Associated Press | Illinois financial officials want every child
born in the state to have a savings account. Robin Kelly, chief of
staff for Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, has launched a task force to
study the issue.
Filed under: Investing
Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Illinois wants every child to have savings account
Calamos CEO pay drops 32%
By Becky Yerak | Naperville-based
Calamos Asset Management Inc., which manages $32.7 billion in client
funds, paid Chief Executive John Calamos more than $3.4 million in
2009, down from nearly $5 million in 2008.
Calamos, who is also chairman and co-chief investment officer, earned
$250,000 in salary, $984,011 in stock awards, more than $1.9 million in
cash incentive compensation, and $307,385 in “other” compensation. That
included $223,428 for personal use of the company’s leased private
aircraft.
401(k) pain continues, Hewitt reports
From Bloomberg News | Human resources consultant Hewitt Associates has some bad news about average 401(k) balances — they’re still off 2007 totals by 11 percent.
Read the full story: bloomberg.com
Evanston-based Magnetar denies CDO accusations
From Bloomberg | Magnetar Capital, the Evanston-based $7 billion hedge-fund firm that made money in 2007 from wagers on subprime-housing debt, told investors it didn’t help banks create mortgage-linked investments “built to fail.” In a letter, the firm claimed that “There was no embedded view regarding the direction of housing prices, the rate of mortgage defaults or the subprime-mortgage market generally.”
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
Kirk to refund Goldman campaign donations
Associated
Press | Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk says he will refund campaign
donations he has received from Goldman
Sachs employees because the investment bank now faces civil fraud
charges.
Kirk said Monday he was acting out of an
“abundance of caution” by giving back money from his Senate campaign. He
says he wants to set an example of ethics for others to follow.
Get the full story: Kirk to return Goldman Sachs campaign donations.
Valukas: Lehman violated its policy as SEC watched
Dow Jones Newswires | The U.S. Trustee-appointed examiner of the
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy said the firm exceeded its own
risk limits and that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission “simply
acquiesced.”
By 2007, several regulators including the SEC “were concerned about
Lehman’s future and the effect of Lehman’s possible demise on the U.S.
economy,” Anton Valukas, who was U.S. attorney for the Northern District
of Illinois in the late 1980s, in testimony prepared for a Tuesday
hearing before the House Financial Services Committee.
Obama: Regulate derivatives or face veto
Associated Press | President Barack Obama vowed Friday to veto a
financial overhaul bill that doesn’t regulate the eclectic derivatives
market, even as Senate Republicans lined up en mass against it.
Legislation
pending in Congress would for the first time regulate derivatives,
complex financial instruments like the mortgage-backed securities that
contributed to a near economic meltdown in 2008 when their value
plummeted during the housing crisis.
SEC accuses Goldman Sachs of fraud
Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, testifies before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission on January 13, 2010 in Washington, DC. (Olivier Douliery /Abaca Press/MCT)
Associated Press | The government has accused Goldman Sachs & Co. of defrauding
investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in subprime
investments it sold as the housing market was collapsing.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint Friday
that Goldman failed to disclose that one of its clients helped create
– and then bet against — subprime mortgage securities that Goldman
sold to other investors.
Two European banks that bought the mortgage securities lost nearly $1
billion, the SEC said. The agency is seeking to recoup profits reaped
on the deal
The government has accused Goldman Sachs & Co. of defrauding
investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage
investments it sold as the housing market was faltering.
General Growth may seek better Brookfield offer
From Bloomberg | Bankrupt mall owner General Growth is continuing to talk with rival Simon Properties while seeking a higher price, fewer stock warrants, or both from Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Simon Properties had earlier this week pledged to invest $2.5 billion in a reorganization of the company and match the terms of a plan by Brookfield and partners Fairholme Capital Management LLC and Pershing Square Capital Management LP.
Get the full story: bloomberg.com.
Groupon likely to receive new round of VC funding
By Melissa Harris | Groupon, the Web site that offers users steep discounts on services if enough people sign up for them, is in the final stage of securing a new round of venture capital funding, according to a source at the Chicago-based Web start-up.
The company, lead by founder Andrew Mason, is reportedly increasing in value at a rapid rate. In Dec. 2009, when venture capital fund Accel invested $30 million, Groupon was valued at $250 million. Not even six months later, TechCrunch is reporting that the company may be valued at $1.35 billion in this new deal.
Chicago Ponzi schemer pleads guilty to fraud
Associated Press | The former president of a Chicago-based private equity firm has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud, admitting he misspent millions of dollars in investor money.
Steven Byers, the former head of WexTrust Capital, entered the guilty plea in federal court in Manhattan Tuesday. He agreed that millions of dollars raised from investors since at least 2003 was not used as promised.
Investors skeptical that Denny’s can bounce back
A Denny’s in Florida. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Dow Jones Newswires | Troubled restaurant chain Denny’s hopes a novel value menu, limited-time offers and a
plan to expand at highway rest stops can help revive the brand.
But some investors and analysts are skeptical Denny’s new sales
initiatives will succeed, especially after years of losing customers.
Instead, they argue the family-dining chain’s cost structure needs to
come down after selling hundreds of company-owned stores to franchisees.
Further cutting overhead costs may be needed to tempt new investors,
analysts say, especially given a run up of more than 70% in shares since
Chicago-based activist investor Oak Street Capital Management as well as Dash
Acquisition LLC took a stake in the company. Shares closed Monday at
$3.91.
Court backs investors on ultrashort bond funds
By Gail MarksJarvis | Investors, who saw supposedly safe bond funds turn cruel during the mortgage-related financial mess, have received another victory. U.S. District Judge William Alsup sided with investors in a case against Charles Schwab Yield Plus Ultrashort Bond Fund (SWYSX).
Ultrashort bond funds are supposed to be mild-mannered funds that don’t pose much danger to investors, and the materials investors were given for the Schwab fund suggested it would not subject them to much risk.
Get the full story: MarksJarvis on Money
States: Morgan Keegan misled bond investors
By Gail MarksJarvis | Morgan Keegan, which ran Regions Morgan Keegan bond funds that plunged in value during the subprime mess, is being accused by regulators of fraud, including misleading investors by failing to accurately reflect the value and risks of mortgage-related bonds that soured the funds.
Get the full story: MarksJarvis on Money
Treasury gets 8.5% return from TARP companies
By Becky Yerak
| The U.S. Treasury Department has made an 8.5 percent annualized return on the 49 banks that have exited the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the federal bailout program started in late 2008 to inject capital into banks in the hope of kick-starting lending.
Results from the analysis by SNL Financial, a tracker of bank industry data, were as of March 30. The government bought preferred shares and warrants in the banks through TARP’s capital purchase program and the target investment program.
