“But It Doesn’t Matter Who Wins”
Article :
Morning Call: August 29
Jim Rogers is quite possibly more populist than Barack Obama. It’s easy to say that neither candidate will do much to change America when you’re worth billions and have fled to China. Jim, what’s your solution? Tell us, please. You don’t fix the problem by moving overseas.
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Hostile Bids Runneth Over
Article :
July 2008
Here’s how companies that can still afford to write the really big checks (from the Netherlands to China) are getting seriously opportunistic, using their deep pockets to swallow weaker competitors.
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Snapping Up On The Cheap
Article :
July 2008
Perhaps you’ve noticed the weak dollar is spurring a feeding frenzy of foreign companies mounting bids for valuable U.S. assets in the multibillions (recent cases in point: InBev’s play for “King of Beers” Anheuser-Busch and Roche’s offer for biotech company Genentech). So why should today be any different? Only this time, the acquirer can be found in Japan.
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Not Just Your Garden-Variety Foul-Up
Article :
July 2008
Contrary to what you might think, the Fannie-Freddie fallout has far-reaching ramifications not just for the U.S. housing market, but key financial centers across the planet (China, Luxembourg and Britain, just to name a few). So, just how much does each country hold – and what, exactly, is everyone going to do about it?
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Banking Troubles? Get Goldman On It
Article :
July 2008
So far today, the news cycle has been set to fast-forward, but we have a précis for you: overseas institutions in China, Japan and Europe are atwitter over holding billions of shaky securities in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; meanwhile, the FDIC – that’s right, the U.S. government – has been reportedly found out to be predatory lender; and now Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is “temporarily” roping in Goldman’s Ken Wilson to help him sort out the banking crisis. It already looks like it’s shaping up to be another bumpy week. Now, for a bit on why Wall Street’s meltdown may put even Wilson’s experience as a special-forces officer in the Vietnam War to shame.
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China Expands to the North Sea
Article :
July 2008
Taking advantage of a worldwide oil boom, China Oilfield Services has agreed to buy Norway’s Awilco Offshore for 12.7 billion kronor. While still pending approval from the Norwegian Competition Authority, it will be interesting to see if Norway scuttles the deal, as the US did similarly to Unocal in 2005 when the Big Red Machine CNOOC tried taking that over (it was eventually sold to Chevron).
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Rumor Mill Churns Over HSBC-UBS Tie-Up
Article :
June 2008
There’s some pesky scuttlebutt afoot pairing up HSBC with much-beleaguered UBS. Just enough to push the stock of the latter up a sizable percentage over the last 24 hours. But even if the talk is true, is a juggernaut Swiss bank, the pride and joy of its fellow countrymen, likely to be so easily led?
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Barclays Raises The Roof In Capital-Raising
Article :
June 2008
Looking to lift its core equity "Tier One" capital ratio from about 5% (one of the lowest of European banks) to 6.3% (nicely above its 5.25% target) the bank is finally ramping up on raising $8.9 billion in a move that’s not only boosting stock markets today – but also arousing the interest of those with riyals, yen, renminbi and Singapore dollars to spare. Read on for more about the bank’s plans for courting key investors.
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Decline Of The Superrich…In The US, Anyway
Article :
June 2008
For all you agoraphobes out there, get thee to a clinic quick and find the medicine that will get you comfortable living out east. And we’re not talking about the East Coast, either. We mean India, China or Russia. Brazil is also an option for any diehard southies. But other than that, you’re going to be hard-pressed, statistically and comparatively speaking, to transform yourself into a millionaire (if you’re not one already) while residing in the U.S. (Not that it’s all about the money, but if you’re working hard and doing a good job, why not get properly paid for it?) The latest on where to go to get the most bang for your buck.
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Hello Dubai
Article :
June/July 2008
In the financial capital of the Middle East, a cultural mash-up that works.
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First Among Equals
Article :
June/July 2008
In time for the Olympics, Beijing rolls out its luxury welcome mat.
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China Telecom Clinches $15.9 Billion CDMA Deal
Article :
June 2008
To date, code- division multiple access networks have not been that profitable. Why China Telecom, the nation’s biggest fixed-line phone company, thinks it can turn this one around.
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Building Blocks
Article :
June/July 2008
Lazard's George Bilicic leaves to head KKR's infrastructure investments.
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China’s Merchants Bank Bags One
Article :
May 2008
Why Merchants Bank, the nation's most profitable lender, has reportedly agreed to take over Hong Kong's Wing Lung Bank in a cash deal valuing the company at $4.66 billion.
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Sick Of ‘Paradigm Shift’ Psychobabble? Us, Too.
Article :
May 2008
Better to just know the cold, hard facts. And these are some goodies: Petroleum shipments from the world's top oil exporters dropped 2.5% last year. During that time, oil prices soared 57%. Those two things used to be mutually exclusive. Now they are happening at the same time. And no one seems to think it’s going to stop. Any questions?
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BHP-Rio: What Now?
Article :
May 2008
Will this $188.5 billion megadeal ever happen? Perhaps not, if those meddling regulators have anything to do with it. At the heart of their growing list of concerns is whether this union could further pressure steel prices up, curbing development around the world. But isn’t it a bit late for that?
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Cure For A Microsoft Microbid
Article :
May 2008
If Yahoo seriously hopes to squeeze more money out of Microsoft, it first needs to get serious about boosting its value. No time like the present, and what could be a better time than when Long or Short Capital is offering up a smattering of free tips? Amusing, if not necessarily effective.
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CBS Bags CNET For $1.8 Bil
Article :
May 2008
But will this scuttle the ongoing proxy fight at the Internet media concern? A quick and dirty analysis of this breaking news.
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Brazil: We’re Hot, You’re Not
Article :
May 2008
These days, Brazil is so confident about its economic standing that its leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, joked to an audience of Latin American businesspeople recently that he lectured President Bush on cleaning up the U.S. credit crisis (according to The Wall Street Journal). "Here's the problem, son," Mr. da Silva said he told Bush. "We've had 26 years without growing. And now that we're growing, you come along and complicate things? Settle your crisis!" White House officials said the two had discussed the economy but not exactly in those words…
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Dollar Bottom: Copping A Feel
Article :
May 2008
So, word on both sides of the pond now is that everybody (except, obviously, those who are short) wants to see the dollar strengthen against, well, anything, at this point. Not because anyone cares much for it per se, but because, as things stand, the world is calibrated to expect certain things from certain currencies and the greenback has been woefully negligent in its duties of late (mea culpa, Persian Gulf). Luckily, it seems to be showing some signs of life, however, rousing itself just long enough yesterday to notch a six-week high against the euro. The interest-rate decisions out from the ECB and B of E today further weigh on the situation, but seem to be doing nothing for the market-watchers who remain largely divided. Here, a collection of their views from the FT.
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Goldman: Oil ‘Superspike’ Going To $200
Article :
May 2008
The two things that have always been key circuit-breakers of high oil prices have been a) demand destruction – essentially, when pain at the pump forces consumers reduce their fuel consumption, cooling off prices – and b) a global increase in supply, driven by producers looking to exploit lofty prices that ease as they flood the market with more oil. Guess what? For the first time ever, neither seems to be happening. Which is exactly why oil popped above $120 a barrel yesterday, occasioning the resurfacing of the dire prognostications of one Mr. Arjun N. Murti. Here, his predictions for the turbulent months to come.
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Goldman Gets Out Its Fang
Article :
April 2008
Its Fang Fenglei, to be exact. The bank’s wingman in China is set to make his first big investment on behalf of the private-equity fund the two sides cooked up last year. A look at the makings of this maiden voyage.
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Microsoft: How Now?
Article :
April 2008
Even more mysterious than the machinations of the Fed are those of that other monolithic entity, Microsoft, which is expected to undertake another Yahoo derring-do this week. A tutorial on which page it may next steal from the voluminous Trick-Your-Opponent-Into-Doing-A-Deal-To-Your-Distinct-
Advantage-And-Not-Theirs playbook. (Hint: It’s not a hostile takeover or a walk-away – but rather something more subtle.)
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Blackstone: Banking On It
Article :
April 2008
The monster private-equity firm is kicking off a European property fund on the bet that tanking prices represent more of an opportunity than a catastrophe. But will the same thing work farther east?
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Barclays Profits To Drop, But Trading AOK
Article :
April 2008
John Varley, CEO of the U.K.'s third-largest bank, says first-quarter profits will fall below a year ago, but defying March’s craptacular trading conditions, the bank actually generated a first-quarter net at its securities unit, sidestepping the credit-related losses that plagued UBS, Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch. So...what happened?
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Mobius’s Big Bank Bet
Article :
April 2008
Amid the subprime sturm und drang, George Soros reckons losses could easily top $1 trillion. But after just $245 billion of reported bank and brokerage losses, Templeton Asset Management Ltd.'s Mark Mobius says he thinks the credit-market crisis is ``near the end.'' Who’s right – and just how much money are they staking on it?
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No End To Sneaky Stake-Building
Article :
April 2008
This time by a Chinese sovereign wealth fund with a taste for – what else? – Big Oil. Perfect timing, as we noticed word finally got out today that Russia’s oil output is stalling. How one stealthy player procured a tidy grubstake amounting to roughly $2 billion in the U.K.’s largest company by market capitalization.
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Three Commandments
Article :
April/May 2008
A first-generation American reared in a tough patch of Oklahoma City, Philip Erdoes has never met anyone he couldn’t do business with — provided he’s so inclined.
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BHP: The Truth Is Out There
Article :
April 2008
Lovers of three-dimensional chess have been afroth these past few days over the possibility (first raised by an Australian newspaper) that BHP Billiton might be a takeover target for the very same rival it’s looking to outfox in its courtship of Rio Tinto. All very convoluted, but perhaps, as The Financial Times helpfully points out, a lot more bark than bite. Click here for the internal memo from Jane McAloon, BHP’s group company secretary, putting things back into black and white.
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Venture
Article :
April/May 2008
Think Vietnam, and you might not think of luxe resorts and sublime eateries. But winning the hearts and minds of the well-financed traveler is this nation’s new revolution.
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Hunter Becomes Hunted?
Article :
April 2008
While BHP Billiton struggles in its takeover efforts with Rio Tinto, a new twist has emerged on the horizon: China’s state-owned steel companies may be planning to buy a substantial stake in BHP. While some of the talk is being downplayed, here’s why market observers are loath to dismiss the speculation outright.
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Room Key
Article :
April/May 2008
The Taj Hotel Group, like what seems half of China and the Arabian Peninsula, has been on an American shopping spree of late.
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First Class
Article :
April/May 2008
With oil prices rising daily, it makes sense
that a Persian Gulf airline would be offering the swankiest in-flight service around, but it’s how Qatar Airways rose to the top of the first class that’s so striking.
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Deal-a-Meal
Article :
April/May 2008
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Intel: Not Your Father’s Microchip Company
Article :
April 2008
Intel's venture-capital arm (yes, it has a VC fund) just completed its first round of investment in China and is already gearing up to invest another $500 million over the next several years. Behold, a look at its startling playbook.
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Goldman’s Next Gamble
Article :
April 2008
Unlike other Wall Street firms that are de-leveraging hand over fist, the G-men, as usual, are taking the opposite tack. Case in point: the bank’s adjusted leverage ratio of assets to equity jumped to 18.6 at the end of February from 17.5 at the end of November. Are they just plain crazy – or genius?
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Same Bat Time, Same Bat Place
Article :
April 2008
When an imminent bank blowup threatens to singe the entire global financial system, who gets a call on their bat phone? As it turns out, the heads of all the top institutions around the world, from Dubai to Shanghai – in addition to the usual suspects on Wall Street. But for all this “speakerphone diplomacy,” the real power still lies in the hands of a select few. So, who belongs to the star chamber and who does not? For the answer, look no further than last month’s fateful Easter Sunday and the conference call that heralded the buyout of Bear Stearns. From the New York Times today, an excellent, fly-on-the-wall retelling.
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BHP’s Scorched-Earth Policy
Article :
March 2008
If BHP Billiton was a real-life suitor, we suspect it wouldn’t be the decorous type who would open doors for you and wait patiently for you to return its calls. No, we rather think it would be the kind that overwhelms your answering machine with voicemails and waits on your back porch at night for you to come home after grilling your friends. (Which, if you’re a banker on this deal, is as it should be.) Here, BHP reveals its latest hand – and how it plans to play to win.
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Bear Scare To Drive Off SWFs?
Article :
March 2008
By all accounts, single white females are still spending up a storm, but that other, more discriminating SWF – the sovereign wealth fund – may have had it with the banks after Bear Stearns’s descent into hell. A tale of how one firm narrowly sidestepped disaster.
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Head Butler - Movies - Manufactured Landscapes
Posting :
Jesse Kornbluth
:
03/14/2008
You want to see this movie --- you need to see this movie --- for many reasons, and scale is the first. We talk about global warming and environmental degradation and maybe we see a picture of an ice cap and a polar bear or a giant landfill, but we rarely see how big these things can be.
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Sinosteel’s Big Play
Article :
March 2008
And a hostile play at that. Here’s how China commodities trader Sinosteel finally decided to drop the Mr. Nice Guy routine and swing for the fences in a bid for Australian iron ore company Midwest Corp., valuing the entire enterprise at just over $1.2 billion. Could this mean a change of trend in Chinese dealmaking? Quite possibly, remarks one analyst, who noted: “This is the first time a Chinese partner has actually gone in to take the whole company, and maybe it’s an omen of things to come.”
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HSBC: Bullet Ducked
Article :
March 2008
The biggest bank in Europe by market value showed Wall Street’s titans how it’s truly done, proving that largesse need not lead to large messes in the wake of the subprime debacle. May we present to you the bank’s stellar 2H earnings.
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PE Firms Lowball CICC?
Article :
February 2008
In its planned 34.3% stake sale of Chinese investment bank China International Capital Corp., Morgan Stanley has short-listed three sets of bidders. But here’s the teensy weensy problem: their offers all – what is the technical term? – ah, yes: bite.
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The Trip of a Lifetime for Investors
Posting :
Mark Whistler
:
02/20/2008
Investors seeking to explore the investment possibilities in China might love this journey in April!
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Yahoo’s Trump Card?
Article :
February 2008
Psst. Ever heard of Alibaba.com Corp.? Us neither. But looks like Yahoo’s copious investments in this firm, combined with the rising value of its Yahoo Japan unit, may put a wrench in the works of say, one certain would-be acquirer’s plan to perhaps lowball the Yahoo shares price as part of a takeover offer. Nothing certain yet, but it’s one to watch.
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The Courtship
Article :
February/March 2008
When it came time for Executive Centre CEO Paul Salnikow to find a partner, he turned to Marathon Asset Management, a deep-pocketed tenant who was familiar with his space.
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Blackstone Reprise
Article :
February 2008
Unfazed by the flak it took for sinking $3 billion into Blackstone just before the buyout-stock kerfuffle last year, China Investment Corp. is now in advanced discussions to chuck possibly even more lumber at another darling of the U.S private-equity world.
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Oh Rio, Rio
Article :
February 2008
Her appeal knows no bounds and her rejection is swift. Knocked back by Rio Tinto’s board shortly after offering $147 billion in an all-stock takeover, BHP Billiton will now have to go back to the drawing board. While it may look like curtains for this suitor, here’s why analysts and investors believe BHP isn’t likely to go away empty-handed.
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Her Name Is Rio...
Article :
February 2008
...And she dances on the sand. But none too well, it seems, when it comes to the mating dance. As suitor BHP Billiton casts aside its reservations to launch a sweetened bid for the global mining giant, Rio Tinto appears as elusive as ever. As the hoo-ha builds, an examination of whether BHP even stands a chance, or if Rio – like the dream paramour – lives only to play hard to get.
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Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
Article :
February 2008
Chinese astrologer Tony Tan, a former broker at DBS Securities, made money for his clients during 2007 by telling them Asian equity markets would turn in ``peak performances'' in the Year of the Pig. Guess what he's predicting for 2008, the Year of the Rat?
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