Archive - Feb 2009

Barry Minkow strikes again - Patrick Avery, President and COO of fertilizer maker Intrepid Potash was made redundant today after Fraud Discovery Institute earlier announced and later the company confirmed that Avery had previously lied about two college degrees.

South Korea's second-largest bank Woori spooked it debt investors today after announcing it would not exercise a widely anticipated call of its $400 million of Tier-2 sub notes due 2014. As a result the company's CDS spiked 100 points wider to 830, while concurrently the price on its Tier-2 Notes due 2014 dropped from 89.5 to a record low 79.5. Woori is the third bank to not call a Tier-2 note, after German Deutsche Bank in December and Spanish Banco Sabadell on February 4.

Some strong January numbers from mostly tech names as the bloodbath in Russia and Eastern Europe persists. Many funds continue to not report YTD numbers for obvious reasons.

Some other January notables:

Basso: 1.29%
Brevan Howard: 4.67%
Canyon: 3.78%
Castlerigg (Sandell): 2.89%
Caxton Global: 3.03%
Cobalt Offshore: 3.96%
Davidson Kempner: 1.39%
Drawbridge: 1.24%

Some strong January numbers from mostly tech names as the bloodbath in Russia and Eastern Europe persists. Many funds continue to not report YTD numbers for obvious reasons.

Some other January notables:

Basso: 1.29%
Brevan Howard: 4.67%
Canyon: 3.78%
Castlerigg (Sandell): 2.89%
Caxton Global: 3.03%
Cobalt Offshore: 3.96%
Davidson Kempner: 1.39%
Drawbridge: 1.24%

Earlier today, maker of film and packaging products, Pliant Corporation, filed for prepackaged bankruptcy, which was not a surprise to anyone following the company. And, despite Aladdin Capital's claims to the contrary, the company was unable to find a 3rd party sourced DIP. The $75 million DIP which comes at L+1200 is provided by existing 1st lien lenders Wayzata and DDJ Capital.

Meriwether, Zimmerman, Gendell, Weinstein...

Meriwether, Zimmerman, Gendell, Weinstein...

While Tim Geithner provided more questions than answers yesterday in his presentation of the latest version of the "Finance System Bailout Plan", it makes sense to analyze the data that was in fact given to the general public.

While Tim Geithner provided more questions than answers yesterday in his presentation of the latest version of the "Finance System Bailout Plan", it makes sense to analyze the data that was in fact given to the general public.

Andrew Cuomo just will not let this one go. The scandal over the $4 billion in Merrill Lynch bonuses that was paid in December (paid out just days ahead of the BofA merger conclusion, and in advance of disclosing a $15 billion quarterly loss, and a $27 billion annual loss), is reaching epic proportions, and rightfully so. Cuomo is particularly incensed over the allocation of the bonuses, which he notes does not come down to $91,000 per Merrill employee, but has a very skewed pyramidal structure, with 696 people receiving bonuses of over $1 million.

Realizing there is an unmet need for DIP and rescue financing as well as for more oddly named hedge funds, Aladdin Capital has recently launched a Debtor-In-Possession only fund.

Realizing there is an unmet need for DIP and rescue financing as well as for more oddly named hedge funds, Aladdin Capital has recently launched a Debtor-In-Possession only fund.

It was only three weeks ago that Istithmar had put Barney's on the chopping block expecting to get not less than its full cost of $942 million.

Despite some muddled explanations from its administration on how Russia may or may not be in fact filing for private sector (but definitely not sovereign) bankruptcy, this story shows why some sort of default is imminently unavoidable as essentially the entire Russian private sector is now shut out from the primary bond market, with no foreign bond issues since August 2008.

• Roubini more on the N-Word, or N-Process as he calls it (RGE Monitor)
• Buffett's infinite investment horizon in need of lengthening (Bberg