| CATEGORY: INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES |
US paper round-up: Citigroup, Pfizer, Hershey |
|
Thu 10 Dec 2009
|
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Citigroup is in advanced talks with regulators over plans to raise more than $15bn in an equity offering, in an effort to repay $20bn in bail-out funds as early as Thursday. People close to the situation said that Citigroup was also planning to raise around $2bn of mandatory convertible securities – a new form of security that converts into equity when a bank’s capital ratio falls below a predetermined level, says the FT.
Pfizer's takeover of Wyeth and Merck's acquisition of Schering-Plough, are two of at least nine transactions under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible insider-trading violations, people familiar with the matter said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
President Obama is summoning the chiefs of a dozen big banks to a White House meeting Monday to press them to do more for the economy, even as many of the firms are striving to get out from under the government's thumb. He may also address the continuing firestorm over excessive executive pay, reports the Washington Post.
Hershey and the philanthropic trust that controls it are nearing a final decision on whether to bid on candy maker Cadbury, said several people familiar with the matter. The two sides—Hershey management and the trust's board—are tilting toward making a bid but haven't made a final decision, these people said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The number of homeowners on the brink of foreclosure fell in November, the fourth straight monthly decline, as mortgage companies evaluated whether borrowers were eligible for help. Nearly 307,000 households, or one in every 417 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice in November, down 8% from a month earlier, RealtyTrac said Thursday, reports USA Today.
Apple, the company that restructured the music industry around its iTunes service, is exploring an overhaul of the way it sells and stores music that is aimed at extending its influence to the Web, according to people briefed on the strategy, writes the Wall Street Journal.
The Treasury Department formally extended the life of the controversial $700-billion bailout fund to October, saying it planned to sharply scale back use of the money, even as a government audit found the program lost $41.4 billion in the last fiscal year, says the LA Times.
Only 1,487 of the roughly 16,000 direct investors victimized by Bernard Madoff have received payment for their reimbursement claims, as the first anniversary of his infamous Ponzi scheme nears. And more than one in four of Madoff's burned investors still await decisions on their repayment claims, even as 1,647 claims have been allowed and 9,916 have been denied, according to USA Today.
In a dramatic twist, a federal judge on Wednesday cleared Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli of a criminal charge of lying to investigators in a probe of improper accounting at the Irvine microchip designer, writes the LA Times.
A group led by a former president of Republic Bank of Chicago said it has received state and federal approval to buy troubled Valley Community Bank of St. Charles. Barrington-based Artisan Financial, led by former Republic executive Jim Adkins, plans to invest about $12m into the $170.5m-asset bank, reports the Chicago Tribune.
|
|
| |
|
 |
Archived Stories |
 |
|
Front Page Stories |
|
|
