Spectrum Brands

• Bersani's lead over Berlusconi continues to erode, now just 3.6 Pts, or inside error margin, in Tecne Poll
• Spain gears up for U.S. debt investor meetings (Reuters)
• PBOC Set for Record Weekly Liquidity Injection (WSJ)
• RBS Trader Helped UBS’s Hayes With Libor Bribes, Regulators Say (BBG)
• ECB, Ireland reach bank debt deal (Reuters)
• AMR-US Airways Near Merger Agreement (WSJ)
• Monte Paschi says no more derivatives losses (Reuters) ... remember this
• Harvard’s Gopinath Helps France Beat Euro Straitjacket (BBG) - by sliding into recession?
• Obama Relents on Secret Drone Memo (WSJ)
• Brennan to face questions on interrogations, drones and leaks (Reuters)
• Wall Street Success With Germans Boomerangs (BBG)
• Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks (Reuters)
• Boeing Preps Redesign to Get 787 Flying  (WSJ)

• Wal-Mart misses topline expectations: Revenue $113.93bn, Exp $114.89bn, Sees full year EPS $4.88-$4.93, Exp. $4.94, Unveils new FCPA allegations; Stock down nearly 4%
• China chooses conservative new leaders (FT)
• Eurozone falls back into recession (FT)
• Moody’s to Assess U.K.’s Aaa Rating in 2013 Amid Slowing Economy (Bloomberg)
• Another bailout is imminent: FHA Nears Need for Taxpayer Funds (WSJ)
• Hamas chief vows to keep up "resistance" after Jaabari killed (Reuters)
• Obama calls for rich to pay more, keep middle-class cuts (Reuters)
• Obama Undecided on FBI's Petraeus Probe (WSJ)
• Battle lines drawn over “growth revenue” in fiscal cliff talks (Reuters)
• Rajoy’s Path to Bailout Clears as EU Endorses Austerity (Bloomberg)
• Zhou Seen Leaving PBOC as China Picks New Economic Chiefs (Bloomberg)
• Russia warns of tough response to U.S. human rights bill (Reuters)
• Japan Opposition Leader Ups Pressure on Central Bank (WSJ)
• Zhou Seen Leaving PBOC as China Picks New Economic Chiefs (Bloomberg)

• U.S. Military Is Sent to Jordan to Help With Crisis in Syria (NYT)
• IMF Weighing New Loans for Europe (WSJ)
• Romney Targets Obama Voters (WSJ)
• China’s Central Banker Won’t Attend IMF Meeting Amid Island Spat (Bloomberg)
• Japan Calls China PBOC Chief Skipping IMF Meeting ‘Regrettable’ (Bloomberg)
• German media bristles at hostile Greek reception for Merkel (Reuters)
• The End Might Be Near for Opel (Spiegel)
• IMF sounds alarm on Japanese banks (FT)
• Cash Tap Stays Dry for EU Banks (WSJ)
• Goldman in Push On Volcker Limits (WSJ)
• IMF Vinals: Further Policy Efforts Needed to Gain Lasting Stability (WSJ)
• King signals inflation not primary focus (FT)

And so the legend of the once invincible "hedge fund titan" Phil Falcone, often the target of mockery and ridicule on the pages of Zero Hedge, ends, after his now irrelevant hedge fund which peaked in the tens of billions back in 2006/2007 is forced to borrow a secured loan from Jefferies at a 15% rate. The reason - the firm's all in gamble in satellite communication company LightSquared, which is also pretty much finished following today's announcement by airline carriers who said that LightSquared would "ruin US aviation." That, and pretty much everything else that Falcone invested in in the past 5 years. Check and mate. This also answers our question from August 2010 "Is Phil Falcone's Mega Bet On [LightSquared] Going To Be His Last?" It is.

Just because Solyndra was not enough of a humiliation for the president, not to mention MF Global where inquiring minds are wondering when the president and vice-president will refund any and all campaign donations received by Jon Comminglerzine, here comes the next public fiasco for the administration, as the broader public shifts its attention to LightSquared by way of owner Harbinger capital, and its flamboyant head (and wife) - Phil Falcone. As has been just released in an SEC filing, Harbinger has received a Wells Notice from the SEC. Now in a time long, long ago, or about three years ago, before market criminality and manipulation became wholly endorsed by the US government, getting a Wells Notice was a death sentence for any hedge fund. Alas, it still is: "The Wells Notices state that the staff intends to recommend or is considering recommending that the Commission file civil injunctive actions against HCP, Harbinger Capital Partners Offshore Manager, LLC, Harbinger Capital Partners Special Situations GP, LLC, Mr. Falcone, Mr. Asali, and Ms. Roger alleging violations of the federal securities laws’ anti-fraud provisions in connection with matters previously disclosed and an additional matter regarding the circumstances and disclosure related to agreements with certain fund investors." And whether the Wells Notice is merely an inquiry into Falcone previous shady hedge fund-dipping practices described here, or a preamble to a full blown public spectacle-cum-humiliation on Harbinger's LightSquared remains to be seen. One thing is certain: Mrs Falcone will milk the newly found notoriety to its full extend, prenup firmly in gold-braceleted hand.

About a month ago we observed some rather unpleasant disclosures in the public vehicle of Phil Falcone's publicly traded entity, Harbinger Group, f/k/a the infamous Zapata Corp of George H.W. Bush fame. Back then we observed that "Harbinger Group., Inc appears to be a shell for an investment company with $141 million of cash and short-term investments on the books, and no operations, and is currently being assimilated by Falcone in an elaborate scheme for his Spectrum Brands shares, which would bring his total holding in Zapata from 51.6% to 94%." It is this same company that has now gotten the increasingly more troubled satellite mogul-cum-hedge fund manager in court. Reuters reports that a lawsuit has been filed against Philip Falcone which charges that the investor took advantage of his position in engineering a stock swap between his hedge fund and a small publicly traded company that he also controls.

As if the recent scandals surrounding Harbinger's redemptions, his money withdrawals from a locked up fund, and his pledging of artwork to procure a loan for a mysterious capital need were not enough, next we read courtesy of Matt Goldstein that Phil Falcone is also facing an informal probe in the fund's "investments and trading in securities of particular issuers." What is very curious is that Harbinger Group was once the very infamous Zapata Corp, which has been implicated in everything from the Kennedy assassination, to the Bay of Pigs, to Watergate, to Iran Contra! While we will ignore any possible link between Falcone and the Bushes (not to mention the CIA), we will point out that Phil Falcone is chairman and CEO of the current iteration of Zapata, and that Harbinger Inc and Harbinger Capital Partners are intimately tied. And this is where the real problems arise.

More insights from "smart money"....

An interesting development in some recent bankruptcies has been § 1124 of the Bankruptcy Code, also known as the Debt Reinstatement provision. Recently used in the Spectrum Brands chapter 11, and presumably soon to be attempted in the Charter case, this approach allows "financially distressed companies seeking to use Chapter 11 to substantially delever their balance sheets by equitizing junior debt while “reinstating” existing senior debt on original terms that are more favorable to the borrower than those available in today’s financing market." In other words, this allows the best of all worlds for a bankrupt company: deleveraging due to unsecured debt equitization, while the secured debt continues paying interest at a 2005 Libor rate. With Libor soon to hit negative thanks to the US backstopping all the toxic assets in the universe, and some bufoonery by the ABA, you can bet your bottom dollar that bankruptcy lawyers and financial advisors are pitching default after default even to healthy companies, so they have screw all sorts of creditors.

After providing several hundred billion in second liens and other subordinated tranches to some of the worst companies in existence over the past 5 years, a result of a complete lack of investing discipline which nearly brought parent General Electic down, GE Capital Corp. is back in the game, and this time it plans to win it.

Maker of all things commodity (Rayovac batteries, Remington grooming products and manure) just filed for bankruptcy protection (Western District of Texas, 09-50456).

Maker of all things commodity (Rayovac batteries, Remington grooming products and manure) just filed for bankruptcy protection (Western District of Texas, 09-50456).