White House to unveil assets plan Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, will on Monday unveil details of a plan to take hundreds of billions of dollars of toxic assets off banks' balance sheets. The plan, for the Treasury to put $75bn to $100bn of troubled asset relief funds into a public private investment scheme, will help determine whether the Obama administration can regain credibility in its handling of the financial crisis. It follows days of frantic leaking, with both the Treasury and the White House denying being the sources. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53864/white-house-to-unvei
| US urges investors to buy bad assets Obama administration officials worked Sunday to persuade reluctant private investors to buy as much as $1,000bn in troubled mortgages and related assets from banks, with government help, reports the NYT. The talks came the day before Treasury secretary Tim Geithner is due to unveil details of the administration's plan to purchase bank assets. As part of the programme, the government plans to offer subsidies, in the form of low-interest loans, to coax private funds to form partnerships with the government to buy troubled assets from banks. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53863/us-urges-investors-t
| Hellman & Friedman eyes iShares Hellman & Friedman is putting together a group of private-equity groups that may bid for Barclays' iShares unit in a transaction valued at as much as $5bn, reports Bloomberg. Barclays has set a deadline for offers for the end of this week and, according to the WSJ, may finance as much as 80% of the purchase price of iShares. Bain Capital and rival buyout firms TPG and Apax Partners also are suitors for iShares, the WSJ added. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53862/hellman-friedman-eye
| MidEast fund takes 9% of Daimler Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments is to take a 9.1% stake in Daimler for €1.95bn (£1.84bn). The German carmaker said it would increase its share capital by 10% and Aabar would pay €20.27 per share for the entire offering, making the part-state owned Gulf company its largest shareholder. Daimler's closing price on Friday was €21.34. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53861/mideast-fund-takes-9
| Suncor moves on Petro-Canada Suncor Energy is close to acquiring Petro-Canada for about $15bn in stock, uniting two of Canada's biggest oil companies amid tepid demand for crude, reports the WSJ. The $15bn price tag would represent a roughly 30% premium for Petro-Canada. The all-stock deal would enable the companies to merge while conserving cash. The deal could be announced Monday, barring last-minute hitches. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53860/suncor-moves-on-petr
| SocGen cancels stock options Société Générale bowed to growing public pressure over executive pay on Sunday as it cancelled a plan to award discounted stock options to four directors, including Daniel Bouton, non-executive chairman, and Frédéric Oudéa, chief executive. In a letter to staff to be sent Monday, the bank admits its plan to award 150,000 options to Oudéa and 70,000 to Bouton sparked "strong indignation" among the public and "incomprehension" from its own clients and staff. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53859/socgen-cancels-stock
| FSA to probe RBS allegations The UK's FSA watchdog is to examine whether there was any intimidation of non-executive directors at RBS before it was bailed out by taxpayers, after queries from Scottish Labour politician Lord Foulkes, who also queried whether any false statements were made by RBS that "could have led potential investors or depositors to believe the position was more favourable than the board knew it to be". See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53858/fsa-to-probe-rbs-all
| China drives up copper prices Copper stockpiling by a secretive Chinese state organisation has helped trigger a rally of 28% in the price of the metal this year. China accounted for almost a third of global copper consumption last year. Industry reports point to buying by Beijing's State Reserves Bureau, which manages strategic stockpiles. Traders say the SRB is trying to secure 300,000 tonnes and speculate it could buy up to 1.2m tonnes this year. Global copper production last year stood at 18m tonnes. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53857/china-drives-up-copp
| UK could aid building society The UK government is considering options to assist in the bail-out of Scotland's largest building society, in what could be the first such assistance to the mutual sector since the credit crunch started. The Dunfermline Building Society is set to announce losses of about £26m in its annual results this week, say industry officia See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53856/uk-could-aid-buildin
| MUFG to slash jobs, close branches Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's biggest bank, said on Monday it plans to close 50 branches and cut 1,000 jobs to continue slimming down its operations since its merger in 2005, reports Reuters. MUFG, along with other Japanese banks, has escaped much of the subprime damage sustained by its Western rivals, but it has since been hit by a sharp fall in domestic stocks. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53855/mufg-to-slash-jobs-c
| Europe faces 'wave of downgrades' A further wave of profit warnings and downgrades is likely this year at European companies as equity strategists warn that executives and analysts remain too optimistic over the outlook. Analysts, who follow individual sectors and are guided by the companies themselves, expect flat growth in European earnings. But equity strategists, who look at the broader economy and market, forecast a drop of 25-50% in profits. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53854/europe-faces-wave-of
| Warnings over US bonus 'rage' Plans by US lawmakers to curtail big Wall Street bonuses may have adverse effects on government rescue plans aimed at resolving the toxic asset overhang, warn investors and commentators. In particular, they say, private investors such as hedge funds and buy-out groups may be less likely to take part amid concerns of government scrutiny and fears that profits may be clawed back in the future. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53853/warnings-over-us-bon
| German banker sues CIBC In Categories: People Posted at 04:36 by Gwen Robinson A City banker is suing one of Canada's biggest banks for making him redundant, allegedly because he is not Canadian, in one of the more unusual cases to emerge from the credit crunch. Achim Beck, a German national, claims that CIBC had a secret policy of favouring "Canada-connected" employees when making job cuts. The case, to have been heard by a UK employment tribunal in early March, has been delayed by CIBC's refusal to disclose related internal documents. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53852/german-banker-sues-c
| Weekend catch-up In case you missed these stories: Weavering collapse sparks regulatory concern
UK authorities are investigating the collapse of UK hedge fund Weavering Capital, as its founder protested that its failure was due to investor withdrawals, not the discovery of large trades with an offshore company he controlled. TCI sells Indian state banks holdings
UK activist hedge fund The Children's Investment Fund has liquidated its holdings in Indian state-owned banks in one of the biggest single selldowns by a foreign institutional investor in the country's stock market. _______ See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53851/weekend-catch-up-28
| Overnight markets: Up Asian stocks and US futures rose on Monday, on fresh optimism that government stimulus efforts worldwide will revive lending and ease the economic slump. Futures on the S&P 500 Index climbed 1.4% after the gauge slid 2% on Friday.
Asian markets (Mon)
04:15am GMT
Nikkei up 233.18 (2.93%) at 8,179.14
Topix up 22.26 (2.91%) at 787.03
Hang Seng up 341.42 (2.66%) at 13,174.93 US markets (Fri)
DJIA down 122.42 (-1.65%) at 7,278.38
Nasdaq down 26.21 (-1.77%) at 1,457.27
S&P500 down 15.50 (-1.98%) at 768.54 European markets (Fri)
FTSE100 up 25.92 (0.68%) at 3,842.85
Eurofirst 300 up 2.71 (0.38%) at 717.88 Currencies
04:12 GMT
€/$ 1.3665 (1.3651)
$/¥ 96.30 (94.62)
£/$ 1.4510 (1.4458) Commodities (updated)
04:05GMT
Brent Crude (Apr09) up $0.55 at $51.77
Light Crude (Apr09) up $0.55 at $52.62
100 Oz Gold (Apr09) down $5.20 at $951.00
Copper (3M 24hr) up $100.00 at $4,065.00 10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.67 (2.60)
UK 3.01 (3.02)
Germany 2.98 (3.06)
Japan 1.27 (1.27) Sources: FT, Reuters See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/23/53850/overnight-markets-up
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