An investment Blog

June 25, 2009 • 2:12 pm 0

Subscribe / Book Appointments

Let's go macky, what are you doing here on a Friday

Subscribe to our newsletters here

For booking a consultation online:

I offer online scheduling using BookFresh

Advantages.us now well on its way to a Top 10K ranking in India, Watch out! India market oriented articles are more specifically indexed here and here. Why one can’t write on the dealmaking one is part of..well because it is a deal and then only some because one can’t disclose client and deal confidentiality. But then a person who evaluates a blog writer for an executive position is anyway starting on the wrong foot.. The blog is just building a information base and does not give away his character at work, his business models or his work content necessarily. There is no question to it. This one is a pretty successful business deal maker. He has the access. He could do wonders for an action-oriented organisation.

Filed under: Financial Markets, Financial Services, India, India Infrastructure, Indian Stocks, Investments, Media and Entertainment, Mergers & Restructuring, Social Media, US , Advantages, zyaada, Zyakaira

July 10, 2009 • 7:00 am 0

Infrastructure Stimulus | NY Times

Infrastructure Stimulus (nytimes)

The New York Times > US > Image > Transportation Projects Across the Nation.

Filed under: Infrastructure, Obamanomics, US , Barack Obama, Global investing, Infrastructure, Investments, Obamanomics, Private Equity, Stock Markets, US

July 6, 2009 • 3:13 am 0

Oh, we could have bought up something | Deals

zyakaira notes: sadly, not enough people have invested in the emerging markets or even in the next slice of America in this downturn..don’t they want to buy cheap anymore?

Stock markets rewarded companies such as Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N and Cisco CSCO.O who were brave enough to make acquisitions in the months after Lehman Brothers collapse, a study released on Monday showed.

Although firms who made purchases worth $100 million or more suffered an average 25.5 percent fall in their stock price, they outperformed the wider market by 6.3 percentage points, the Towers Perrin/Cass Business School research found.

Global mergers and acquisitions M&A plunged 40 percent in the first half of 2009 to $941 billion, as shrinking economies, volatile markets and scarce debt hammered corporate confidence. The World Bank forecasts the global economy will shrink 2.9 percent this year.”Companies with M&A in mind should be emboldened by our analysis: fortune favors the brave,” the studys authors, led by Marco Boschetti, wrote.

“Fears that M&A is riskier post-Lehman seem to be misplaced.”Repeat acquirers did even better, on average outperforming the MSCI World Index by 8.1 percent.Among them, Cisco Systems Inc, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories ABT.N, BG Group Plc BG.L, and Symantec Corp SYMC.O all outperformed world, regional and sector indexes.However, other multiple acquirers such as Eli Lilly and Co LLY.N, Medtronic Inc MDT.N and Banco Santander SA SAN.MC underperformed on some or all measures.

via Brave post-Lehman M&A rewarded by market -study| Deals| Reuters.

Filed under: Amitonomics, Bank Stocks, Financial Markets, Financial Services, Home and away, India Infrastructure, Investments, Mergers & Restructuring, Retail Lifestyle , Amitonomics, Bank Stocks, Credit Crisis, DealBook, Deutsche Bank, Financial Markets, Infrastructure, Investments, M&A, Mergers, Private Equity, Stock Markets

July 3, 2009 • 7:54 pm 0

Europe: More Pain on the Way? – BusinessWeek

Europe has had a history of criminal neglect couched in stiff regulation, bodes badly for the Euro

Euro-zone banks could record as much as $398 billion in new writedowns by 2010 (more, but this is the ECB prediction)

As Europe enjoys a long-awaited summer heat wave, a sense of sunny optimism has taken hold of its financial capitals. Many in the regions beleaguered banking community reckon the worst of economic downturn is over. Equities markets have rallied since early 2009, property prices are leveling off, and signs of a recovery in consumer and industrial confidence are starting to surface.But before Europes financial-services industry pats itself too hard on the on the back, bankers and investors may want to heed the sobering analysis released recently by the European Central Bank ECB. Analysts at the ECB, which oversees the 16-country bloc that uses the euro, forecast that euro-zone banks could still record a further €283 billion $398 billion in writedowns by the end of next year, predominantly from defaulting corporate and consumer loans.If that eye-popping figure were to be reached, it would bring the total for European bank writedowns since 2007 to €649 billion $913 billion—about equal to the damage wreaked on the balance sheets of U.S. institutions, including such stalwarts as Morgan Stanley MS and Merrill Lynch BAC. The impact on workers also could be acute: In Britain alone, the Confederation of British Industry, a trade body, figures the countrys financial-services industry could shed an additional 28,000 jobs by the fourth quarter of this year.Most of the problems for Europes banks are linked to struggling economies. Although financial markets have largely recovered, the European Commission still expects the European Unions gross domestic product to contract by 4% this year and a subsequent 0.1% in 2010. The broader downturn has hit consumer spending and led to rising loan-default rates, particularly among small and midsize businesses. The expected jump in defaults also has raised concerns that major banks, such as Germanys Deutsche Bank DB and Spains BBVA BBV, may be undercapitalized and will need to raise more money from investors to cover their exposure.LOWER CONSUMER SPENDING WILL HURT”Banks still have a number of problems on the horizon,” says Pete Hahn, a fellow at City Universitys Cass Business School and a former managing director at Citigroup C. “Debt levels have come down, but [the banks] must come to terms with lower consumer spending and a sharp drop in business activity.”

via European Banks: More Pain on the Way? – BusinessWeek.

Filed under: Bank Stocks, Financial Markets, Global, Investments , Bank Stocks, Banking, Depression, Deutsche Bank, Euro, Europe, European Union, Lloyds, LTCB, RBS, UBS

July 2, 2009 • 1:05 pm 0

Sharp Price Drops in Manhattan Apartments – NYTimes.com

Manhattan apartment prices fell sharply during the second quarter of 2009, as the limited number of deals struck during the darkest months of the economic downturn began to close, according to a series of market reports released Wednesday.

The number of closings fell more than 50 percent, and prices in some categories were reported down as much as 25 percent, compared with the same quarter in 2008. Sale prices were also down from those reported in the first quarter of 2009.

One report, by Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property, put the average price of a Manhattan apartment in the second quarter at $1.26 million, a decline of 24 percent from the same period in 2008, and 16 percent below the previous quarter. It put the median sale price at $795,000, 19 percent below the figure in the first quarter of 2008.

Another report, by Prudential Douglas Elliman, found that the median sale price on the resale of existing apartments was down by 25.6 percent from a year earlier. The report, prepared by Jonathan J. Miller, president of Miller Samuel Inc., an appraisal firm, said that the number of sales was down 50.3 percent compared with the same period in 2008.

The new figures on closed sales confirm the downward trajectory in the Manhattan market that brokers have been reporting for many months. But the report was issued at a time when b

via Sharp Price Drops in Manhattan Apartments – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: Home and away, India, Retail Lifestyle, US , Depression, Manhattan, Meltdown, Real estate, Real Estate Fraud, recession, US

• 12:58 pm 0

Worlds Dumbest Bank Gets Caught Again : Here is the City

Today’s summary from a newshound recmmended on linkedin.com ( the story was recommended.. )

Remember state-owned German lender KfW Bankengruppe ?

Well, back in September last year, the bank was busy cutting down its exposure to Lehman Brothers, but then someone executed an erroneous (and unstoppable) automated currency swap valued at $426m with Lehman on the very day it went belly up! The German government was up in arms and the bank was the object of ridicule at home, with Germany’s biggest-circulation newspaper, Bild, splashing a ‘Germany’s Dumbest Bank’ headline over its front pages. The upshot was that two of the bank’s management board members were suspended pending an investigation, and one, Peter Fleischer, ended up getting fired and taking the bank to court in Frankfurt.

And guess what ? Fleischer won the case. The bank was ordered to pay him 2 years salary, bonuses and interest. Nice.

FT Alphaville reports that shares in Commerzbank rose over 18% Wednesday, after the European Central Bank approved Germany’s ‘bad bank’ plan, which will allow participants to offload toxic assets from their balance sheets and pretend that they don’t exist

The Financial Times reports that Bank of America was hoping to raise about $3bn from the sale of asset management unit Columbia Management, but bids are described as ‘lukewarm’, and the unit may end up on

via World’s ‘Dumbest’ Bank Gets Caught Again :: Business News :: Here Is The City News :: The Latest Business & Financial Markets News And Views.

Filed under: Bank Stocks, Financial Markets, Financial Services, GDOW, Global, Home and away, Mergers & Restructuring, US , Bad Bank, Blackrock, Credit Crisis, Depression, Deutsche Bank, Europe, Germany, Good Bank Bad Bank, Meltdown, PPIF, TARP

July 1, 2009 • 11:02 am 0

A Hollywood-Ending Portfolio – Forbes.com

As recession-weary Americans flock to the cinema, Hollywood has had good fortune in a year when most other industries are fighting for survival. According to Box Office Mojo, theatrical receipts are tallying close to 12% ahead of 2008. But which studios have lured moviegoers into theaters in this recession, and how can you turn a profit with them?Studios like Warner Bros. and Paramount are outperforming expectations, jam-packing the summer movie season with anticipated blockbusters. However, the real success seems to be coming from small and mid-size films. Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner TWX – news – people , saw its comedy The Hangover pass the $180 million mark, and if it follows the path of Wedding Crashers, a comparable R-rated comedy, it could end up making north of $225 million by the time its out of theaters. What makes The Hangover all the more impressive as a moneymaker is that it was made on the cheap–by Hollywood standards–for a mere $35 million.

via A Hollywood-Ending Portfolio – Forbes.com.

At this point last year, Iron Man had already crossed the $300 million mark, with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull closing in. A 2009 movie of this genre–most likely Transformers–may not break the $300 million threshold until mid-July.

But 2009 may still eclipse 2008’s total revenue and take the crown as the highest-grossing year at the box office. One executive at Time Warner cited a “diverse film slate” for Warner’s success in particular, pointing to its investment in both large and small films.

James Marsh, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray ( PJC – news – people ), was bullish on the sector though he mentioned that not all studios are created equal. “I think the guys that have the most exposure to theatrical [releases] seem to be holding up well,” he said. This, he pointed out, worked in favor of smaller companies.

Though small- and medium-budget films don’t necessarily have the built-in audience recognition of a Batman or Star Wars franchise, their profits are still very realistic. The Proposal, only two weeks into its run, has out-grossed Land of the Lost, a film that cost more than twice as much to produce and had the kitsch value of a campy canceled TV series behind it.

Filed under: Bollywood, Film making, Media and Entertainment, US , Depression, Financial Markets, Hollywood, Media and Entertainment, media investments, recession

• 10:51 am 0

Is Tesco Eyeing a Bid for Northern Rock? – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

YOUR FAVE ROCK NOW AVAILABLE AT THE SUPER MARKET – Off the SHELF?

Is Tesco mulling a bid for Britain’s state-owned lender Northern Rock?The Times of London reported that the British supermarket chain had emerged as a potential bidder for Northern Rock, which the U.K. government is seeking to unload ahead a general election.However, Reuters, citing an industry source, said Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, is unlikely to be interested in a bid for the nationalized bank.Potential bidders, including Tesco, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and private equity funds, have shown interest in Northern Rock, Britain’s highest-profile victim of the credit crunch that was nationalized in February 2008, The Times said.Reuters, citing its source, said that while the supermarket group had expressed some interest in the past, this had not led to anything.Tesco said it did not comment on rumor and speculation, Reuters said.The supermarket group announced a major push into banking last July with a 950 million pound deal to buy out Royal Bank of Scotland’s stake in their joint banking venture.Eager to cash in on growing disillusionment with traditional banks, Tesco said in March it planned to open bank branches in 30 of its stores by the end of this year.

via Is Tesco Eyeing a Bid for Northern Rock? – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: Bank Stocks, Financial Markets, Financial Services, Global, Home and away, Mergers & Restructuring , Bank Stocks, Banking, Credit Crisis, DealBook, Indian Economy, Investments, Liquidity Crisis, Retail Lifestyle

• 10:47 am 0

StanChart and ANZ poised to split RBS Asian assets * FT.com Banks

Standard Chartered and Australia’s ANZ are in advanced talks to acquire separate parts of the Asian retail and commercial assets being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland, according to people familiar with the matter.Standard Chartered is now in pole position to acquire RBS units being sold in China, India and Malaysia, while ANZ was closing in on assets in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia, said people familiar with the situation.

The assets are expected to fetch around $1bn-$1.5bn for the stricken UK lender.“The process is progressing well but nothing is yet final,” said one person familiar with the matter.HSBC could also pick up some of the assets, should talks with the other banks fail to reach a successful conclusion, said people familiar with the situation.

RBS put the assets up for sale this year, after posting the biggest loss in British corporate history. The bank, which is 70 per cent owned by the UK government, made a loss of £24.1bn $35.3bn last year and is shrinking its £2,000bn balance sheet.Its regional retail banking platform vastly expanded after the 2007 acquisition of the Asian operations of ABN Amro, which had built up significant branch networks in countries such as China and India.

RBS’s Asian retail assets include 170 branches, including 28 in India and 13 in China.The sale of the Asian assets has been complicated by RBS’ decision to retain its wholesale banking footprint in key regional markets.There has been uncertainty about whether banking authorities in the eight individual markets would rubber-stamp the transfer of branch licences to the potential acquirers, some of whom already boasting large retail networks in countries such as China and India.

A successful conclusion of the talks would transform ANZ’s footprint in the region and bolster its strategy to become a “super-regional” lender. The bank in May announced a A$2.5bn capital raising to fund a potential bid for RBS assets.

via FT.com / Companies / Banks – StanChart and ANZ poised to split RBS Asian assets.

zyakaira notes: StanChart benefits from ANZ not being in a hurry to confront RBI and enter India with a fresh licence, i guess…Also, RBS’ new branches will also become Stamchart. While Stanchart has a large presence in India, they are hardly notable for Wealth Management

Filed under: Amitonomics, Bank Stocks, China, Home and away, India, Investments, Mergers & Restructuring , Amitonomics, Banking, CRR, DealBook, Financial Markets, GS, Hedge Funds, India, Indian Economy, Investments, M&A, RBI, SLR, Stock Markets

June 29, 2009 • 11:17 am 0

Emaar to Merge With Rivals in Dubai – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

The Dubai developer behind the world’s tallest building plans to merge with three rivals owned by the sheikdom’s ruler, in a consolidation aimed at better coping with a global meltdown fueled weakness in the one-time Arab boomtown’s real estate sector, The Associated Press said.In a statement posted Sunday on the Dubai Financial Market’s Web site, Emaar Properties said its proposed merger with Dubai Holding subsidiaries Dubai Properties, Samar Dubai and Tatweer would create a company with an asset base of 194 billion dirhams $52.8 billion and a debt of 13.4 billion dirhams, or roughly 7 percent of the total assets.”The proposed consolidation would create a robust and strategic asset base while joining the strengths” of the various companies, Emaar said.The deal, first outlined Saturday in a release by Emaar, marks a push to shore up a Dubai property market that has seen values plunge by as much as 40 percent in the first quarter of 2009 as the global economic meltdown hit the sheikdom hard.Layoffs in Dubai’s largely expatriate work force compounded the oversupply of units in the semiautonomous city-state, squeezing prices. The tougher financing climate also led to project delays and cancellations, and the fallout from the overall economic weakness further tarnished the image of an emirate whose famed man-made islands, soaring skyscrapers and rampant consumerism helped cast it as a rising global business powerhouse.As the credit crunch worsened over the second half of 2008, rumors surfaced about Emaar eying a merger with government-run rival Nakheel — talk that the companies and the government denied.But discussions of consolidations continued, built on expectations that companies would need to adopt some sort of measures — beyond the bailouts afforded by the Dubai government — to cope with the difficult business climate.”These comprehensive discussions are driven by a shared vision regarding the consolidation of our respective visible success stories to date and the creation of a world-class group which would be ideally positioned to dynamically help shape and support the ongoing development of Dubai as a world-leading hub,” Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar said in a statement.The companies released few details — including about valuation — saying only that the merger process would take roughly 4 months. The Royal Bank of Scotland and Merrill Lynch were retained as the financial advisers for Emaar and Dubai Holding, respectively.

via Emaar to Merge With Rivals in Dubai – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: Amitonomics, India Infrastructure, Investments, Retail Lifestyle , Global investing, India, Infrastructure, M&A, Mergers, Private Equity, Real estate, urban infrastructure

• 11:14 am 0

Startup shares for Sale — Privately – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

Scott Painter makes his living betting on start-up companies, having played a role in launching 29 of them over the years. But with the bad economy choking initial public offerings and acquisitions, Mr. Painter is now backing an idea that makes it easier for insiders like him to sell shares in their companies even before they go public, The Associated Press writes.SharesPost, which was founded by Mr. Painter’s business partner, Greg Brogger, launched publicly in June. Through SharesPost’s Web site, Mr. Painter is trying to sell shares in several companies he helped found, including the car pricing start-up TrueCar.com. He also wants to buy shares in companies that are far from an I.P.O., like the short-messaging site Twitter and business-networking site LinkedIn.SharesPost is one of a few private stock exchanges that are emerging to fight what venture capitalists call a liquidity crisis. These exchanges give stakeholders an alternative way to trade their shares in hot start-ups like Facebook for cold, hard cash — without having to wait years for an I.P.O.Employees at start-up companies often put in long hours but get salaries that can be 20 percent less than their peers at public companies. In return, they get stock or options that they hope will be a path to sports cars and summer homes after their company goes public or is bought out.Given this, services like SharesPost could help startup workers get some cash while awaiting a distant I.P.O. that might never even get off the ground. Most people won’t be in on the action, though, since these exchanges are only open to a small pool of buyers.And it’s not clear how much — or how little — stock has changed hands through them. In its short life, Santa Monica, Calif.-based SharesPost said it has executed one $25,000 transaction, while another service, New York-based SecondMarket, said it has completed about 40 transactions in the past year worth about $150 million.

via Facebook, Twitter and Peers for Sale — Privately – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: Financial Markets, Financial Services, India, US , Amitonomics, Bank Stocks, Citi, DealBook, Deutsche Bank, India, Obamanomics, Private Equity, Stock Markets

	Dwight Dale on FT.com / Comment / Opinion …
	Steven Henry on FT.com / Comment / Opinion …
	vivi_brazil on FT.com / Comment / Opinion …
	Stephanie Kershaw on FT.com / Comment / Opinion …
	zyakaira on Michael Jackson, U2 and The We…

An investment Blog

Infrastructure Stimulus | NY Times

Oh, we could have bought up something | Deals

Europe: More Pain on the Way? – BusinessWeek

Euro-zone banks could record as much as $398 billion in new writedowns by 2010 (more, but this is the ECB prediction)

Sharp Price Drops in Manhattan Apartments – NYTimes.com

Worlds Dumbest Bank Gets Caught Again : Here is the City

A Hollywood-Ending Portfolio – Forbes.com

Is Tesco Eyeing a Bid for Northern Rock? – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

StanChart and ANZ poised to split RBS Asian assets * FT.com Banks

Emaar to Merge With Rivals in Dubai – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

Startup shares for Sale — Privately – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

A word for Mumbai

Sections

Tags

Grader | Hubspot

Our social footprint

Wingee RSS Directory

mobile site (WAP)

@zyakaira

@blrmoneytalkz

RSS: http:advantages.us/feed

RSS Feed includes Digg, SU and other useful social bookmarks

Technorati said my page rank was 1, grader said my page rank was one, this one the script works with wp.com

Ping our blog! Thanks to your support the blog is now ranked near the top 500k sites globally and Top 100K in India with Alexa

Today’s latest from around the world

Notes from other users

Spam Blocked

Categories

Top Posts

Categories

11000 Touchdowns till June-09

Categories

Categories

Just Added

Pages from my Library

Flickr Photos

Archives at http://advantages.us

Blogroll

Global investing

Our Other blogs

July 2009
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Jun
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Euro-zone banks could record as much as $398 billion in new writedowns by 2010 (more, but this is the ECB prediction)

A word for Mumbai

Sections

Tags

Grader | Hubspot

Our social footprint

Wingee RSS Directory mobile site (WAP)

RSS: http:advantages.us/feed

RSS Feed includes Digg, SU and other useful social bookmarks

Technorati said my page rank was 1, grader said my page rank was one, this one the script works with wp.com

Ping our blog! Thanks to your support the blog is now ranked near the top 500k sites globally and Top 100K in India with Alexa

Notes from other users

Spam Blocked

Categories

Top Posts

Categories

11000 Touchdowns till June-09

Categories

Categories

Just Added

Flickr Photos

Categories

Archives at http://advantages.us

Blogroll

Global investing

Our Other blogs

Wingee RSS Directory

mobile site (WAP)