JPMorgan to Buy Bear for $2 a Share-zt

晨叶韭绿

JPMorgan to Buy Bear for $2 a Share
Sunday March 16, 9:57 pm ET
By Joe Bel Bruno and Madlen Read, AP Business Writers
JPMorgan Says It Will Buy Ailing Bear Stearns for Fire-Sale $2 a Share

NEW YORK (AP) -- Just four days after Bear Stearns Chief Executive Alan Schwartz assured Wall Street that his company was not in trouble, he was forced on Sunday to sell the investment bank to competitor JPMorgan Chase for a bargain-basement price of $2 a share, or $236.2 million.

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The stunning last-minute buyout was aimed at averting a Bear Stearns bankruptcy and a spreading crisis of confidence in the global financial system sparked by the collapse in the subprime mortgage market. Bear Stearns was the most exposed to risky bets on the loans; it is now the first major bank to be undone by that market's collapse.

The Federal Reserve and the U.S. government swiftly approved the all-stock buyout, showing the urgency of completing the deal before world markets opened. The Fed also essentially made the takeover risk-free by saying it would guarantee up to $30 billion of the troubled mortgage and other assets that got the nation's fifth-largest investment bank into trouble.

"This is going to go down in very historic terms," said Peter Dunay, chief investment strategist for New York-based Meridian Equity Partners. "This is about credit being overextended, and how bad it is for major financial institutions and for individuals. This is why we're probably heading into a recession."

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it will guarantee all business -- such as trading and investment banking -- until Bear Stearns' shareholders approve the deal, which is expected to be completed during the second quarter. The acquisition includes Bear Stearns' midtown Manhattan headquarters.

JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Michael Cavanaugh did not say what would happen to Bear Stearns' 14,000 employees worldwide or whether the 85-year-old Bear Stearns name would live on after surviving the Great Depression, two World Wars and a slew of recessions. He told analysts and investors on a conference call that JPMorgan was most interested in buying Bear Stearns' prime brokerage business, which completes trades for big investors such as hedge funds.

At almost the same time as the deal for control of Bear Stearns was announced, the Federal Reserve said it approved a cut in its lending rate to banks to 3.25 percent from 3.50 percent and created another lending facility for big investment banks. The central bank's official meeting is on Tuesday. Before the emergency move to lower the discount rate, which is the rate at which banks lend each other money, the Fed was widely expected to again cut its headline rate by as much as a full point to 2 percent.

"Having taking Bear Stearns out of the problem category, and the strong action by the Federal Reserve, we would anticipate the market will behave quite differently on Monday than it was Thursday or Friday," Cavanaugh said.

Some analysts expected it to be a brutal day for global stocks, nevertheless. Shortly after the news broke, Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index plunged more than 3 percent in morning trading.

A bankruptcy protection filing of Bear Stearns could have heightened anxiety in world financial markets amid a deepening credit crunch. So far, global banks have written down some $200 billion worth of securities slammed amid the credit crisis -- more write-downs could come. Last week, a bond fund controlled by private equity firm Carlyle Group faltered near collapse because of investments linked to mortgage-backed securities.

JPMorgan's acquisition of Bear Stearns represents roughly 1 percent of what the investment bank was worth just 16 days ago. It marked a 93.3 percent discount to Bear Stearns' market capitalization as of Friday, and roughly a 98.8 percent discount to its book value as of Feb. 29.

"The past week has been an incredibly difficult time for Bear Stearns," Schwartz said in a statement. "This represents the best outcome for all of our constituencies based upon the current circumstances."

Wall Street analysts say the bid to rescue Bear Stearns was more than just saving one of the world's largest investments banks -- it was a prop for the U.S. economy and the global financial system. An outright failure would cause huge losses for banks, hedge funds and other investors to which Bear Stearns is connected.

After days of denials that it had liquidity problems, Bear was forced into a JPMorgan-led, government-backed bailout on Friday. The arrangement, the first of its kind since the 1930s, resulted in Bear getting a 28-day loan from JPMorgan with the government's guarantee that JPMorgan would not suffer any losses on the deal.

This is not the first time Bear Stearns has earned a place in Wall Street history. A decade ago, Bear Stearns refused to help bail out a hedge fund that was deemed "too big to fail." On Friday, the tables had turned, with the now-struggling investment bank in need of the same kind of aid.

Bear Stearns was founded in 1923 and in recent years was best known for its aggressive investing in mortgage-backed securities -- and what was once a cash cow turned into the investment bank's undoing.

In June, two Bear-managed hedge funds worth billions of dollars collapsed. The funds were heavily invested in securities backed by subprime mortgages. Until that point, subprime mortgage-backed securities were immensely popular with investors because of their profitability.

The funds' demise and subsequent problems in the credit markets called into question Bear Stearns' ability to manage its own risk and the leadership ability of then-Chief Executive James Cayne. Critics of the company said Cayne spent too much time away from the office last year playing golf and bridge as the problems unfolded.

Cayne is the same executive who refused to let Bear Stearns provide support as part of a Federal Reserve-led plan to rescue Long-Term Capital Management in 1998. His reticence was said to deeply anger some of his fellow Wall Street CEOs, and the episode came up every time Bear was reported to be in trouble in recent months.

Cayne took over from the legendary Alan "Ace" Greenberg in 1993. Greenberg joined Bear Stearns as a clerk, working his way up through the ranks to eventually take over as CEO in 1978. Greenberg was known for his irreverent style, and his regular memos to employees were turned into a book called "Memos from the Chairman."

Before Greenberg's ascendancy to CEO, Bear Stearns began to expand from its New York roots throughout the 1950s and 1960s, opening international offices and expanding its U.S. operations.

AP Business Writers Jeannine Aversa in Washington and Stephen Bernard contributed to this story.

晨叶韭绿

it closed at $30 last Friday.. and Thursday closed at $59...

Was a 60-70 stock, down to $2 in less than 2 business day.

晨叶韭绿

贝尔斯登流动性恶化可能易主 美联储出手援助

http://www.sina.com.cn 2008年03月17日 02:34

中国证券报-中证网

　　次贷危机再次来袭

　　本报记?陈刚 黄继汇

　　就在标准普尔公司发表报告指出因为次级抵押贷款造成的美国金融减计风潮已经基本过去的第二天，美国第5大投资银行贝尔斯登公司总裁艾伦•施瓦茨(Alan Schwartz)14日表示，在过去24小时里公司资金的流动性严重恶化。

　　当天，美国联邦储备委员会在紧急会议上决定，让纽约联邦储备银行通过摩根大通银行向贝尔斯登公司提供应急资金。贝尔斯登周五收盘暴跌47%，跌至30美元的八年半低点。这也导致当天纽约股市大跌，三大股指的跌幅均超过1.5%。

　　当次级抵押贷款风波暂时趋于平静的时候，贝尔斯登爆出的消息让市场吃惊，投资者担心目前披露的问题仍然只是冰山一角。

　　贝尔斯登出了什么问题

　　“贝尔斯登的问题用直白的话来讲就是现金短缺，”纽约国际集团总裁本杰明•卫向记者介绍说,“贝尔斯登是美国的优先级市场交易商(primary dealer)，公司管理着大量的客户资产，同时为大批中小型券商提供担保和清算服务。根据美国证券交易委员会的规定，从事资产清算的公司必须拥有足够的现金作为保证金，而贝尔斯登的问题是其手中的现金无法满足需要。如果不是纽约联储出手挽救贝尔斯登，那么14日早晨的结果就是贝尔斯登公司宣布倒闭然后进行清算。”本杰明•卫说。

　　贝尔斯登陷入危机的根源是其大量涉足抵押担保证券市场。在去年次级贷款危机爆发之初，贝尔斯登旗下的两只基金成为了华尔街金融机构中首批遭到冲击而被迫清盘的基金。

　　美联储为何出手

　　“最近市场上的传言成为了现实，大家认为贝尔斯登可能还会出现问题，但是谁也没想到问题这么严重，”中国银行(5.14,-0.06,-1.15%, 吧)纽约分行第一副总裁朱青浦告诉记者，“如果是一般性的金融机构，美联储可能不会出手相助，但是贝尔斯登不同，它在债券市场和证券市场具有特殊的重要性。”

　　作为美国第5大投资银行，贝尔斯登除了普通投资银行业务外，还在美国债券市场上扮演着重要的角色。在所有的美国投资银行中，贝尔斯登在债券市场一直以 “聪明的交易者”著称，其交易规模在投资银行中名列前茅。公司大量从事抵押担保(mortgage-backed securities business)证券和交易业务。

　　由于贝尔斯登管理着大量的客户资产，为大批中小型市场交易商提供担保和清算业务。如果贝尔斯登因为流动性枯竭而倒闭的话，美国债券市场将会受到冲击，大批中小型交易商将因为无法清算而无法正常运行，如果数以百万的投资者资金将因为无法清算而处于冻结状态，市场将无法正常交易。

　　“贝尔斯登倒闭给金融市场带来的冲击太大，清算则是更为复杂，美联储不希望金融市场出现更大的动荡，它没有别的选择。”朱青浦说。

　　能否被挽救

　　由于贝尔斯登不具有商业银行资格，无法从美联储的贴现窗口直接获取资金。美联储决定让纽约联储通过摩根大通银行向贝尔斯登提供应急资金。这也是自1929年大萧条以来，美联储第一次向非商业银行提供应急资金。

　　这笔应急资金的金额目前无法得知，美联储官员表示，资金的规模要根据贝尔斯登能够提供的抵押物价值来决定。

　　应急资金的贴现利率为3.5%，借款时间为28天。这意味着，在28天内贝尔斯登需要使出浑身解数来自救，否则它将面临被收购或者清盘的命运。

　　“贝尔斯登很可能会被其他公司收购。据了解，在14日的交易中贝尔斯登在大量抛售自己公司的股票。”本杰明•卫告诉记者。

　　在次级抵押贷款爆发之初，曾经有人预言次贷危机会导致华尔街的金融机构破产，现在看起来这并非耸人听闻。

晨叶韭绿

3/27/08,

现在11元， 大起大落的。。看呆了， 没敢碰