WSF Headline Roundup - 11/15/07 - E*Trade rules out CH11; New NYSE CEO; Barclays $2.7 billion write down; Bear write-down could have been worse; Warren Buffett goes to Washington; Cerberus wants out of United Rentals deal...

•    Sighs of relief as Barclays reveals a write-down of 'only' $2.7 billion
•    Niederauer To Head Big Board
•    E*Trade CEO says bankruptcy isn't an option
•    Bear Stearns expected $1.2 billion write-down isn't as bad as people thought    it would be
•    Van Der Moolen shuttering specialist operations in the U.S.
•    Warren Buffett speaks before the Senate Finance Committee
•    Cerberus looking to extricate itself from United Rentals deal

Barclays $2.7 bln writedown less than feared - Reuters 

Barclays Plc, Britain's third-biggest bank, unveiled a 1.3 billion pound ($2.7 billion) writedown for losses on securities linked to the U.S. subprime housing crisis, less than was feared.

In a surprise trading update on Thursday, the Barclays Capital investment bank unit said it would write down 500 million pounds for the July-September quarter and 800 million pounds for October.

Barclays shares jumped over 6 percent after the update, but pared gains as analysts said BarCap's growth this year and next will be restricted, and that market conditions remain unpredictable.

By 0931 GMT the stock, which has fallen 15 percent in the last month on fears about possible writedowns, was up just 0.2 percent at 534 pence, valuing the bank at 35 billion pounds..... 

Thain's The Man - NY Post 

Merrill Lynch tapped New York Stock Exchange chief John Thain yesterday to take over for ousted CEO Stan O'Neal amid mounting losses that have left Wall Street's biggest brokerage firm demoralized and scrambling to get back on its feet.
 
  The move, first reported by The Post yesterday morning, was welcomed both by investors and many people within the firm. The decision is a huge coup for Merrill board member Alberto Cribiore, who has led the search for a new CEO after O'Neal resigned on Oct. 30.
 
  Cribiore, a native of Italy who runs private-equity firm Brera Capital, is very close to Time Warner boss Dick Parsons, who is, ironically, one of the lead directors at Citigroup searching for a replacement for ousted CEO Chuck Prince....

Niederauer To Head Big Board - New York Post 

NYSE Euronext yesterday picked Duncan Niederauer as its new chief executive in the wake of John Thain's surprise departure for Merrill Lynch.
 
  Despite having formally joined NYSE Euronext as co-president and chief operating officer only in April, Niederauer, 48, was seen as a logical choice to be Thain's successor.
 
  He figured prominently as a Goldman Sachs adviser on the NYSE's merger with Archipelago and has worn almost every hat possible in taking Wall Street's equity trading into the 21st century. He also ran Goldman's equity execution business and led Spear, Leeds & Kellogg's global clearing and execution businesses.... 

Barclays Writes Down $2.7 Billion on U.S. Subprime - Bloomberg 

Barclays Plc, the U.K.'s third-biggest bank, wrote down about 1.3 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) on credit-related securities tied to the U.S. subprime-mortgage market collapse.
 
  Net charges and writedowns were 500 million pounds in the third quarter and 800 million pounds in October, the London-based bank said in a statement today. The bank and the securities unit increased net income and pretax profit for the year through October, Barclays said.
 
  Barclays shares have fallen 12 percent this month as investors criticized it for not disclosing the extent of losses following the five-month rout in the $6 trillion market for U.S. home-loan bonds. Chief Executive Officer John Varley said last week the bank's ``silence'' indicated that market speculation of large losses was unjustified. Barclays plans to give shareholders further information on Nov. 27.
 
  ``They came in better than the market expected,'' said Mamoun Tazi, an analyst at MF Global Securities in London, who has a ``buy'' rating on the stock. ``Any concerns about an emergency rights issue are out of the door. They have enough capital to weather the storm.''.... 

E*Trade CEO rules out bankruptcy: CNBC - Reuters 

E*Trade Financial Corp Chief Executive Mitch Caplan categorically ruled out the possibility of bankruptcy on Wednesday, days after an analyst said mounting credit losses and the potential loss of customer assets might make the discount brokerage insolvent.

"We're here to stay," Caplan told CNBC, the business news channel.

Caplan, who canceled a scheduled presentation at a Merrill Lynch banking conference Wednesday, said the company still has "real" balance sheet issues, but its retail franchise remains in "phenomenal" shape.... 

Bear Stearns Not So Bad After All - Forbes 

After Bank of America's $3 billion write-down on Tuesday, investors expected the worst, but there may be a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

Shares of Bear Stearns (nyse: BSC - news - people ) rose $2.40, or 2.4%, to close at $103.27 Wednesday after the investment bank said it expects to write down the value of its subprime holdings by $1.2 billion. Investors had feared the write-downs could be much worse.

In September, Bear Stearns announced its third-quarter profits tumbled 61.6% to $166.1 million from $432.2 million a year ago. Bear Stearns and other brokerages have been smacked by the sharp decline in value of certain securities.

The decline is most pronounced in securities backed by subprime mortgages. Those mortgages, made to borrowers with poor credit, have been defaulting at higher rates. The spiking declines has nixed demand, and rocked values, of subprime-related securities..... 

Buffett backs estate tax, decries wealth gap - Reuters 

Billionaire Warren Buffett on Wednesday endorsed the estate tax as a check on wealth accumulation, while two senior U.S. senators said they want the tax repealed.
 
  Revisiting a long-standing debate over the controversial tax, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing where Chairman Max Baucus said he supports ending the estate tax, although he said he did not expect this to happen any time soon.
 
  "I think everyone in this room knows we're not going to repeal the estate tax. It's not going to happen in the foreseeable future," he said.
 
  The Montana Democrat was joined by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the panel's top Republican, who said, "The estate tax is unjust. ... Death should not be a taxable event.".... 

Van Der Moolen to close US specialist activities as Q3 net loss shrinks - CNN Money 

Van der Moolen (NYSE:VDM) NV said it will shut down its specialist operations in the US as 'promptly as possible' and de-list from the New York Stock Exchange, as its net attributable loss narrowed compared with the same period a year earlier.
 
  The company posted a net attributable loss of 5.3 mln eur for the third quarter, substantially narrower than the 39.5 mln loss returned a year earlier.
 
  Company sales came in at 37.4 mln eur from 33.1 mln year-on-year, with an operating loss of 2.2 mln eur from an 18.1 mln loss in the same period a year ago.
 
  Van der Moolen said it has decided to wind down its specialist activities in the US because it had 'not succeeded in bringing its operations back to profitability and will not be able to meet its second half year US target'..... 

Cerberus Seeks to Exit United Rentals Deal - Wall Street Journal 

Cerberus Capital Management's buyout of United Rentals Inc. appeared poised to fall apart yesterday, as a dispute between the companies spilled into public view.
 
  It is the latest example of a leveraged-buyout deal falling victim to havoc in the credit markets. It also provides a new twist on a story line that has been developing for months, with buyout shops walking away from deals to buy companies including Acxiom Corp. and Harman International Industries Inc. 

United Rentals said Cerberus informed the company it "is not prepared to proceed with the purchase of United Rentals on the terms set forth in its merger agreement."
 
  The $7 billion deal, signed July 22, valued the power-tool rental company at $34.50 a share. The buyout was to have closed tomorrow. Shares of United Rentals plunged 31% after Reuters reported yesterday that Cerberus was backing out of the deal. In 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading, United Rentals shares were down $10.51 at $23.50..... 

Ellison warns BEA on possible future bid - Financial Times 

Any future Oracle takeover bid for BEA Systems will be for less than the $7bn it offered last month, Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chief executive officer, warned on Wednesday night.
 
  The blunt threat, issued at Oracle’s annual financial analyst meeting in San Francisco, marked a characteristically sharp public response in what is shaping up to become the latest in a string of drawn-out takeover sagas mounted by Mr Ellison.
 
  It echoed his unusual tactic of lowering Oracle’s bid at one point during its heated bid for rival PeopleSoft, although Oracle eventually paid a considerably higher price to win over the company’s board.
 
  “If we made another offer [for BEA], the price would be lower,” Mr Ellison said at Oracle’s annual analyst meeting on Wednesday. Pointing to the recent retreat in technology stocks, he added: “Clearly the $17 price seems too high now.”....