Archive for March, 2009
Big Smiles All Around
By David Feldman at 13 March, 2009, 4:11 pm
It was a good week for those of us who haven’t had too many in quite awhile. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up over nine percent just this week including four up days in a row! Bernie Madoff is in jail! GM may not need another $2 billion after all! Citigroup had a profitable [...]
Read More >>Bernie’s Statement in Court
By David Feldman at 12 March, 2009, 11:30 am
This just came over the AP so I thought I would reprint here:
Your Honor, for many years up until my arrest on December 11, 2008, I operated a Ponzi scheme through the investment advisory side of my business, Bernard L. Madoff Securities LLC, which was located here in Manhattan, New York at 885 Third Avenue. [...]
Madoff Heads to Jail
By David Feldman at 12 March, 2009, 8:44 am
Rest easy, residents of Bernie and Ruth Madoff’s posh Manhattan apartment building. Now admitted criminal Bernard has been ordered to jail immediately. Hopefully he brought his toothbrush in the SUV that took him to court today.
This horrible saga now enters its next phase. Having pled guilty, the parties swear that there is no “deal” in [...]
Armchair Legal Analysis of Schering-J&J Distribution Agreement: The $41 Billion Deal Hinges on This?
By David Feldman at 10 March, 2009, 9:18 am
Sorry guys, this is a little longer than most posts. As mentioned in my previous entry, the Merck-Schering Plough merger is structured as a reverse merger with Schering surviving even though it is the target. This is being done because the parties believe it will not trigger a change in control provision in Schering’s distribution [...]
Read More >>Schering-Merck Plot Biggest Reverse Merger Ever
By David Feldman at 10 March, 2009, 6:37 am
Drug giant Merck is buying other drug giant Schering-Plough for $41.1 billion. This is good news for the beleaguered M&A world, and provides some good news for big pharma. Analysts have generally hailed the move as necessary consolidation given many challenges in the industry even though unfortunately it seems that thousands of jobs may be lost [...]
Read More >>Consumer Spending Contiues to Fall - So What Will the CPG Industry Do?
By David Feldman at 9 March, 2009, 2:51 pm
Consumers have been slashing their spending for the last several months, feeding the already painful recession as millions of households are opting to save rather than buy. Within the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, escalating prices and stagnant wages are also causing consumers across all income levels to be extremely price sensitive, so they are turning to private label and lower-tier brands to save money or are deciding not to purchase items at all. To help retailers and manufacturers succeed in this new environment, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) just released its latest research report that analyzes this industry. The data provides a comprehensive review of which categories are most important to shoppers and which categories are at risk of shoppers trading down and/or trading out.
Read More >>Reverse Merger Tip of the Week: Limited Float
By David Feldman at 7 March, 2009, 6:17 am
Very often post-reverse merger companies have very few shares available to trade. (The number of tradable shares is called the “public float.”) Immediately after the merger, almost all the shares are held by the owners of the formerly private company - call these “owner’s shares.” At least initially, none of these shares can trade. Thus, the trading market is at first limited to those shareholders who held free-trading shares in the shell prior to the merger.
Read More >>A Sector of Optimism
By David Feldman at 7 March, 2009, 6:14 am
African Americans are more optimistic about their financial future over the next year than the general population, but the majority of those responding acknowledge they don’t have a financial game plan and many don’t know where to start. A new survey by The Smiley Group and Nationwide Insurance shows 58% of African Americans expect their household situation to be better a year from now, compared to only 30% of the general population sharing similar optimism.
Read More >>Interesting Evening With Hedge Fund Managers
By David Feldman at 5 March, 2009, 5:03 am
I attended a dinner last night where about 50 extremely smart hedge fund and portfolio managers met for what one described as group therapy. We listened to several incredibly articulate and informed speakers talk about a few key items that were the main take-aways for the evening:
1. The hedge fund model, said one, is broken. [...]
So Where are We? The RM Trends as of the Moment…
By David Feldman at 4 March, 2009, 5:14 am
As I’m writing the second edition of my book, expected to come out later this year, I am looking at current trends in the marketplace. Here are some of them that I am seeing:
1. For the first time, some venture capital firms putting their toes in the water as investors in PIPEs and considering taking [...]
