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£375 MILLION paper loss! Joe Lewis burned by Bear Stearns crash!

justfookinhitit

Jedi Master
Aug 4, 2006
1,206
0
At the end of the day, though the glorious THFC is the centre of our Universe it is a relatively small pinprick of light in the galaxy that Joe Lewis owns. If he needs to sell off assets we are unlikely to be at the front of the queue.
 

yanno

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2003
5,857
2,877
Looks like Lewis will amongst those sueing Bear Stearns. Could be a job for Stoof! :wink:

-----------------------------

Stunned Bear Stearns investors eye legal claims
Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:22pm EDT
By Martha Graybow

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Angry Bear Stearns Co Inc shareholders have wasted no time in calling their lawyers to pursue potential legal recourse over the company's $2-a-share fire sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

"I can't divulge privileged conversations, but shareholders don't contact me when they are happy with the way things are going with their investments," said Ira Press, a lawyer at class-action firm Kirby McInerney, which has spoken with dismayed Bear investors about the matter.

"This is a stock that has gone from 50 to 2 literally overnight, and I also know of people who had assumed that the worst had passed when it closed at 30," he said.

Bear Stearns, one of the most venerable names on Wall Street, is being sold for just $236 million in an emergency deal backed by the U.S. Federal Reserve in a sign of the deepening credit crisis.

The deal's value is more than 90 percent below the company's Friday closing share price of $30.85. But JPMorgan said the total price tag would be $6 billion to account for litigation and severance costs.

Investors have barely had time to digest the news, but are already exploring possible legal avenues, say plaintiffs' lawyers who specialize in suing large corporations.

"We've been contacted by large individual investors and institutional investors," said Jeffrey Nobel, a partner at class-action law firm Schatz Nobel Izard. "Suffice to say, we are certainly looking very carefully at it."

Shareholders might sue Bear and its executives and officers for securities fraud, contending they failed to disclose the company's true financial health, lawyers say.

Nobel said his firm has been contacted by investors who bought the stock as recently as last week. Some of these buyers, he said, took their positions after Bear CEO Alan Schwartz said in a televised interview on Wednesday that the company does not see any pressure on its liquidity and had about $17 billion in excess cash on its balance sheet.

"You have investors who are upset because they feel as though the company was not truthful in reporting its financial condition," Nobel said.

Other suits may be brought by Bear employees who hold company shares that are now virtually worthless, lawyers said.

Another possibility are lawsuits challenging the fairness of the deal and whether there are other potential bidders who might pay a higher price, though these suits may have a tough time succeeding because Bear was clearly in dire straits when it agreed to the weekend deal and may have had no other options besides bankruptcy, lawyers said.

Salvatore Graziano, a partner at plaintiffs' firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, said he and his colleagues also have been discussing the matter with clients.

""It's a fluid situation," he said. "Clearly, we're very focused on it."
 

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,874
49,706
Thats OK - one of the UK's banks goes tits up and Labour Gov.UK bails it out in billions, for the votes.

Northern Rock should have been dumped like any other insolvent business would have been.
 

yanno

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2003
5,857
2,877
Jeez - MF Global, a big US broker which is considered in danger of going belly up, has just issued a statement intended to calm the markets. Astonishingly for a press release of this type, it contains the sentence:

"Joe Lewis is not a client of MF Global."

It's not looking too good for Mr Lewis when a broker denies that he's their client:

---------------------------------------

For Immediate Release
MF Global Provides Business Update
Reiterates Strong Quarter-to-Date Performance
NEW YORK, Mar 17, 2008 -- MF Global Ltd., a leading broker of exchange-traded futures and options, issues the following statement in connection with today’s market activity:

MF Global understands the significant concerns across the markets. Our clients continue to show strong support. We currently have sufficient funding to conduct our business in normal course. In the event that these funding sources change we have additional, alternative sources to fund our business. In addition, MF Global has no exposure to sub-prime mortgage-backed securities that have been the root cause of the current market environment.

While the company uses third party repo lines, we have alternative funding in the event those lines are not available to the company. The company is very well capitalized with $1.4 billion in a committed, undrawn credit facilities.

As previously-announced, as of today, volumes and net revenues for the current quarter to date remain at higher levels than in any comparable period during the current fiscal year. In addition, client funds are at a higher level today than on February 27, 2008, or at the end of the third quarter ended December 31, 2007.

Joe Lewis is not a client of MF Global.

The company is providing this information because it plans to meet with investors and analysts over the coming days and weeks. MF Global intends to provide further information about these matters when it announces results for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2008.

ABOUT MF GLOBAL

MF Global Ltd. (NYSE: MF), formerly Man Financial, is the leading broker of exchange-listed futures and options in the world. It provides execution and clearing services for exchange- traded and over-the counter derivative products as well as for non-derivative foreign exchange products and securities in the cash market. MF Global is uniquely diversified across products, trading markets, customers and regions. Its worldwide client base of more than 130,000 active accounts ranges from financial institutions, industrial groups, hedge funds and other asset managers to professional traders and private/retail clients. MF Global operates in 12 countries on more than 70 exchanges, providing access to the largest and fastest growing financial markets in the world. It is the leader by volume on many of these markets and on a single day averages eight million lots, more than most of the world's largest derivatives exchanges. For more information, please visit mfglobal.com.
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
Alan Greenspan believes this is going to be the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression.
 

yanno

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2003
5,857
2,877
Alan Greenspan believes this is going to be the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Yup, and it's largely Greenspan's fault for creating bubble after bubble and letting the bankers do whatever they wanted to do.

The global derivatives Ponzi scheme amounts to several hundred TRILLION dollars. Bear Stearns alone was counterparty to $13 trillion in derivative exposure, and it's not clear who is legally responsible for that now they've gone belly up.

Friendly advice: get to a cashpoint before the rest of the population realizes we're on the edge of a precipice that makes Long Term Capital Management seem like a stroll in the park.

The reality is that bankers and politicians are lying to us. This is not a global liquidity problem. It's a global SOLVENCY problem.
 

Thesoccershrink

Active Member
Nov 17, 2004
740
62
Yup, and it's largely Greenspan's fault for creating bubble after bubble and letting the bankers do whatever they wanted to do.

Yes, indeed. And then the man has the gall to take an $8 million book advance to express opinions he should have been giving when being paid as a public official. Disgrace!
 

hybridsoldier

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2004
5,892
1,185
as on itv news just a bit ago, they were reporting outside white hart lane. share price has dropped 5.4%, and it stated Lewis owns 82% of the club (not entirely true).

Regardless, this could put us in trouble....whees them DICs gone???
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
I'm certainly no expert, but it's hardly a surprise that our share price has dropped—is there any that hasn't? They're really trying to make something out of nothing, and might as well have sent the camera crew and reporter to OT or Anfield—I'll bet the Glazers and Stadtler and Waldorf are far more worried.
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
Joe Lewis, the secretive Bahamas-based billionaire who controls Tottenham's parent company ENIC, has reassured Spurs chairman Daniel Levy that the £500 million loss on his investment in the collapsed American bank Bear Stearns will not force him to sell the club.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ma...1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/03/18/sfnfro118.xml

Also see:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/03/18/sfnbon118.xml

Whilst we're not in the shit, United, Liverpool and Arsenal could be.
 

yanno

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2003
5,857
2,877

I continue to think that Manure will soon be changing owners. The Glazers are no better than dodgy loan sharks, who "bought" the club with massive debt and ludicrous interest repayments, which they're increasingly struggling to pay off through turnover. As the Torygraph article sez:

"According to figures released in January, United's pretax profits for the 12 months to June 30, 2007, were £42.28 million, only slightly more than their £42 million interest payments."

The Glazers are toast. But I wouldn't be at all surprized to see the likes of DIC switch targets from Liverpool to Manure.
 

Stoof

THERE IS A PIGEON IN MY BANK ACCOUNT
Staff
Jun 5, 2004
32,219
64,273
The Glazers are toast. But I wouldn't be at all surprized to see the likes of DIC switch targets from Liverpool to Manure.

Given Bear's collapse and potentially Lehmann Bros as well [eek!] then I doubt this is the time any investor is going to be investing in anything. Rich Dubai sheikhs or no rich Dubai sheikhs.

I expect it to be very quiet on that front. Arsenal's stadium suddenly weighing a tad more on their balance sheet. Haha.
 

Chris12345

LADdam Hussein
Jan 15, 2005
11,908
31
I expect it to be very quiet on that front. Arsenal's stadium suddenly weighing a tad more on their balance sheet. Haha.

In all seriousness... with the credit markets the way they are... how lucky are we to not have announced our stadium in January like they originally wanted to do! Or even started to build it... we coulda truely been in the shit! Eek

:praysforarsenalspaymentstoshootthrutheroofandhavetosellalltheirplayers:
 

Stoof

THERE IS A PIGEON IN MY BANK ACCOUNT
Staff
Jun 5, 2004
32,219
64,273
In all seriousness... with the credit markets the way they are... how lucky are we to not have announced our stadium in January like they originally wanted to do! Or even started to build it... we coulda truely been in the shit! Eek

:praysforarsenalspaymentstoshootthrutheroofandhavetosellalltheirplayers:

More a case of Arsenal's stadium losing value compared with the debt they have secured against it?

Whether or not their rates are fixed or adjustable at their bank's whim is a complete unknown [well it's unknown to me anyway, I expect there's some info on it somewhere] - it's not like Arsenal are going to lose revenue, as the credit crunch won't force ticket prices down, nor TV money, nor most of their income.

I'd expect their bank to hoik some stuff up a bit. Hoik is a technical term. :wink:
 

Chris12345

LADdam Hussein
Jan 15, 2005
11,908
31
haha you can see i'm no expert :lol:

I thought that a credit crash would mean banks having to increase their interest rates? thus making payments go up? :shrug:
 

Stoof

THERE IS A PIGEON IN MY BANK ACCOUNT
Staff
Jun 5, 2004
32,219
64,273
haha you can see i'm no expert :lol:

I thought that a credit crash would mean banks having to increase their interest rates? thus making payments go up? :shrug:

Like I said geeza, depends on ca agreement. :)
 
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