DEBT FINANCING. U.S. judge rejects an HSBC settlement in Madoff case

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan federal judge rejected HSBC Holdings Plc's proposed $62.5 million (39.2 million pounds) settlement with investors in an Irish fund that lost money in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. In a ruling on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said the accord announced June 7 "is not fair, reasonable or adequate -- even at this preliminary stage" to investors in Thema International Fund Plc. HSBC (HSBA.L) said it had acted as a custodian to the fund, and provided administration and other services. It was sued in January 2009, one month after Madoff's fraud was uncovered. Berman...

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DEBT FINANCING. Exclusive: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in private equity push

ZURICH/DUBAI (Reuters) - The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, among the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, is ramping up its private equity activities after a relatively subdued period over the past two years, sources familiar with the fund's plans said. Staffing within ADIA's private equity department will likely more than double from its current complement of around two dozen, sources said, although no specific allocation targets have been set. "There are significant plans to increase private equity staffing, several industry executives have been approached in the last month," said one source...

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DEBT FINANCING. U.S. regulator defends suit against financial firms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency said on Tuesday it decided to file lawsuits against 17 financial institutions last week because the firms misrepresented the mortgages in securities filings. "At the heart of the suits is FHFA's conclusion that the actual mortgages backing many of the securities had characteristics that differed in a material way from what had been represented in securities filings," the agency, which regulates mortgage firms Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB), said in a statement. The lawsuits filed by FHFA on Friday accused lenders, including...

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DEBT FINANCING. Equity fund slump spreads to Germany in August

LONDON (Reuters) - A sharp sell-off in European equities last month extended to funds invested in Germany, the continent's economic powerhouse and often seen as a relative safe haven, with German funds propping up the bottom of the table, Lipper data showed. Worries Germany may have to pick up the tab for the euro zone debt crisis, alongside selling of the country's many cyclical stocks, meant three of the 10 worst-performers were German funds, according to the data, which tracks 3,000-plus equity funds registered for sale in Britain. Jyske Invest's German Equities fund fell 19.66 percent, while...

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DEBT FINANCING. EU watchdog to study "empty voting" at meetings

LONDON (Reuters) - European Union regulators followed their U.S. counterparts on Wednesday by looking into "empty voting", a tactic used by activist hedge funds and other investors to influence company meetings. Empty voting refers to borrowing shares in order to vote in shareholder meetings, even though the holder has no economic interest at stake. It could involve an investment bank who bought shares to hedge a derivatives position. The bank won't lose money if the shares fall in value but can still vote. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), an EU regulator, launched a call...

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DEBT FINANCING. Terra Firma back in court over EMI deal

LONDON (Reuters) - Guy Hands' private equity firm Terra Firma has asked British courts for documents it could use to challenge the process by which it lost music group EMI to Citigroup, two people familiar with the matter said. EMI sought insolvency protection in February -- weeks before a debt covenant test it was expected to fail -- and the administration process, undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers, handed the business to sole lender Citigroup (C.N). Terra Firma has been trying unsuccessfully to get access from both Citigroup and PWC to documents providing a valuation of EMI at the time of...

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DEBT FINANCING. Funds see Europe recession in next year - BoA Merrill

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's sovereign debt and banking crisis is expected to push the region into recession over the next 12 months, and most investors do not expect higher U.S. interest rates until 2013, a survey showed on Tuesday. The monthly survey taken by Bank of America Merrill Lynch from September 1 to 8 showed 55 percent of European fund managers see Europe suffering two quarters of negative gross domestic product growth. That compares with only 14 percent in July. "It's not very often you see such an explicit comment on just a single region, but that's what we've got this time," said...

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DEBT FINANCING. Change of guard in the ETF industry?

LONDON (Reuters) - The European exchange-traded-fund (ETF) industry has shown some resilience in the face of questions about management practices raised by market observers like the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and regulatory bodies like the FSA in the UK. The European ETF segment grew by 7.74 percent over the first seven month of 2011, with assets under management up by 17.20 billion euros (15 billion pounds) to reach 239.37 billion. This has come as some critics have characterised ETFs as a systemic risk for financial markets, due to the use of swaps to replicate the underlying index. Another...

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DEBT FINANCING. EXCLUSIVE Blackstone land Broadgate share sale

LONDON (Reuters) - Blackstone Group is expected to Broadgate sell its 50 percent stake on London development for up to 600 million pounds in the year 2012, possibly a thicker return on investment, crops, said two sources. The US private-equity firm, one of the largest property investors in the world, is in the early stages of the anchoring of interest from selected global pension funds and at least a SWF, familiar with the matter, a source said. Swiss Bank UBS (UBSN.)(VX) (UBS).(N), which said on Thursday, a trader had lost over $2 billion in unauthorized deals, is the largest tenant in Broadgate,...

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DEBT FINANCING. In Hungary, the Jobless Go to Labor Camp

A labor brigade in Gyöngyöspata Bela Doka for Bloomberg Businessweek By Carol Matlack and András Gergely Wielding scythes and pitchforks, about 30 men and women hack through brambles on a hillside above the Hungarian village of Gyöngyöspata. With the nearest road more than a half mile away, workers have to hike in with food and water for the day. For bathroom and lunch breaks, they duck into a thicket that offers the only shade in the 98F heat. “It’s degrading to work in these conditions,” says...

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DEBT FINANCING. European Stocks Fall, Insiders Buy

As Europe’s sovereign debt crisis worsens, executives are showing faith in their own companies, purchasing more stock in them than at any time since the worst period of the 2008 financial meltdown. ...

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DEBT FINANCING. French Towns Suffer as the Swiss Franc Soars

The Swiss National Bank has said it will aim to keep the value of the franc from rising above 1.2 to the euro Alamy By Hélène Fouquet Saint Cast, a sleepy French coastal town in Brittany with 19th-century mansions and a mile-long white, sandy beach, restructured €3.6 million ($5.1 million) of debt in July 2007. The lender, a unit of Belgian bank Dexia, offered what seemed like a good deal: an interest rate of 3.99 percent—as long as the value of the Swiss franc, then trading at 1.6 to the...

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DEBT FINANCING. Exit the Euro Zone? Think Before You Leap

“The euro area is a community that shares the same destiny” —ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg; Trichet quote: Aachener Zeitung, May 27, 2011 By Carol Matlack and Jeff Black “Everything must be done to keep the euro zone together.” That was Chancellor Angela Merkel speaking on German radio on Sept. 13 as she denied reports that Germany was preparing for Greece’s exit from the monetary union. That the leader of Europe’s biggest economy must dampen speculation of a breakup...

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DEBT FINANCING. EU Credit Markets, Bail-In, Container Shipping

Zynga IPO Outlook July 7 (Bloomberg) -- Michael Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at July 7 (Bloomberg) -- Michael Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at YCMNet Advisors, Bob Rice, general managing partner at Tangent Capital Partners LLC, Paul Martino, managing director at Bullpen Capital, and Paul Bard, director of research at Renaissance Capital LLC, talk about Zynga Inc.'s plan to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering and the outlook for the company. (Excerpts. Source: Bloombe...

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DEBT FINANCING. Europe Rules Out Stimulus, Skips Bank Aid

September 16, 2011, 6:22 PM EDT By James G. Neuger and Rebecca Christie Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- European finance ministers ruled out efforts to spur the faltering economy and showed no signs of taking up a proposal by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to increase the firepower of the debt crisis rescue fund. Inviting Geithner to a euro meeting for the first time, the European finance chiefs said the 18-month debt crisis leaves no room for tax cuts or extra spending to spur an economy on the brink of stagnation. “We have slightly different views from time to time with our U.S. colleagues...

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DEBT FINANCING. Euro Strengthens on ECB Lending Offer, Merkel, Sarkozy Backing

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The euro rose against the dollar for the first time in three weeks after the European Central Bank said it will lend dollars to euro-area banks, tempering liquidity concern amid the region’s sovereign debt crisis. The 17-nation currency pared its five-day gain yesterday as finance ministers from euro-zone nations meeting in Poland failed to inspire confidence in measures to control debt problems. Canada’s dollar rose against all of its most-traded counterparts on speculation the nation’s fiscal condition will attract investors during market turmoil. The Dollar Index fell...

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DEBT FINANCING. Billionaire Cisneros to Buy Spanish Assets

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan billionaire Gustavo Cisneros said he’s looking to buy Spanish companies as the European debt crisis drives down asset valuations. Cisneros, the chairman of Cisneros Group of Companies, said he’s considering purchasing exporters, manufacturers and media companies in Spain, where he sees “immense opportunities.” “I’ve been wanting to do a lot of things in Spain for a long time, but the price has been too high,” Cisneros, 66, said yesterday at the Bloomberg Markets 50 Summit in New York tied to the magazine’s ranking of the most influential leaders in global markets,...

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DEBT FINANCING. Britain Tries for a Second Industrial Revolution

GM's van plant in Luton, England, is operating flat out Frantzesco Kangaris/Bloomberg By Jennifer Ryan and Stanley Reed Mark Stein, manager of General Motors’ Vauxhall van plant in Luton, 29 miles north of London, starts presentations with an aerial photo of the site in 1965. It shows a vast complex of buildings that employed more than 35,000 workers. He points to a small red circle in the picture. That’s where GM’s current factory is. It employs 1,500. Making stuff has dwindled from nearly...

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DEBT FINANCING. Angola and Brazil Are Buying Portuguese Companies

Four centuries ago, seafaring Portugal was at the height of its economic power, thanks in no small part to its exploitation of Brazil and Angola. The Portuguese were voracious consumers of Angolan slaves, arming Africans with guns and shackles to capture members of rival tribes. The slaves ended up working and dying on the plantations and in the mines of Brazil and the Portuguese-owned islands off Africa. Today, Portugal is a ward of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. Brazil is the world’s seventh-biggest economy (Portugal, at last count, was No. 38) and Angola, Sub-Saharan...

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DEBT FINANCING. University education is increasing on average 4.3%.

The average tuition at the Canadian universities rose nearly 40 percent above the rate of inflation, by 4.3 percent for full-time students in Bachelor's programs this year, Statistics Canada reported Friday. The average tuition was $5,366 for the academic year 2011 / 2012, compared with $5.146 a year earlier, and that was a 4.0 Percent increase from 2009 / 10. From July 2010 to the same month last year, the consumer price index was 2.7 per cent. Tuition increased in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, where they have frozen since 2003 / 2004. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had frozen...

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DEBT FINANCING. UBS rogue trader was charged with

Alleged renegade trader accused Swiss banks lose huge UBS over $2 billion in illicit trade fraud and accounting fraud, was indicted Friday and told a London Court are displayed. London police said that 31-year-old Kweku Adoboli would appear at a court in the British capital on Friday. "He remains in police custody and the city of London magistrates appear this afternoon," said the Police Department in a statement. An investigation, the financial market authority's financial services authority, the serious fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service was further said. Kweku Adoboli leaves the...

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DEBT FINANCING. U.S. recession fears grow

New data on the U.S. economy released Thursday added to fears Canada’s biggest export market may be headed into recession. The number of Americans making claims for first-time jobless benefits climbed to the highest level in three months last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Filings rose 11,000 to 428,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose for the fourth straight week to 419,500, the highest level in eight weeks. Applications need to fall below 375,000 to show that hiring is increasing enough to lower the unemployment rate. They haven't been below that level since...

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DEBT FINANCING. Some BlackBerry users were affected by a failure

A day at research in motion stock was punished by investors, so the company that some customers were technical problems with their BlackBerry devices. Messenger services reported problems with e-Mail and BlackBerry customers. "Some Canada & LatAm-BBM problems inform customers," tweeted RIM. "Look at our support teams." "We apologize for any inconvenience." Customers of Rogers Communications, Bell Mobility and WIND Mobile has also been reported that will be affected. SaskTel published also a note on his Facebook page, the customer of the error. The problem was shares RIM sold heavily Friday,...

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DEBT FINANCING. Rogers asked to fix game throttling problem

Rogers acknowledged in a Sept. 2 letter that games and other applications could be unintentionally slowed down under some circumstances by equipment used to prioritize certain types of internet traffic over others. Danny Moloshok/Reuters The CRTC has asked Rogers to "address and resolve" a problem that may result in online video games being unintentionally slowed down on its network. Rogers should file a plan by Sept. 27 for resolving the problem, Canada's telecommunications regulator said in a letter sent by email Friday to Ken Thomson, Rogers's director and counsel for copyright and broadband...

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DEBT FINANCING. RIM shares fall on weaker earnings

RIM-3-month chart Shares of research in motion decreased on Friday, a day after a financial results disappointing. RIM, concluded from $5.90, or 20 percent to $23.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Friday. After the end of regular trading on Thursday, RIM said its second quarter results for the three months Aug. 31, after taking into account the cost of slashing 2,000 jobs from its workforce and as sales slipped on lower than expected sales of smartphones and tablets 58 percent to 329 million US$...

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DEBT FINANCING. Mutual fund sales plummet in August

The sale of mutual funds plummeted in August as Canadians held off on investing in them due to the turmoil in the stock market. The Investment Funds Institute of Canada reported Thursday that sales exceeded redemptions by $205 million last month, a 64 per cent drop from net sales of $566 million in July. Net sales fell 33 per cent from $306 million a year earlier. Investors moved into bond funds, with sales rising to $1.26 billion from $99.8 million in July. S&P/TSX composite index 3-month chart Stock fund sales tumbled sharply, the industry organization said, reporting $1.6 billion in redemptions...

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DEBT FINANCING. IMF chief warns global recovery in danger

The head of the International Monetary Fund repeated Thursday her warning that the global economy is in a "dangerous new phase," and called for coordinated action by governments in the face of a slowing global economy and a deepening European debt crisis. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde also called on European countries to get their spending under control and for banks in the region to ensure they have enough cash on their balance sheets for emergencies. Her comments came after the European Central Bank unveiled plans to lend American dollars to banks in three operations to be conducted...

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DEBT FINANCING. Greek bailout loan decision pushed to October

Partner will delay until October its decision on a stack of bailout loans needed to Athens said from a disastrous bankruptcy, the head of the Finance Ministers of the euro zone group Friday payout Greece international rescue. The announcement at the meeting in Wroclaw, Poland, was yet another example of Europe's last on the nearly two years to solve the crisis of too much government debt in some countries. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had the amenities-a first for the finances of U.S. boss - dominated by the increasingly like the United States the global impact of the crisis of the euro...

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DEBT FINANCING. Ford plant closure mourned by St. Thomas, Ontario

Ford plant worker Dennis McGee thought he had "died and gone to heaven" when he collected his first paycheque of $325 in 1978, but now McGee and hundreds of other employees are bidding farewell to the employer that has been the economic backbone of the southwestern Ontario community of St. Thomas for 44 years. The last sedan rolls off the assembly line Thursday, throwing McGee and the last of the about 1,100 employees out of work at the factory that had 3,600 workers a decade ago. The closure was announced in 2009, as the North American auto industry was taking a battering, but hope prevailed...

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DEBT FINANCING. Flaherty urges more private innovation expenditure

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty called for Canada's private sector more money in research and development to pumps. "Frankly, we have unacceptably low support for R & D and innovation in many parts of the Canadian private sector" said in his prepared remarks Flaherty a Friday speech to the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario "Everyone in this room - and most out of it in the today's Canada - white, that the global economy, the we now compete increasingly with new ideas and knowledge-based industries," he said. "Despite this global reality, Canada lags other Nations in total expenditure...

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DEBT FINANCING. Ex PQ leader joins Questerre Energy

Canada's shale gas industry is turning to another Quebec political heavyweight to bolster its case for further exploration. Alberta-based Questerre Energy has appointed former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair as an advisor to its board. The company was running shale gas exploration projects in Quebec when the province's Liberal government, under growing public pressure, announced a two-year moratorium on new developments. Boisclair's "knowledge of Quebec culture" makes him a valuable advisor on "socio-political considerations" in the province, Questerre Energy said in a news release. Boisclair...

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DEBT FINANCING. Air Canada flight attendants serve strike notice

Flight attendants have informed their strike Air Canada and off the job already could be Wednesday. The communication provided a federal mediator call Friday night, and provides the clock is ticking for a showdown between 6,000 flight attendants and Air Canada (TSX: AC.)(A). It is still possible, that can achieve an agreement both sides, avoiding a strike or lock-out Canada's largest airline. The flight attendants are represented by a branch of the Canadian Union of public servants that are in the legal strike location about 12: 00 pm Wednesday. They were also 72 hours of their intention to strike,...

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DEBT FINANCING. Home prices show August increase

Canadians paid 7.7 per cent more for sales of existing homes in August than they did in the same month last year, a real estate group said Thursday. In its monthly report, the Canadian Real Estate Association said the average sale price for an existing home rose to $349,916 last month from $324,992 in August 2010. CREA president Gary Morse said the market remained on a "firm footing in August when compared to volatile financial markets." CREA said the national average price has actually moderated compared to earlier this year, with Vancouver's sales activity — and more recently Toronto's — exerting...

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DEBT FINANCING. Book: Treasury Secretary Ignored Obama Directive

A new book offering an insider's account of the White House's response to the financial crisis says that U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner ignored an order from President Barack Obama calling for reconstruction of major banks. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind, the incident is just one of several in which Obama struggled with a divided group of advisers, some of whom he didn't initially consider for their high-profile roles. Suskind interviewed more than 200 people, including Obama, Geithner and other top officials for Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and The Education...

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