Death of the salesman 17 Mar 2003 Having trimmed back their research departments, securities firms are now wielding the axe on equity sales desks. And why not? Fund managers are rewarding best execution, not best party invitation.
Needy companies stick guns to own heads 17 Mar 2003 Some are telling their shareholders to give them more cash or they'll go under. This tactic certainly grabs attention. But investors won't necessarily stump up the cash.
Wella preference shareholders on red alert 17 Mar 2003 Any sale of the consumer group to P&G should benefit ordinary shareholders. Not so for the preferreds. These shares can be snaffled up by paying the threemonth average, which is 10% below current market prices.
How do you get big fees in a downturn? 17 Mar 2003 By being a lawyer not an investment banker. Lawyers in the Marconi restructuring have taken over half the £75m fee pot. Their model of charging by the hour works better in bad times.
Tronchetti takes hedge funds to the cleaners 17 Mar 2003 His planned merger of Telecom Italia and Olivetti has winded the arbs where it hurts. Not just once, but three times. A NAV trade, a savings/ordinaries arb and a convertible strategy have all been blown out of the water.
Morrison puts best foot forward 17 Mar 2003 The UK supermarket chain's strong results show that its original business model still delivers. Snag is Morrison itself thinks it's going to need Safeway to keep up the pace. And if it wins, it'll be a whole new ball game.
Lagardere is a media stock already 17 Mar 2003 Investors worry that the conglomerate has lost its directing spirit at a time of big strategic choices. They shouldn't. The management's scope to take any strategic action at all has been heavily preempted. Media, loosely defined, dominates the group.
Schroeder pushes Germany forward – gently 14 Mar 2003 The Chancellor's big reform speech contains a lot of positives but, being a political effort, lots of hopeless negatives too. The best Schroeder can do in the short term is set a tone and hope change gets through parliament. He can't make the DAX look any cheaper.
Safeway manoeuvring to start in earnest 14 Mar 2003 An imminent antitrust ruling will trigger the next stage in the £3bn battle for the UK supermarket chain. WalMart and Morrisons look the most likely winners. But don't expect a rapid resolution.
Could war trigger a credit crunch? 14 Mar 2003 The best current assessment has got to be no. But there are a number of straws in the wind worth watching in case the Iraqi crisis deteriorates.
Suez shares squished by mountain of debt 14 Mar 2003 Is another Suez crisis in the offing? The recent performance of the French utility s stock seems to suggests so. And that s despite a new strategic plan, no obvious liquidity squeeze and moves to cut its E26bn of debt.
Allianz shouldn’t get stuck on its credit rating 14 Mar 2003 Allianz needs more capital. But the only reason to have a rights issue is to maintain its AA credit rating. The cost of this could be huge. It may be less painful just to let the credit rating slip a few notches.
GM casts doubt on Fiat put 14 Mar 2003 The US carmaker's 10K filing, suggests Fiat might never or may be unable to exercise its right to sell Fiat Auto. And if it were forced to do so, GM is not committing itself to funding Fiat Auto's ongoing liabilities.
Goldman and Lazard let Telecom Italia down 13 Mar 2003 The two banks were supposed to be defending the interests of TI shareholders in its merger with Olivetti. But they have signed off on a fairness opinion that looks anything but that.
Saban hopes to stiff ProSieben minorities 13 Mar 2003 The price looks settled. But the partnership hopes to get away without buying out other ProSieben investors. That's unacceptable. In what looks like the last act of the KirchMedia auction, Haim Saban and TF1 are left as the lone joint bidder for the media group.
UK insurers are victims of transparency 13 Mar 2003 Unlike European peers, the UK financial regulator is taking visible steps to show it is on top of the insurers. That is scaring investors. But most firms are still writing new business despite the stock market slump. The question is what that s really worth.
What’s Capitalia doing investing in Generali? 13 Mar 2003 The Romebased bank can ill afford to spend precious capital on ousting Mediobanca s boss. The Bank of Italy should discourage it from getting involved in this bun fight.
SCH under fire for secret, monster pay-offs 13 Mar 2003 It has come to light that Spain's biggest bank has shelled out E154m to two former directors. Not only are these extraordinary amounts, but shareholders weren't even told. This points to a corporate culture crying out for reform.
Tronchetti pushes his luck with credit rating 13 Mar 2003 With E9bn of new debt, the merged Telecom Italia/Olivetti will have a debt profile not unlike Deutsche Telekom's. The group's credit rating will also be similar to DT's near the danger zone. But Tronchetti should still be able to tap the bond market.
Norwegian banks in $2.3bn huddle 13 Mar 2003 The merger of DnB and Union Bank makes economic sense and could generate massive value through cost cuts. But there's a sneaking suspicion Union Bank would fetch a real premium from a foreign bidder if given the chance.
SixCon demerger not a vote of confidence 12 Mar 2003 Shareholders were right to back the demerger, seeing off an opportunistic challenge from Hugh Osmond. But this does not mean all is well at the hotels and pubs group. Less greedy offers for either of the demerged bits would probably succeed.
Alstom holds gun to shareholders’ heads 12 Mar 2003 The French engineer is negotiating new credit facilities. But these would have to be repaid if shareholders don't approve a rights issue. That might trigger bankruptcy. But Alstom has so little equity value left that it is touchandgo whether the gun will be effective.
Canary Wharf falls down 12 Mar 2003 Investors have knocked 27% off the developer thanks to its revelations about how bad the lettings market is. This is just one symptom of the crunch in London property. Past speculative building booms have taught property investors little.
Pirelli suffers from Tronchetti’s TI adventure 12 Mar 2003 Not only has its previous cash pile been frittered away; it is now being forced into a E1.3bn capital raising. The elaborate transaction also involves an unfair merger of the two Pirellis. Unsurprisingly, Tronchetti is transferring value up the chain.
TI shareholders short-changed in Olivetti merger 12 Mar 2003 Tronchetti has used his control of both companies to transfer E2bnE3bn from TI shareholders to Olivetti ones. If TI shareholders now make his life hell, he has only himself to blame.
France’s banking regulator goes soft 12 Mar 2003 It sounds as if the regulator is going to approve Credit Agricole s bid for Credit Lyonnais, subject to some pretty feeble conditions. Why has the regulator buckled? Possibly because it fears there would be another hostile bid battle if it didn't.
GM may refuse to guarantee Fiat Auto’s debts 12 Mar 2003 That blows a big hole in the value of Fiat's celebrated option to force the US group to buy the car unit. It's not just bad for Fiat's shareholders, it is another worry for the banks.
Seat’s value in question 12 Mar 2003 Telecom Italia is to sell Seat's directories business and thinks it could be worth E4.5bn. Either Marco Tronchetti Provera has got his sums badly wrong or Seat's shareholders have.
Wella circled by bidders 11 Mar 2003 Henkel's purchase of 6.9% of Wella looks like a spoiling tactic to stop P&G deal by preventing a squeezeout of minorities. This smacks of desperation by Henkel, which is outgunned by P&G. The money it spent would have made a nice share buyback.
Volkswagen’s shock profit warning 11 Mar 2003 Europe's largest carmaker has rattled investors by saying that profits could fall this year. That will not come as a great surprise. Now CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder has no choice but to shake free of his predecessor's legacy. Cutting investment spending is only a first step.