JP Morgan and Citigroup contributed to Lehman’s collapse, says US examiner

Bloomberg

Published: 9:52PM GMT 11 Mar 2010

Lehman tumbled into its $639 billion bankruptcy, the biggest in US history,
because it didn’t have enough liquidity and lost the confidence of its
counterparties, according to a 2,200-page report from Anton Valukas, the US
Trustee-appointed examiner.

By changing guarantee agreements and making new demands for collateral, JP
Morgan and Citigroup helped to precipitate the liquidity crisis that doomed
Lehman, Mr Valukas said. “The demands for collateral by Lehman’s lenders had
direct impact on Lehman’s liquidity pool,” he said. “Lehman’s available
liquidity is central to the question of why Lehman failed.”

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Goldman Sachs will not commit to future bonus cuts

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Goldman Sachs will not commit to cutting compensation, despite a surprise
reduction in pay for executives, including Lloyd Blankfein, the global head
of the bank.

The Wall Street bank paid Mr Blankfein, the chairman and chief executive a $9
million (£5.8 million) bonus in restricted stock for 2009, despite reporting
a record $13.4 billon net profit.

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Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein awarded $9m bonus

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By James Quinn, US Business Editor

Published: 11:52PM GMT 05 Feb 2010

Goldman’s board allocated Lloyd Blankfein, the investment bank’s chairman and
chief executive, 58,381 restricted share units, worth $8.99m. Gary Cohn,
chief operating officer, and David Viniar, chief financial officer, were
given the same amount.

Mr Blankfein’s all-share bonus, which cannot be converted into shares until
next year at the earliest and cannot be sold before January 2015, is
significantly less than the $67.9m he was awarded for 2007. A Goldman
spokesman said: “The board was mindful of that difficult environment in
making decisions about executive compensation.”

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Cadbury top bosses to step down

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The three men at the top of Cadbury have all announced their resignations following Kraft Foods’ takeover of the chocolate maker.Chairman Roger Carr, chief executive Todd Stitzer and chief financial officer Andrew Bonfield are all to step down, Cadbury said. US firm Kraft sealed its takeover on Tuesday after Cadbury shareholders voted in favour of the deal. For months, Cadbury had rejected a hostile bid from Kraft. In January, the board approved an increased bid of £11.5bn ($18.9bn) and advised shareholders to accept it, saying it offered “good value”. ‘Deep purple’Mr Stitzer, who has been with the company for 27 years, said: “I wish [Kraft chief executive] Irene Rosenfeld and her team every success in taking Cadbury and its brands forward. “I will now be taking some time out with my family to consider my future options, but you can be sure my heart will always be a deep Cadbury purple.” Mr Stitzer, who became chief executive in 2003, is expected to leave with a package that could be worth up to £20m. Mr Carr said: “Together we have fought an excellent defence campaign and delivered substantial value to Cadbury shareholders. “In handing over to Irene Rosenfeld I wish her the very best as she takes on responsibility for continuing to build and develop what is indisputably one of the world’s greatest brands.” The dates when all three will officially leave the company have yet to be decided.

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Cadbury executives exit hours after deal closes

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Cadbury’s top management, which sold the 189-year old British confectioner to
America’s Kraft Foods for £11.4 billion, has announced they will leave the
business just 24 hours after shareholders voted in favour of the takeover.

Roger Carr, the chairman of Cadbury, who forced Kraft to increase its offer to
850p a share, Todd Stitzer, the company’s chief executive, Andrew Bonfield,
the and chief financial officer, said this afternoon that they will step
down following the deal.

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French giant misled its investors

French media giant Vivendi will have to pay damages that could total millions of dollars after a US jury found that it misled investors.The jury agreed with a civil lawsuit brought by Vivendi investors that accused the company of exaggerating its financial health in 2001 and 2002. However, former Vivendi bosses Jean-Marie Messier and Guillaume Hannezo were found not liable. Vivendi said it would appeal against the verdict. Share fallThe case centred on Vivendi’s financial state between October 2000 and August 2002, during which time its shares lost about 90% of their value following a merger with French television group Canal+ and the acquisition of Universal Studios from Canadian company Seagram. Mr Messier was chief executive at the time, while Mr Hannezo was chief financial officer. Both have subsequently left the company. The jury in New York took three weeks to come to its decision, after a trial that started in October. Vivendi’s wide range of media businesses include computer games firm Activision, which makes the popular Guitar Hero series.

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Bob Kelly out of the running for Bank of America job

By James Quinn

Published: 12:20AM GMT 15 Dec 2009

Mr Kelly was thought to have been very interested in the top job at the
banking conglomerate – especially after it repaid the $45bn it owed
the US Treasury a fortnight ago - but told staff in a memo last nightthat he
is staying put at BoNY Mellon.

Having dismissed approaches by BoA’s board back in October, Mr Kelly was
again approached by BoA’s board earlier this month, an approach which
he was initially understood to have responded warmly to.

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Cazenove eyes Europe after £2bn buyout deal

By Helia Ebrahimi

Published: 9:40PM GMT 19 Nov 2009

“There is still work to be done here,” says 46-year-old Mr Kheraj,
who was parachuted in to be chief executive prior to the sale. He was put in
place only last year by JP Morgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon to ensure the US
financial giant acquired the half of the joint venture it did not already
own.

Now, Mr Kheraj says, JP Morgan has set its sights on becoming Europe’s top
investment bank. The former Barclays chief financial officer says the
rebranding to JP Morgan Cazenove of all of the equities business across
Europe showed that JP Morgan recognised the success of Cazenove’s franchise
in the UK.

“If you spoke to the most important institutions they would put us right
at the top,” he said. “What JP Morgan would like is that all of
their European business was the best. They want to have that top ranking in
Europe and they don’t and Cazenove doesn’t either. We are one, two or three
in all UK numbers, but in Europe we are mid-teen ranked. The plan now has to
be becoming Europe’s number one – the top tier bank in Europe.”

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Postal company TNT suffers mixed fortunes in UK strike

By Roland Gribben

Published: 6:33PM GMT 02 Nov 2009

Its express business is picking up customers in Britain but its postal
operation is suffering because it depends on the Royal Mail for final
delivery.

TNT, one of the mail business eager to take a stake in Royal Mail before the
Government about turn on a partial flotation, believes it will end up
benefiting from the disruption in Britain.

Henk van Dalen, chief financial officer, said that while the strikes were
creating difficulties in the short-term “in the long-term customers
might switch to TNT because they think Royal Mail isn’t reliable”.

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Citigroup suffers thirdquarter loss fuelled by consumer debt

By James Quinn, US Business Editor

Published: 9:34PM BST 15 Oct 2009

The bank – which has made more than $100bn (£61.5bn) of write-downs since the
financial crisis began – announced a pre-tax loss of $529m for the three
months to the end of September, after reporting a $5.3bn profit in the
second quarter.

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