I've been talking about the Super SIV bailout plan since the plans for the fund first became public October 14. Today The Wall Street Journal is questioning whether the Super SIV bailout fund can be funded in time [subscription required] to help struggling SIVs who need to find investors for $100 billion in debt coming due in the next six to nine months. The Journal reports some of the biggest SIV operators already are selling their assets, including Citigroup (NYSE: C), the Super SIV champion and the operator of the largest chunk of SIVs, and Rabobank of the Netherlands. Moody's Investor services continues to downgrade the types of assets held by the SIVs, especially assets based on subprime mortgages in the U.S.

Why should you care? You may be holding a money market fund or mutual fund that holds debt from these SIVs in trouble. If the bailout doesn't arrive in time, SIVs will have to restructure their debt, wind down, or in the worst-case scenario become unable to pay their debt investors. When the Journal first started talking about this mess, it reported SIVs held $400 billion in assets globally. Today, because of the write-downs and sale of assets, the Journal is estimating the total value of SIV assets at $350 billion.

Continue reading Will the SIV bailout arrive in time?

Will the SIV bailout arrive in time? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) CEO Bruce Wasserstein got excellent cover from the latest issue of BusinessWeek. I had hoped for more aggressive reporting but I did enjoy the description of Wasserstein's passionate consumption of a coffee and ice cream concoction during the interview.

That short description has catalyzed the media commentary on the article -- which has focused not on Wasserstein's achievements at Lazard but on his physical health or lack thereof. With the help of my sources, I take responsibility for this focus since I wrote a Blogging Stocks post in July that brought into the blogosphere the open secret that Wasserstein disappeared from view in February and reappeared four months later looking 50 pounds lighter and 20 years older.

I think those in the mainstream media who I've spoken with about the Wasserstein health rumors have let him off without asking the hard and uncomfortable questions about his health that should be of concern to investors in Lazard. One of my sources was amazed that the article did not appear to have inquired about Wasserstein's seven week absence from the firm earlier this year. He also viewed as a whitewash the article's contention that Wasserstein had gone to London in 2000 to "build a top-tier investment bank" after Dresdner Bank acquired Wasserstein Perella. My source believes that the real reason Wasserstein went to London was to avoid paying US New York taxes on the $600 million in proceeds he received from the sale of his firm.

Continue reading Wasserstein's excellent cover

Wasserstein's excellent cover originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.