WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
GOLDMAN PRESSED FOR CDO LOSS SETTLEMENT
Goldman Sachs is in talks over a potential settlement with an investor that claims that it lost money and went out of business after buying into a $1bn (€760,000) mortgage-backed security that was later privately criticised by a senior executive at the bank. Basis Yield Alpha Fund, a hedge fund, is seeking compensation over its $100m investment in Timberwolf, a complex security, say several people familiar with the matter.
FENNER RAISES £36M TO FUND ACQUISITIONS
Fenner, the Yorkshire-based industrial conveyor belt maker, has raised £36m in a share placing to help fund a number of planned bolt-on acquisitions. The company saw its shares fall 15.8p to 210p as it launched the dilutive placing of 17m new shares to institutional investors, representing just under 10 per cent of its share capital.
CDO FEES FLOW TO RATINGS AGENCIES
Credit rating agencies are still being paid millions of dollars a year to report on the performance of collateralised debt obligations that have lost most of their value despite having been issued in many cases with triple A stamps of approval.
TUBE LINES’ INPUT HELPS AMEY ADVANCE
A substantial contribution from Tube Lines, the London Underground maintenance company that has been at the centre of a funding dispute, helped Amey UK, its majority owner, report annual pre-tax profit of £105.6m – a rise of 70 per cent from a year earlier. In results for 2009 filed at Companies House yesterday, Amey disclosed that its Tube services division accounted for more than a quarter of profit.
THE TIMES
BAE HAS EDGE IN DOGFIGHT OVER £1BN IRAQ ORDER
The Iraqi Government is in talks to buy 24 Hawk trainer jets for up to £1 billion in a deal that would be the country’s first large arms purchase from the UK for more than 20 years. Military insiders have told The Times that officials from the Iraqi Air Force will be in Britain in May and June to test the Hawk.
FERRARI F1 BARCODE A ‘SMOKESCREEN FOR CIGARETTE ADVERTS’
Leading doctors are demanding an immediate government inquiry into “subliminal” tobacco advertising on Ferrari’s Formula One cars, and the company’s $1 billion relationship with the maker of Marlboro cigarettes. The European Public Health Commissioner said he thought that Marlboro’s approach constituted potential subliminal marketing.
The Daily Telegrapg
U2’S BONO LOSES OUT AS HEWLETT-PACKARD SWOOPS ON PALM FOR $1.2BN
U2 frontman Bono is set to book a loss of $140m (£92m) after Palm announced a $1.2bn deal to sell itself to personal computer giant Hewlett-Packard. Bono’s private equity venture, Elevation Partners, owns an approximate 30pc stake in Palm, having invested $460m in the struggling handset maker in 2007 and 2008.
BANKS AND ENERGY COMPANIES FIGHT DERIVATIVES REFORM
Banks and energy companies have joined forces to try to persuade the US derivatives regulator not to impose curbs designed to cap the number of contracts a trader can hold in specific markets. Shell said the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s plan to impose caps in oil and natural gas markets “will impose new costs”.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
SEC PROBES ‘SIDE POCKET’ ARRANGEMENTS
Federal regulators are examining whether hedge-fund managers abused tools known as “side pockets” that helped prevent clients from withdrawing billions of dollars of assets during the financial crisis. The issue is one of several investigative priorities recently set by a newly organized Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement unit.
BOND TRADERS FACE MIDDLE-OF-THE-NIGHT TRADING AFTER UK ELECTION
Banks are planning to staff their government-bond-trading desks from shortly after midnight on May 7, given the uncertain outcome of the UK election the day before. This isn’t the first time that traders will be at their desks in the early hours of the morning after an election, rather than in for the usual 8 a.m. start.