mortgage buyback numbers, while still high, had improved enough to be a positive sign for Bank of America. BofA shares have tanked 58% since last year as the Charlotte, N.C., bank has been hammered by tens of billions of dollars in losses from its 2008 acquisition of Calabasas home lender Countrywide Financial Corp.
Analysts have generally been growing more pessimistic about financial firms with big Wall Street trading operations, all of which will report their financial results in the next few weeks. New regulations and global financial turmoil have darkened the prospects for securities firms, making them one of the worst performing sectors on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index over the last year.
“We expect this quarter will be characterized more by limited activity and leverage across institutional investors and across corporations given the continued uncertainty in Europe and possible spillover effects in the U.S,” analysts at Keefe Bruyette & Woods wrote this week in a note to clients.
Last quarter, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported a loss for the first time since the financial crisis. Although Goldman is likely to bounce back to profit when it announces its results Wednesday, it is not expected to show any signs of growth.
Glenn Schorr, a bank analyst at Nomura Securities, said in a report that recent results “have investors wondering if GS has lost its ‘mojo.’”
scott.reckard@latimes.com
nathaniel.popper@latimes.com
2012年1月4日星期三
Private equity fund raises US$16b
Blackstone Group will conclude fundraising for its latest buyout fund in January, raising just over US$16 billion ($20 billion), three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in a four-year process challenged by the global financial crisis.
The fund is the largest in the market to complete its fundraising process and the sixth-biggest private equity fund ever raised, according to data firm Preqin.
Private equity firms raised US$263b in 2011, slightly less than in 2010, according to Preqin, and a far cry from the height of the buyouts boom leading up to 2007, when they pulled in around US$600b a year.
The size of the fund that Blackstone was able to raise in this environment shows that pension funds and other investors are getting more picky about which private equity firms they trust their money with. Some investors are also getting better deals on fees by negotiating large commitments.
“I don’t think we will see a large private equity fund like this closing for a few years,” said Sandler O’Neill & Partners analyst Michael Kim.
Fundraising for the latest buyout fund, Blackstone Capital Partners VI LP (BCP VI), began at the start of 2008 and the firm kicked off the fund’s investment period on January 7, 2011, giving it a 12-month deadline to reach final fundraising close, the people said.
Blackstone had already pushed back the final close as late investors asked for time to get approval from their investment committees and conduct their due diligence. A June 2010 memo by private equity advisor PCG Asset Management to the Oregon Public Employees’ Retirement Fund listed June 30, 2010 as the expected final closing date.
In November, Blackstone said it had raised over US$14b for the fund and Chief Operating Officer Tony James said the number will end up with close to US$15b.
But in July 2011, Blackstone Chief Executive Steve Schwarzman said the fund had topped US$16b and predicted that it would likely will be the largest to be raised for the next two or three years. The amount has remained about the same since then, the sources said.
Blackstone declined to comment.
NEGOTIATING A BETTER DEAL
BCP VI has attracted some of the world’s largest private equity investors, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, according to disclosures by these pension funds.
Some investors took advantage of the protracted fundraising period either to tap a previously unavailable private equity allocation or negotiate a better deal.
Last month, the New Jersey Division of Investment said it planned to invest US$50 million in BCP VI as part of an investment programme across Blackstone’s alternative asset platforms that will total up to US$2.5b.
The New Jersey pension fund manager will pay a blended 1.3 per cent management fee on committed capital during the fund’s investment period and 0.75 per cent on invested capital after the period ends, as well as options for management fee offsets that Blackstone offered, according its investment committee report.
Private equity firms typically charge around 1.5 per cent of committed capital as a management fee, but investors may pay different fees based on the size of their commitments.
“Fundraising takes longer these days; this is not unique to Blackstone. But big investors are looking to give money to fewer private equity managers and the likes of Blackstone are a beneficiary of that,” Kim said.
BCP VI’s predecessor, BCP V, remains the largest private equity fund ever to be raised at US$21.7b, according to Preqin.
BCP VI’s first acquisition deals include the US$3b takeover of healthcare IT firm Emdeon and an investment of up to US$277m in Exeter Finance, which provides financing to auto dealers.
BCP VI had invested $620 million of its capital as of September 30, according to a November 10, 2011 presentation by Schwarzman to investors. Blackstone had about US$15.1b of available capital between BCP V and BCP VI, the presentation showed. The Emdeon deal was completed in November.
While Blackstone seeks so-called “dislocation” in markets for attractive asset values, financial market turmoil also affects its ability to source debt cheaply for deals, and hence its returns and transaction size.
The firm’s shares are up almost 40 per cent from a 2011 low of US$10.51 as prospects for the US economy brightened and concerns over the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis eased slightly.
Global private-equity backed mergers and acquisition activity picked up in 2011, with total volumes up 32.2 percent year-on-year to US$306.3b, according to Thomson Reuters data.
- Reuters
http://tourism9.com/
The fund is the largest in the market to complete its fundraising process and the sixth-biggest private equity fund ever raised, according to data firm Preqin.
Private equity firms raised US$263b in 2011, slightly less than in 2010, according to Preqin, and a far cry from the height of the buyouts boom leading up to 2007, when they pulled in around US$600b a year.
The size of the fund that Blackstone was able to raise in this environment shows that pension funds and other investors are getting more picky about which private equity firms they trust their money with. Some investors are also getting better deals on fees by negotiating large commitments.
“I don’t think we will see a large private equity fund like this closing for a few years,” said Sandler O’Neill & Partners analyst Michael Kim.
Fundraising for the latest buyout fund, Blackstone Capital Partners VI LP (BCP VI), began at the start of 2008 and the firm kicked off the fund’s investment period on January 7, 2011, giving it a 12-month deadline to reach final fundraising close, the people said.
Blackstone had already pushed back the final close as late investors asked for time to get approval from their investment committees and conduct their due diligence. A June 2010 memo by private equity advisor PCG Asset Management to the Oregon Public Employees’ Retirement Fund listed June 30, 2010 as the expected final closing date.
In November, Blackstone said it had raised over US$14b for the fund and Chief Operating Officer Tony James said the number will end up with close to US$15b.
But in July 2011, Blackstone Chief Executive Steve Schwarzman said the fund had topped US$16b and predicted that it would likely will be the largest to be raised for the next two or three years. The amount has remained about the same since then, the sources said.
Blackstone declined to comment.
NEGOTIATING A BETTER DEAL
BCP VI has attracted some of the world’s largest private equity investors, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, according to disclosures by these pension funds.
Some investors took advantage of the protracted fundraising period either to tap a previously unavailable private equity allocation or negotiate a better deal.
Last month, the New Jersey Division of Investment said it planned to invest US$50 million in BCP VI as part of an investment programme across Blackstone’s alternative asset platforms that will total up to US$2.5b.
The New Jersey pension fund manager will pay a blended 1.3 per cent management fee on committed capital during the fund’s investment period and 0.75 per cent on invested capital after the period ends, as well as options for management fee offsets that Blackstone offered, according its investment committee report.
Private equity firms typically charge around 1.5 per cent of committed capital as a management fee, but investors may pay different fees based on the size of their commitments.
“Fundraising takes longer these days; this is not unique to Blackstone. But big investors are looking to give money to fewer private equity managers and the likes of Blackstone are a beneficiary of that,” Kim said.
BCP VI’s predecessor, BCP V, remains the largest private equity fund ever to be raised at US$21.7b, according to Preqin.
BCP VI’s first acquisition deals include the US$3b takeover of healthcare IT firm Emdeon and an investment of up to US$277m in Exeter Finance, which provides financing to auto dealers.
BCP VI had invested $620 million of its capital as of September 30, according to a November 10, 2011 presentation by Schwarzman to investors. Blackstone had about US$15.1b of available capital between BCP V and BCP VI, the presentation showed. The Emdeon deal was completed in November.
While Blackstone seeks so-called “dislocation” in markets for attractive asset values, financial market turmoil also affects its ability to source debt cheaply for deals, and hence its returns and transaction size.
The firm’s shares are up almost 40 per cent from a 2011 low of US$10.51 as prospects for the US economy brightened and concerns over the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis eased slightly.
Global private-equity backed mergers and acquisition activity picked up in 2011, with total volumes up 32.2 percent year-on-year to US$306.3b, according to Thomson Reuters data.
- Reuters
http://tourism9.com/
2012年1月2日星期一
AHEB Investment Group In Joint Venture To Create UK Eco Park
MANCHESTER, England , December 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –
AHEB Investment Group proudly announces its newest innovative project as it embarks on its second joint venture with Quicksilver Project Management Ltd., a UK based company. This one of a kind undertaking will see the creation of an almost no emissions and waste sustainable ecological enterprise, resulting in the largest biomass to energy installation in the world.
The coupled resources and know-how of all parties, associates and project sponsors involved will ensure that this unique project, with the enormity and challenges it provides, will be delivered on time and on budget.
The first joint venture of the 2 companies was established over a year ago to offer selective clients of AHEB Investment Group bespoke project management services, and the expertise that comes with it, over the course of their projects, including all pre-planning and implementation phases.
As the partnership begins to grow in both strength and proficiency, this newest of ventures which includes a Centre of Excellence Eco-Park, based on sustainable ecological design, is an exciting further step for both companies.
Spread across 300 acres of land, this development will boast the largest waste to energy facility, the world’s largest aquaponics installation taking advantage of the latest hydroponics and aquaculture technologies, and an eco-park which should have no rivals. The university level research and development departments will strive to further develop sustainable forestry and food sources, and focus on the development of renewable power.
Commenting on the considerable diversity of the installation, AHEB Investment Group Managing Director Mr. Andreas Charalambous said it was important that almost all the waste emissions from this project would be recycled and used for other purposes. He explains: “Waste and heat emissions will be recycled to heat the facility where needed, or keep it cool during the summer months, whereas photosynthetic reactions will be enhanced by purifying the carbon dioxide emissions resulting in higher quality and yields of fruit growth. The end result is that this project will contribute sustainable, grid quality energy supplies whilst concurrently helping to improve exports in the form of vegetables, fish and high grade timber aimed at domestic consumption.”
Around 15,000 cubic metres of water will be provided by a desalination plant to both local infrastructure and site installations by utilizing heat surplus from the power generators, whilst further exploitation of carbon dioxide will be absorbed by specially designed plantations in order to improve carbon sequestration.
Charalambous further emphasises the fact that the end produce coming from the planned agricultural and hydroponics plants will be of premium quality: “The planned exports products resulting from the plant processes, including fruit and fish, will be destined for European and Middle Eastern markets to ensure no commercial threat to local aquaculture and hydroponic businesses, whilst maintaining a profitable and one of a kind business model for this waste facility.” It is clear that the enormity and scale of this project is an immense challenge, but this is precisely why the expertise and resource of the joint venture between AHEB Investment Group and QuickSilver Project Management Ltd have been selected to manage it. The enormity and scale of this project is indeed a challenge, however the expertise and resources of this joint venture have been selected precisely to ensure a cost effective and on time delivery..”
David Hamilton of Quicksilver Project Management comments: “We are overly pleased to yet again be part of a joint venture of this complexity and size which is where our expertise really provides value. Partnering with AHEB Investment Group, will truly allow us to best utilize our combined knowledge and resources, to ensure this Eco-Park will hit each and every milestone on time and within budget, in a highly effective manner, whilst adhering to all constraints. “
For further information on the project or for possible investor opportunities please contact AHEB Investment Group at http://www.ahebgroup.com, email info@ahebgroup.com or call +1-347-4166069.
About AHEB Investment Group
AHEB Investment Group was founded in 2008 aiming to provide professional support and consulting regarding financing to businesses of large and medium size but also start up enterprises. AHEB specializes in assisting the development of large commercial and industrial projects by offering financing solutions and advisory support. Successful projects include real estate developments, construction including large hotels, energy based projects covering power plants and oil rigs with other major purchases of ships and aircraft. AHEB’s relationships with principal global and regional banking institutions assist businesses in arrangement of collateral via its network of investment partners.
For further information about AHEB Investment Group, visit http://www.ahebgroup.com, email info@ahebgroup.com or call +1-347-4166069.
http://tourism9.com/
AHEB Investment Group proudly announces its newest innovative project as it embarks on its second joint venture with Quicksilver Project Management Ltd., a UK based company. This one of a kind undertaking will see the creation of an almost no emissions and waste sustainable ecological enterprise, resulting in the largest biomass to energy installation in the world.
The coupled resources and know-how of all parties, associates and project sponsors involved will ensure that this unique project, with the enormity and challenges it provides, will be delivered on time and on budget.
The first joint venture of the 2 companies was established over a year ago to offer selective clients of AHEB Investment Group bespoke project management services, and the expertise that comes with it, over the course of their projects, including all pre-planning and implementation phases.
As the partnership begins to grow in both strength and proficiency, this newest of ventures which includes a Centre of Excellence Eco-Park, based on sustainable ecological design, is an exciting further step for both companies.
Spread across 300 acres of land, this development will boast the largest waste to energy facility, the world’s largest aquaponics installation taking advantage of the latest hydroponics and aquaculture technologies, and an eco-park which should have no rivals. The university level research and development departments will strive to further develop sustainable forestry and food sources, and focus on the development of renewable power.
Commenting on the considerable diversity of the installation, AHEB Investment Group Managing Director Mr. Andreas Charalambous said it was important that almost all the waste emissions from this project would be recycled and used for other purposes. He explains: “Waste and heat emissions will be recycled to heat the facility where needed, or keep it cool during the summer months, whereas photosynthetic reactions will be enhanced by purifying the carbon dioxide emissions resulting in higher quality and yields of fruit growth. The end result is that this project will contribute sustainable, grid quality energy supplies whilst concurrently helping to improve exports in the form of vegetables, fish and high grade timber aimed at domestic consumption.”
Around 15,000 cubic metres of water will be provided by a desalination plant to both local infrastructure and site installations by utilizing heat surplus from the power generators, whilst further exploitation of carbon dioxide will be absorbed by specially designed plantations in order to improve carbon sequestration.
Charalambous further emphasises the fact that the end produce coming from the planned agricultural and hydroponics plants will be of premium quality: “The planned exports products resulting from the plant processes, including fruit and fish, will be destined for European and Middle Eastern markets to ensure no commercial threat to local aquaculture and hydroponic businesses, whilst maintaining a profitable and one of a kind business model for this waste facility.” It is clear that the enormity and scale of this project is an immense challenge, but this is precisely why the expertise and resource of the joint venture between AHEB Investment Group and QuickSilver Project Management Ltd have been selected to manage it. The enormity and scale of this project is indeed a challenge, however the expertise and resources of this joint venture have been selected precisely to ensure a cost effective and on time delivery..”
David Hamilton of Quicksilver Project Management comments: “We are overly pleased to yet again be part of a joint venture of this complexity and size which is where our expertise really provides value. Partnering with AHEB Investment Group, will truly allow us to best utilize our combined knowledge and resources, to ensure this Eco-Park will hit each and every milestone on time and within budget, in a highly effective manner, whilst adhering to all constraints. “
For further information on the project or for possible investor opportunities please contact AHEB Investment Group at http://www.ahebgroup.com, email info@ahebgroup.com or call +1-347-4166069.
About AHEB Investment Group
AHEB Investment Group was founded in 2008 aiming to provide professional support and consulting regarding financing to businesses of large and medium size but also start up enterprises. AHEB specializes in assisting the development of large commercial and industrial projects by offering financing solutions and advisory support. Successful projects include real estate developments, construction including large hotels, energy based projects covering power plants and oil rigs with other major purchases of ships and aircraft. AHEB’s relationships with principal global and regional banking institutions assist businesses in arrangement of collateral via its network of investment partners.
For further information about AHEB Investment Group, visit http://www.ahebgroup.com, email info@ahebgroup.com or call +1-347-4166069.
http://tourism9.com/
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