Friday, December 21, 2007

Merrill Lynch to get $5 billion

The sovereign wealth funds are at it again, this time with Mother Merrill. A few billion here and there and pretty soon we are talking real money. Bernanke's reluctance to cut rates has made these investors his best friend!
  • UBS $11.5 billion $9.5 from Singapore and $2 billion from an unnamed Middle Eastern investor
  • Citigroup $7.5 billion from Abu Dhabi
  • Morgan Stanley $5 billion from China Investment Corp (CIC)
  • Merrill Lynch $5 billion from Singapore's Temasek
But three months ago, when no-one talked about the sovereign wealth funds investments, you had that information here, when they first started picking up the exchanges.

Dubai said it would take a 19.9% stake in the Nasdaq exchange, and the 28% stake in the London Stock Exchange (LSE); then NDAQ would get the Nordic exchange (OMX). But during trading yesterday Qatar spent $1.37 billion buying 20% of the LSE, and $470 million to take down 10% of the OMX, trying to scuttle Dubai's plans. Do you think these sovereign wealth funds are buying stock exchanges if they're not bullish?Abhu Dubai's investment arm, Mubadala Development Co. picked up a 7.5% stake in Carlyle Group for $1.35 billion. Those that think the money from oil just flows into gilded palaces better reasses this global economy. And consider the impact of this money on equity prices around the world.

http://aaronandmoses.blogspot.com/2007/09/sovereign-wealth-funds.html
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 21, 2007 at 12:17 AM

    You might want to read this article:

    http://www.minyanville.com/articles/banks-subprime-crunch-credtit-supply/index/a/15287

    Always good to have a balanced view of what is going on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 21, 2007 at 12:18 AM

    Sorry. Here it is:

    http://www.minyanville.com/
    articles/banks-subprime-crunch
    -credtit-supply/index/a/15287

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 21, 2007 at 12:23 AM

    The Greater Fool.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PalmoniDecember 21, 2007 at 7:45 AM

    Much of the damage could of been averted if Bernanke had cut rates much more forcefully. It's not just the 50 basis points (25 basis each meeting) but the confidence it would have engendered. And confidence is the greatest precursor of this "credit" cris.

    ReplyDelete