Goldman push to repay $10bn Goldman Sachs signalled its determination to emerge quickly from the financial crisis, disclosing plans late Monday to raise $5bn to pay back public funds and reporting stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings of $1.81bn. Goldman said it intended to use the $5bn raised through the sale of common stock to help repay the $10bn it gained last year under the government's TARP scheme. If it succeeds it would be the first major bank to repay TARP funds. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54650/goldman-push-to-repa
| Goldman results set high bar for rivals Goldman Sachs on Monday kicked off the reporting season for US banks, with Q1 results that beat analysts' forecasts. But its move to a calendar year-end – following its decision to become a bank holding company last year – revealed that it lost $1.3bn in December, a turbulent month for capital markets. In particular, Goldman's trading and principal investment group lost more than $960m in December. In the Jan-March quarter however, it notched up net revenues of $7.1bn. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54649/goldman-results-set-
| Buyout groups back Skype founders' bid Four private equity groups are jointly backing the founders of Skype, the internet telephony group, in a bid to buy back the business from eBay, reports DealJournal. KKR, Warburg Pincus, Providence and Elevation Partners are backing Niklas Zennstrom and Jannus Friis in a bid to repurchase the company they sold for $2.6bn in 2005. But the two sides are said to be far apart on price. Separately, the WSJ reports that eBay has sold recommendation engine StumbleUpon, heightening speculation that the e-commerce giant may soon move to unload Skype. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54648/buyout-groups-back-s
| India's Tech Mahindra wins Satyam bid Tech Mahindra – an Indian outsourcing group partly owned by BT of the UK – on Monday won the auction for a controlling stake in Satyam Computer Services, which is at the centre of India's biggest corporate scandal. Tech Mahindra, in which BT has a 31% stake, will itself acquire a 31% stake in Satyam for Rs17.6bn ($353m). The offer values the outsourcing group at $1.1bn, a 23% premium to its last closing stock price and far ahead of rival bids. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54647/indias-tech-mahindra
| US eyes GM loan-to-equity swap The US government is considering taking an equity stake in a stripped-down General Motors in a swap for some of the $13.4bn the carmaker owes the Treasury, reports Bloomberg. The move comes ahead of a June 1 deadline for GM to submit a revised plan to become viable. There would be a smaller stake for bondholders, who own $27.5bn in GM debt, and who had been offered 90% of the new entity's equity. Reuters meanwhile reports that GM shares plunged 16% on Monday amid fears the US government will push the automaker into a bankruptcy that could wipe out existing equity. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54646/us-eyes-gm-loan-to-e
| ICBC takes top slot for deposits Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest lender by market cap, has now also become the biggest by deposits. The latest symbolic milestone underlines how Chinese banks have weathered the global crisis to become the world's largest lenders. ICBC's customer deposits reached Rmb8,900bn ($1,300bn) by end-March after increasing by Rmb950bn from Jan 1, the bank said Monday. ICBC, which is 4.9% owned by Goldman Sachs and 75% owned by Beijing, increased net profits last year by 36% to Rmb111bn, making it the world's most profitable bank. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54645/icbc-takes-top-slot-
| SEC to review BofA's bonus actions The SEC is reviewing whether Bank of America broke the law by not telling shareholders about Merrill Lynch's plan to pay out $3.6bn in bonuses before they voted for a merger of the two banks. Merrill paid the bonuses in December, days before it was acquired by BofA. BofA has said it was not required to disclose the bonus payments. But Mary Schapiro, SEC chairman, told a Democratic congressman that the SEC was "carefully reviewing" whether BofA should have revealed the bonus plan. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54644/sec-to-review-bofas-
| Express Scripts buys WellPoint unit Express Scripts said on Monday that it would buy the pharmacy benefits management business of WellPoint for $4.68bn, in a deal that will make Express Scripts the second-largest US drug benefits manager in terms of prescriptions processed. Express Scripts will pay $3.28bn in cash, with the rest to be paid in stock, to WellPoint, a top US health insurer that provides benefits under the Blue Cross Blue Shield brand. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54643/express-scripts-buys
| CLSA plans US expansion Even as it cuts jobs in Asia, CLSA, the Asia-focused brokerage arm of Crédit Agricole, is planning an aggressive US push in expectation of demand for more independent and more international research. Jonathan Slone, CLSA's chief executive, said the firm planned to hire up to 30 US-based analysts in coming months. CLSA's first major recruit was Mike Mayo, one of Wall Street's best-known banking analysts who joined with his team from Deutsche Bank last month. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54642/clsa-plans-us-expans
| HSBC seeks buyers for offices HSBC is looking for buyers for three of its largest offices in London, New York and Paris as part of a global asset sell-off in an effort to secure fresh funding. Only last week, the bank completed the UK's biggest-ever rights issue, raising £12.5bn and further distancing itself from many of its rivals that have had to rely on government support. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54641/hsbc-seeks-buyers-fo
| Fannie Mae chief to head TARP The Obama administration is expected to name Fannie Mae CEO Herb Allison to head the US government's $700bn TARP financial rescue program, reports Reuters. The announcement is expected "in coming days," said a person familiar with the matter. Michael Williams, Fannie Mae's chief operating officer, is expected to be named Allison's successor. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54640/fannie-mae-chief-to-
| Easter catch-up In case you missed these stories: - Goldman to buy discounted private equity holdings
Goldman Sachs has raised $5.5bn for its Vintage V fund to buy discounted private equity holdings – the largest fund ever of this type – as investors anticipate a flood of forced sellers trying to offload private equity stakes. - Citi investors urged to oust directors
Two key shareholder advisory groups, Glass Lewis and RiskMetrics, last week urged Citigroup shareholders to vote against re-electing various Citi directors, with Glass Lewis coming out against the bank's new chairman, Richard Parsons. - Credit quality of global groups at 25-year low
The credit quality of global companies has deteriorated to the lowest levels in 25 years, according to Moody's, which said the ratio of companies having their credit ratings cut versus the number of companies being upgraded had reached its highest level since 1983. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54639/easter-catch-up
| Overnight Markets: Uncertain Most Asian stocks fell on Tuesday as disappointing profit reports at Qantas and Sumitomo Realty offset Goldman Sachs' better-than-estimated earnings. Futures on the S&P 500 slipped 0.5% after the gauge added 0.3% in New York on Monday.
Asian markets (Tues)
03:08 BST
Nikkei down 143.45 (-1.61%) at 8,780.98
Topix down 6.16 (-0.7%) at 842.81
Hang Seng up 260.37 (1.75%) at 15,161.78 US markets (Mon)
S&P500 up 2.17 (0.25%) at 858.73
DJIA down 25.57 (-0.32%) at 8,057.81
Nasdaq up 0.77 (0.05%) at 1,653.31 European markets (Thurs)
FTSE100 0.00 (0.00%) at 3,983.71
Eurofirst 300 0.00 (0.00%) at 778.39 Currencies
03:45 BST
€/$ 1.33210 (Thurs: 1.3254)
$/¥ 99.90 (99.77 )
£/$ 1.4844 (1.4716) Commodities
03:05 BST
Brent Crude (ICE) up $0.02 at $53.1o
Light Crude (Nymex) down $0.37 at $49.68
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up $0.03 at $896.10
Copper (Comex) up 2.85 at 215.40 10-year government bond yields (%)
03:46 BST
US 2.87 (Thurs: 2.87)
UK 3.29 (" 3.35)
Germany 3.23 (" 3.21)
Japan 1.47 (" 1.48) Sources: FT, Bloomberg See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/04/14/54638/overnight-markets-un
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