Wall $treet Folly

Has Barclays been doing business with nations on the U.S. terrorist blacklist?

Apparently the Department of Justice is probing Barclays over possible violations of rules that ban banks from doing business with nations deemed by the U.S. as sponsors of terrorism....

The bank said it had been contacted by the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the New York district attorney with questions about payments made in dollars through its New York branch. The payments may have been made by people or companies from states which are on the US blacklist of nations it believes sponsor terrorism. That list includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.

Barclays co-president Grant Kvalheim "resigns"

Another senior ranking executive bites the dust in the sub-prime mess.  This time it's Barclays Capital co-president Grant Kvalheim.....

Activist hedge funds expected to get busy; Hedge funds drop most in 15 months; 4 Equity traders exit CQS; Barclays launching Islamic funds

Barclays to bail out yet another SIV

More trouble for Barclays: The company has offered to bail out another SIV it created, Mainsail II, according to The Times of London:

Mainsail II, a $4.5 billion (£2.2 billion) structured investment vehicle designed by Barclays Capital and managed by the hedge fund group Solent Capital, had been forced to start selling assets as it struggled to roll over finance in the commercial paper market.

Mainsail said last night that its security trustee regarded the Barclays restructuring plan as “credible”.

The plan is to pay out commercial paper investors at par through a liquidity facility underwritten by BarCap. The bank is in “well advanced” discussions to buy credit protection to hedge against defaults in the underlying mortgage assets.

In a similar rescue last week, it threw a $1.6 billion lifeline to another so-called SIV-lite fund, Cairn High Grade Funding I. Problems at a further SIV-lite created by BarCap, Sachsen Funding I, led to the rescue of the German savings bank Sachsen LB last month. According to sources close to the matter, BarCap was no longer under any obligation to finance the restructuring.

BarCap steps in again with $1bn bailout of SIV fund - The Times of London

SocGen, Deutsche Bank bankers sees rationality ahead; Barclays money market crunch; LBO players put the squeeze on each other for better deal terms; Asians on an M&A shopping spree in U.S.

Barclays CDO division head quit leading to speculation of broader problems

Edward Cahill, who headed Barclays European CDO effort quit last Monday after returning from vacation; Barclays so far is being mum about why.  The spin is that he quit, but who knows?:

Barclays Capital refused to comment on the reasons for his departure. However, Mr Cahill’s resignation appears to be the first in recent weeks in the City or on Wall Street in this particular field of finance.

His departure may promote scrutiny as it comes at a time when several structures arranged by Barclays Capital appear to have run into problems due to losses on subprime assets.

With a new leader at its helm UBS looks to grow and might do some buying; Profile of UBS' 'Ordinary Guy' new CEO; Barclays looking to slash subprime exposure; Time to buy junk bonds? Or will there be bigger bargains for the patient?

                 

UBS says eyes takeovers in new U.S. growth push UBS Assents to Rohner, `Ordinary Guy' Whose Guild Cleans Creek Barclays looks to exit sub-prime lending as FSA sounds alarm After Junk-Bond Swoon, Is It Time to Buy -- or Wait?

Odd Lots: Merrill Lynch doing the Wall Street shuffle; Former SF office Barclays MD sentenced to 3 yrs in fatal hit & run; With competition for investment bankers intense, Goldman, Lehman, JP Morgan, etc. trying to woo women out of retirement

• Merrill plans senior shake-up
• Napa investment banker gets 3 years for fatal hit-and-run
• Banks to entice women to return

ABN Amro CFO bails on the firm

ABN Amro’s chief financial officer Hugh Scott-Barrett announced his resignation on Thursday in the midst of the titanic takeover battle for the Dutch lender.

Mr Scott-Barrett’s decision to leave the bank on August 1 was taken despite there being no certainty as to the fate of ABN. It has agreed a merger with Barclays, of the UK, but is being pursued by a rival trio of European banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland.

The UK-born banker, the most senior non-Dutchman at ABN, said the move was “a logical step” given that he had declined the offer of a job with the bank that would be created by the combination of ABN and Barclays. The board of the new entity would be dominated by Barclays nominees.

Rijkman Groenink, ABN chief executive, said the bank “regretfully accepted” Mr Scott-Barrett’s decision. Mr Groenink said the bank was losing “one of the best financial minds in the industry”.

 

ABN Amro finance chief resigns - Financial Times

Barclays pays up to plaster its name on a stadium

We've never understood the phenominally sky high prices that some firms agree to pay to have their names immortalized on a stadium.  Seems like a colossal waste to us.   But Barclays has agreed to pay nearly $400 million over 20 years for that dubious privilege of placing its moniker on the Brooklyn stadium that  NY Nets will be calling home:

Setting a record price for the naming rights to an American indoor sports arena, the British bank Barclays has agreed to pay nearly $400 million over 20 years to put its name on the Nets’ planned future home in Brooklyn. The arrangement could double the old record of $185 million for 20 years that Royal Philips Electronics paid to name Philips Arena in Atlanta in 1999.

The Nets’ arena, a glass-walled, 18,000-seat hall with a park on top, is the centerpiece of the Atlantic Yards, the $4 billion complex of apartment towers and commercial space designed by Frank Gehry.

The arena, together with several of the buildings, will be called Barclays Center, said another person with direct knowledge of the deal. The developer building Atlantic Yards, Forest City Ratner Companies, hopes to open the arena in time for the Nets’ 2009-10 season.

Barclays Pays Record Price to Put Name on Nets’ Arena - New York Times