Bond investors need to get defensive 30 Dec 2003 Bullish buyers drove bond prices up in 2003. The market now looks very expensive. And which ever way the global economy goes in 2004, they are exposed.
Parmalat stirs old fears about Italian banks 29 Dec 2003 The food group s collapse has reminded investors that some banks are still weak. Valuations which rocketed in 2003 look stretched. The best hope for 2004 is that the Parmalat shock will act as a powerful catalyst for industry consolidation.
Rhodia pays for breathing room 23 Dec 2003 The French chemicals company has come to an agreement to reschedule its onerous debt. But Rhodia will be forced to raise E300m in equity at a heavily diluted price.
The French chemical group is close to violating loan terms that would force a E362m repayment on bonds issued in a private placing. 19 Dec 2003 The French chemical group is close to violating loan terms that could force a E375m repayment on bonds issued in a private placing. If the company cannot restructure the notes, a full repayment could start a downward spiral of covenant breaches on other debt.
Goldman executive tapped by NYSE 18 Dec 2003 John Thain's arrival is a boost for the NYSE. But his $300m of Goldman stock means he is not free of potential conflicts of interest. But if his arrival at the NYSE is clouded, his departure from Goldman is clearcut. Bond honcho Lloyd Blankfein has a clear run at the top.
Morgan Stanley chases Goldman in M&A 18 Dec 2003 The fourthquarter figures show that Goldman is best placed to benefit from an M&A revival in 2004. Snag is there's no visible sign yet of a strong recovery in the deal business.
UK banking sector set for shake-out 17 Dec 2003 Over the last three years, surging volumes offset falling margins in the UK banking sector to the benefit of all banks. But this doesn't mean higher margins will offset a decline in volumes now the interest rate cycle has turned. A shakeout is in prospect.
Blackstone makes E3.1bn bet on Celanese 16 Dec 2003 The German chemicals company is weighed down by an enormous E1.5bn in debt and pension costs. The bid is a highlygeared bet on the depressed chemicals sector.
Morgan Stanley revives the rainmaker 15 Dec 2003 By unshackling some of its top bankers from administrative duties, the firm is signalling the end of costcutting and a rebound in activity. But there is also a hint of the defensive in the move the firm lost some top bankers and was seen to have lost momentum in the downturn.
CSFB takes further step from maverick heritage 5 Dec 2003 A radical change to its pension schemes takes CSFB another step away from its past as a guarantor of big bonuses and home to fiefdoms. A chunk of retirement pay will now be linked to the firm's ability to meet return on equity targets.
Rhodia’s banks face condundrum in debt talks 2 Dec 2003 The issue is whether the French chemicals group needs a rights issue any time soon. Regardless of the pressures on Rhodia's balance sheet, a rights issue could be sensitive for the banks that sold its recent highyield bond.
Lazard holding companies discuss merger 1 Dec 2003 The immediate benefit of a merger between Rue Imperiale and Eurazeo would be to unlock the discount to NAV at Imperiale. But the bigger prize is to unlock the discount at Eurazeo. That would require the sale of its stake in Lazard.
Breuer wades into German bank deal debate 28 Nov 2003 Deutsche Bank chairman Rolf Breuer says he wants to take "the wind out of the recent excitement" surrounding German banking consolidation. All he really needed to do was point to the appalling track record of German bank mergers.
Germany’s financial bigwigs get in a panic 24 Nov 2003 Every day there seems to be another story about politicians or officials trying to stick their oar into the banking sector. The reason? Despite soaring share prices, things are still tough for Germany's banks.
China’s mooted forex sales – bad news for the dollar? 24 Nov 2003 China appears to be doing a Gordon Brown, who preannounced the Bank of England's gold sales, depressing the gold price to a 20year low. A senior Chinese official has suggested that the country might sell down some of its $400bn in reserves to bail out its stateowned banks.
WCM triggers Commerzbank bid talk 18 Nov 2003 There are probably plenty of sellers of Commerzbank, were someone to offer a premium. WCM is simply the most obvious one. What is less clear is why someone would want to pay a fat premium for the German bank now.
Not much juice left in Italian banks 14 Nov 2003 True, the restructuring plays like Intesa, Capitalia and BNL have so far delivered on their cleanup plans. But consolidation still looks far away. Even to justify the current price, the banks would have to ratchet up performance further.
Commerzbank defies belief with property write-down 13 Nov 2003 After all, the German bank wrote up a whopping profit just a year ago on the asset it has now written down. Investors are entitled to see this as another reason not to take what companies say especially German banks at face value.
Commerzbank raises E800m after E2.3bn loss 12 Nov 2003 The German bank couldn't have been so honest about its problems a year ago. But the market recovery has allowed it to bite the bullet. It has engaged in a full kitchensink exercise even admitting that its acquisition of fund manager Jupiter destroyed value.
BNL rally has gone far enough 12 Nov 2003 The Italian bank s shares already discount a lot of restructuring. That looks like a hard slog. And the hopes for consolidation that boosted the shares look premature.