April 2, 2010 at 10:48 a.m.
Filed under:
Bank failures,
Banking,
Insurance,
Investing
From Bloomberg | In an article on Goldman Sachs published April 1 in Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine, Chicago-based structured finance expert Janet Tavakoli accuses Goldman of taking advantage of a flaw in the system of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), or what became known as toxic mortgages. She says Goldman squeezed global insurer AIG for cash by marking down mortgages underlying CDOs that were insured by a credit-default swap from AIG, thus creating a no-lose situation for Goldman’s clients at AIG’s expense. “Goldman is trying to pretend it didn’t know any better, while also trying to say they are great risk managers,” says Tavakoli, the president of Chicago advisory firm Tavakoli Structured Finance. “Goldman cannot have it both ways.”
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
April 2, 2010 at 6:30 a.m.
Filed under:
Chicago executives,
Investing,
Retail
From the Chicago Sun-Times | After an absence of five years, Sears Holdings Corp. Chairman Edward S. Lampert has returned to the list of top hedge fund industry earners, sharing the No. 6 spot with Carl Ichan.
The recent boost in Sears stock helped Lampert pull in $1.3 billion in 2009 from fees and from his 53 percent stake in the company, according to an estimate by, AR Magazine, a New York-based publication that covers the hedge-fund industry.
Get the full story: suntimes.com
March 29, 2010 at 11:35 a.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Venture capital
From Pension & Investments | The president and executive director of investment services at Nuveen Investments, Mark Anson, will be leaving the company in early April to take a position as managing partner and chief investment officer at Oak Hill Investment Management Group.
Anson’s arrival at Nuveen was trumpeted in 2007. He was previously chief investment
officer at Hermes, the UK-based activist fund manager and at
Calpers, the largest U.S. pension fund.
Get the full story: pionline.com
March 29, 2010 at 10:53 a.m.
Filed under:
Investing
From BusinessWeek | The world’s largest hedge funds are approaching their previous peak assets after recovering from their worst-ever losses in 2008, but some analysts are asking just how much money is too much for a hedge-fund manager. In 2008, Chicago-based Citadel Investment Group, whose assets had climbed to about $20 billion, lost 55 percent in its biggest funds after wagers on stocks and mortgage-backed products went awry.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
March 26, 2010 at 3:48 p.m.
Filed under:
IPOs,
Investing
By Julie Wernau | A Chicago-based provider of online investment services for financial
advisers is preparing to go public in a $100 million offering. Envestnet
Inc. plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
ENV. Morgan Stanley, UBS and Barclays Capital are serving as co-lead
underwriters.
The company reported approximately $78 million in 2009 revenue, down
from $92 million the prior year. A date for the offering has not yet
been set.
The most recent prospectus can be found here.
March 24, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Real estate,
Stock activity
By Wailin Wong | Shares
of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, the Chicago-based real estate
investment trust, are surging in tandem with an industry peer that
received an upgrade.
In late afternoon trading, Strategic’s stock was up 24 percent, to
$4.70. The company’s 52-week high is $4.77.
Get the full story »
March 23, 2010 at 12:06 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing
By Wailin Wong | Investment firm Edward Jones is hoping to double its number of financial advisors in the Chicago area over the next seven to eight years, starting with 50 new hires this year.
The St. Louis-based company has about 375 financial advisers in the greater Chicago area.
Get the full story »
March 22, 2010 at 4:53 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Investing
From BusinessWeek | Two New York-based hedge funds, Elliott Associates LP and Paulson & Co., are considering joining with Brookfield Asset Management Inc. to bring Chicago-based mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. out of bankruptcy.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
March 19, 2010 at 5:50 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Investing,
Retirement
By Ameet Sachdev
| Aon Corp.’s employee-benefit consulting unit has agreed to acquire JPMorgan Compensation and Benefit Strategies, a division of the bank’s retirement-plan services.
The transaction will expand Aon Consulting’s offerings in pension and health care actuarial services. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close at the end of the month, were not disclosed.
Get the full story »
March 15, 2010 at 9:04 a.m.
Filed under:
Investing
By Ameet Sachdev | A Bolingbrook-based provider of physical therapy services has a new investor: GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm.
GTCR did not disclose the amount of its investment in ATI Holdings LLC. The capital will come from GTCR Fund IX, a fund with $2.75 billion of committed capital, the firm said Monday.
ATI, founded in 1996, provides rehabilitation services throughout 88 outpatient clinics in Illinois, Wisconsin and three other states.
March 8, 2010 at 9:52 a.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Stock activity
A stock broker makes a bid on the floor of the Mexican stock market (Bolsa de Valores) in Mexico City. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
By Mary Ellen Podmolik | CME Group announced Monday that it purchased 1.9 percent of the outstanding shares in Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, valued at $17 million, as part of a strategic partnership and order routing agreement for derivatives products with the financial exchange operator in Mexico.
Get the full story »
Feb. 26, 2010 at 10:33 a.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Retirement
Associated Press | The Obama administration on Friday proposed new regulations aimed at
protecting workers’ retirement savings from unethical financial
advisers.
The safeguards would protect workers from conflicts of interest on the
part of advisers who manage their 401(k)s and individual retirement
accounts. The administration estimates that the protections would
affect 15 million workers.
Get the full story »
Feb. 25, 2010 at 6:41 a.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Markets
Dow Jones Newswire | U.S. traders warned that business could be
disrupted by new restrictions on short-selling stocks that lack an
exemption for market makers in options or cash equities.
Market participants said the absence of an exemption would limit their
ability to hedge risk when taking the other side of investors’ trades.
“We’re disappointed because of the potential impact on the options
markets,” said William Brodsky, chief executive of the Chicago Board
Options Exchange, the largest U.S. options venue by volume.
Get the full story »
Feb. 18, 2010 at 8:33 p.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Investing
Dow Jones Newswires | Morningstar Inc.’s fourth-quarter profit
fell 25 percent as the investment research provider reported charges
related to stock-option adjustments.
The company — which provides data on stocks, mutual funds and similar
vehicles — also reported a surprise increase in revenue, after posting
declines the rest of 2009 after two clients declined to renew their
contracts.
Get the full story »
Feb. 17, 2010 at 6:41 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing
By Gail MarksJarvis | Gold dropped more than $10 an ounce immediately after the International Monetary Fund announced it was selling a large quantity of its gold reserves on the open market.
Gold was trading at $1,105 an ounce, quite a distance below the $1,227.50 Dec. 3 peak that had drawn many individuals into the market.
Read the full story: MarksJarvis on Money
