The Epicurean DealmakerThe Epicurean DealmakerAn occasional review and commentary on the wild and wacky world of mergers and acquisitions, from an enabler's point of view. Articles
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2007-05-05 19:30:00 If—and the thing is wildly possible—the charge of writing nonsense were ever brought against the author of this brief but instructive poem, it would be based, I feel convinced, on the line (in p. 18)"Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes."In view of this painful possibility, I will not (as I might) appeal indignantly to my other writings as a proof that I am incapable of such a deed: I will not (as I might) point to the strong moral purpose of this poem itself, to the arithmetical principles so cautiously inculcated in it, or to its noble teachings in Natural History—I will take the more prosaic course of simply explaining how it happened.1Selective market research by Yours Truly among my cherished readership has led me to the unfortunate conclusion that—on any given day—no more than two of you can figure out what the hell I am talking about in these posts.I have developed a number of hypotheses for why this might be the case, which I am... More About: Rights , Right , Reserve , Serve
You Know Much That Is Hidden, O Tim
2007-05-05 06:37:00 Deal Journal at WSJ.com interrupted UBS investment banking satrap Huw Jenkins at his Supervisory Board-mandated yodeling and alpenhorn practice earlier today to discuss the Swiss chocolate maker watch manufacturer universal bank's credit policies, which have been faulted for the inability of the firm to punch as many leveraged buyout tickets as its competitors in the current deal frenzy.The interview was apparently kept short, but a smiling Jenkins did drop a minor bombshell of sorts:The company already has taken steps to make improvements amid widespread griping within its banker ranks, by hiring McKinsey & Co. around the end of last year. That sped up the lending process by giving more decision-making power to people within the investment bank and increasing their client-funding capacity, some inside the firm say.McKinsey? Fuck me. That's a sorry-assed commentary on UBS's internal management capabilities when they have to ask a bunch of pencil-pushing Powerpoint witch doctors... More About: Know , Much , Hidden
The Beginning of the War Will be Secret
2007-05-01 02:30:00 I spent way too much time today going back and forth to Petco to replace the hamsters which power the ED webservers and online tchotchke store. They keep dying on me, overworked from exhaustion by trying to keep up with the tremendous onslaught of increased traffic from Long or Short Capital, which linked their readership to this blogsite a few days ago.Like any committed blogosopher desirous of planting my pearls of wisdom as broadly and deeply as possible in the Weltanschauung, I was initially delighted to have received the endorsement of my mentors at LoS. However, as I ruefully dumped my twenty-fifth dead rodent ($13.95 each, plus tax) into the trashbin this afternoon, the delphic utterance pictured at the top of this post popped into my head.It is one of many such sayings perpetrated on an unsuspecting populace by (conceptual) artist Jenny Holzer. Ms Holzer came to fame in the late 1970s by pasting cheap broadsheets on tenement walls in New York's East Village—back wh... More About: Secret , Will
eiπ = –1
2007-04-28 14:51:00 Step aside, Fama & French.Move on down, Merton, Black & Scholes.Piss off, Miller & Modigliani.A new cohort of economic geniuses has shouldered its way to the front of the line, when it comes to true understanding of the global financial markets (and the smokin' hot trade tips which fall naturally out of this revelation).You cognoscenti already know whereof (whomof?) I speak. For all those else among my benighted readership still in search of said clue, prepare yourself for a new set of names to be graven upon the shining brow of Athena:JUGGLES, DEBACLE & EDAMAMEYes, I speak of those shining geniuses, those paragons of portfolio proselytizing holding court at go-to stock tip website Long or Short Capital. Those of you Dear Readers who have not followed the web link to their site which has been winking invitingly at you from the lower left side of this blogsite for many moons are urged—no, commanded—to pay your respects posthaste. Your wives, your children, and even yo...
The Plot Thickens
2007-04-27 05:00:00 Herewith, Dear Readers, a mystery worthy of Hercule Poirot, or at least Miss Marple. Whilst raping and pillaging some poor unfortunate company this morning away from my quotidian domicile—or office, for those among you habituated to respirating with mouths agape—my trusty Blackberry shivered invitingly with the arrival of the 6:00 am cut from FT Alphaville. At the first opportunity, I turned eagerly to the missive, as is my wont, in order to discern what fresh outrage my brethren across the pond might have precipitated upon victims corporate or institutional, so better as to incorporate the model of their misdeeds into my own repertoire of misbehavior.Imagine my delight, then, when I perused the following item secreted demurely near the end of the communiqué:Blackstone ensures no more ‘secrets with Stephen’Those of you who have Blackstone chief Stephen Schwarzman’s “anonymous” blog - “Secrets with Stephen” - bookmarked may have noticed a drop-off i... More About: Plot
Destroy All Monsters
2007-04-24 17:33:00 Tokyo, April 25, 2007: Toho Company, Ltd. announced today that it is commencing development, in partnership with a newly formed production company co-founded by American filmmakers George Lucas and Quentin Tarantino, of a new series of daikaiju (monster) pictures themed around the recent hypergrowth of private equity and hedge fund companies. The first film in the series is planned to be a remake of the 1964 classic, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Mons ter ."Quentin and I are very excited about working with Toho to bring back the monster movies we enjoyed in our youth," commented Mr. Lucas. "Nothing is more frightening than the mega-growth of private equity and hedge funds today, and we think Toho's proven model is the perfect medium to convey the excitement and terror so many people feel when they pick up The Wall Street Journal every morning," he added."George and I are doubly excited, because we have convinced Toho to contribute its extensive library of 30- and 40-year old special e... More About: Troy , Monsters
The Devil's Glossary
2007-04-20 01:10:00 Nassim Taleb's new book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, just landed on my desk with a satisfying thump. This is good news, because if it had not arrived I would have had to go out and buy a copy of Condé Nast Portfolio this weekend and read that. The prospect was not appealing to me.While I found Mr. Taleb's previous book, Fooled by Randomness, unevenly written and occasionally a bit infuriating, my quibbles were largely overwhelmed by the clarity and force of the ideas he expounded. I am expecting no less from this book, and I will report my findings if and when appropriate to my adoring audience (i.e., you, Dear Readers). Do not worry, however: I will steer my discussion away from the more technical and recondite aspects of Mr. Taleb's treatise. This will be no punishment for me, as I can cheerfully confess that I would have difficulty recognizing a Gaussian distribution with a Poisson jump if it bit me on the leg and pissed in my shoe.Until th... More About: Glossary , Evil , Loss , Devil , Gloss
The Way We Live Now
2007-04-18 06:00:00 It was at any rate an established fact that Mr Melmotte had made his wealth in France. He no doubt had had enormous dealings in other countries, as to which stories were told which must surely have been exaggerated. It was said that he had made a railway across Russia, that he provisioned the Southern army in the American civil war, that he had supplied Austria with arms, and had at one time bought up all the iron in England. He could make or mar any company by buying or selling stock, and could make money dear or cheap as he pleased. All this was said of him in his praise,—but it was also said that he was regarded in Paris as the most gigantic swindler that had ever lived; that he had made that City too hot to hold him; that he had endeavoured to establish himself in Vienna, but had been warned away by the police; and that he had at length found that British freedom would alone allow him to enjoy, without persecution, the fruits of his industry. He was now established privat... More About: Live , The Way
On a Knife's Edge
2007-04-16 14:50:00 This just in, from a survey of 340 European M&A bankers, lawyers, and other riffraff by virtual datasite provider (don't ask) IntraLinks for swingin' UK finance trade rag Financial News (subscription required):Surprised outside a posh London eatery with this stunning new perspective on the future return expectations for his industry by some of his most important service providers, Permira pooh-bah Damon Buffini looked visibly shaken. "Well, this is news, an' no mistake. We're obviously going to 'ave to 'ave a complete refink of the business model at the next partners' meeting," he exclaimed.Mr. Buffini claimed not to be surprised that M&A professionals do not think higher purchase prices paid for French companies will make it harder to meet return expectations: "Well, that's no surprise, innit? No-one can make a return off the bloody French no matter what price they pay."Mr. Buffini's companion Victoria Beckham offered no reaction to the news.© 2007 The Epicurean De... More About: Edge , Knife
Screwtape for the Defense
2007-04-16 00:15:00 La plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas. — Charles Baudelaire, Le Spleen de ParisI have been spending a very relaxing and enjoyable afternoon just linking around the blogosphere, while Mother Nature attempts once again to clean the Augean Stables know as New York City by drowning us with torrential downpours. I should be finalizing my income taxes, but I cannot complete my Schedule A itemized deductions until my brother-in-law the accountant tells me whether I should classify those business bribes to the Somali government as medical expenses or charitable donations. (I suggested charity, but he assures me the fact I paid the bribes under threat of having my legs broken is strong support for the assertion that they were preventive health care.) Ah, the things I do to keep my business partners in Cristal champagne and Russian prostitutes ...As I was trolling through the usual list of suspects and their rantings, I happened upon a post abou... More About: Defense , Screw , Ense , Crew , The D
Mine's Bigger than Yours
2007-04-14 19:30:00 Dennis Berman over at The Wall Street Journal recently penned a piece on one of the perennial bugbears of Wall Street, league tables, in which he managed to sound both amused and plaintive at the same time:The tables have become home to the most petty and wheedling impulses of the industry's most-respected institutions, which are rabid about staying high in the rankings. If you want to understand the Street at its absurd best, watch men in Rolexes grub for credit for deals they barely worked on for clients who probably won't pay them.Mr. Berman does a good job outlining the issue, and was even able to persuade a few investment bankers to admit on the record what a joke the whole thing is. (Of course, when the sharpest comments come from big bank apostates like DLJ- and Citigroup-refugee Hal Ritch, it's sort of hard to hear the message over the sound of axes grinding.)While he does mention securities underwriting league tables in passing, Berman focuses primarily on those ranking... More About: Your , Mine
Talking of Michelangelo
2007-04-11 05:30:00 Let us go then you and I,When the evening is spread out against the skyLike a patient etherised upon a table;Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,The muttering retreatsOf restless nights in one-night cheap hotelsAnd sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:Streets that follow like a tedious argumentOf insidious intentTo lead you to an overwhelming question ...Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'Let us go and make our visit.— T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"In the Here,-You're-Not-Beating-That-Dead-Horse- Properly,-Let-Me-Show-You-How-to-Do-It department, I was inspired to take keyboard (and cudgel) in hand by an article in the April Fools Day issue of The Deal by Vipal Monga, "Hooked on a Feeling." I just read the piece today, after my return from a relaxing spring break holiday en famille at a deluxe beachside resort outside Mogadishu. (The little Dealmakers really enjoyed skipping unexploded ordnance out over the coral reefs.)VM's topic is clearly lim... More About: Angel , Talk , Talking , King , Mich
Dance, Monkeys, Dance
2007-03-24 21:15:00 key on this damn thing?" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_eVB4pxYKr-0 /RgU4RAEFWvI/AAAAAAAAAD0/GflGyoPtQDM/s160 0-h/Monk ey-typing.jpg">From the Arts&LEISURE Section:**One in an occasional series of posts with little or no relation to the financial markets, the world economy, or the spending habits of Blackstone partners and their spousesLike many of you, Dear Readers, I have a number of e-mail accounts for both work and home, in addition to the ultrasecret one connected with these pages. I have noticed that for some reason, the spam filters connected with one or more of these accounts seem to lose their efficacy over the weekend, and my inboxes become clogged with more junk e-mails than normal during the working week. I do not mind, however, because this phenomenon allows me to better enjoy what I have come to appreciate as the sheer beauty and poetry of the internet.Take, for example, the subject and sender fields from two e-mails which graced my inbox this morning:"Or primordial so l... More About: Dance , Monkey , Keys , Monkeys
Jabberwocky, Part 2
2007-03-23 17:23:00 Market Poetry has posted a concise summary of the Business section of the Blackstone IPO registration statement, which in the original extends for some 38 pages. It clears up a great many questions which I—and, by extension, I imagine you, Dear Readers—have had concerning the offering.We are in MP's debt. Send them money."And, has thou slain the Jabber wock?Come to my arms, my beamish boy!O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"He chortled in his joy. — Lewis Carroll© 2007 The Epicurean Dealmaker. All rights reserved. More About: Part
Jabberwocky
2007-03-23 16:15:00 "Beware the Jabber wock, my son!The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!Beware the Jubjub bird, and shunThe frumious Bandersnatch!" — Lewis CarrollWell, that's a relief.Blackstone finally filed the initial registration statement for its IPO yesterday, and the financial and mainstream media are frantically earning their keep by turning the shiny object over in their hands as fast as they can. I will not provide any links to articles about the filing, Dear Reader, because you would have to be fly fishing in Kazakhstan with Blackstone #2 Tony James and TPG honcho David Bonderman (q.v. the WSJ, page C1) to have missed it. (No offense to my loyal readers in Kazakhstan.)The statement itself (courtesy of peHub) can be interesting reading, if you like having your head swathed in cotton gauze and bacon grease and being pushed through a warehouse full of foam packing peanuts. I would expect no less from my friends at Simpson Thacher and Skadden Arps. I imagine that it has been some...
Would You Buy Stock from this Man?
2007-03-22 04:30:00 I am sure I have not been alone in noodling in my spare time over whether The Blackstone Group will indeed come to market with an IPO and, if so, what said IPO would look like. I await the rumored prospectus with bated breath.While the media and punditocracy have been busy doing the same, a superficial reading of their output indicates that most of said experts have not devoted much time to thinking carefully about what indeed might happen. (A cynic might ask why I am surprised. I have no good answer.) A dominant strain in most of this commentary seems to assume that Blackstone will somehow collapse the limited partnership fund structures it has carefully constructed over many years into the financial equivalent of a 1960s conglomerate (think ITT) and subsequently offer Jane and Michael Doe suitably engraved stock certificates therein. How these authorities think Blackstone will be able to convince its LPs to consent to such a wholesale (and probably financially-, operationally... More About: Stock , This , Would
Naughty, Naughty
2007-03-21 01:01:00 DealBreaker is atwitter today about a 13-D letter filed recently by activist hedge fund Chapman Capital in its ongoing battle with Embarcadero Technologies, which Chapman wants to sell itself. In it, Chapman recounts a heated exchange with the company CFO in which the latter responded to certain aspersions cast by the former with a familiar idiomatic expression for an anatomically impossible feat (letter quoted via DealBreaker.com):Furthermore, in response to certain comments made by Mr. Shahbazian during a conversation later that day, Mr. Chapman conveyed to Mr. Shahbazian Chapman Capital’s concern that, according to background checks directed by Chapman Capital, Mr. Shahbazian had been viewed negatively by various shareholders of Niku Corporation, ANDA Networks, Inc. and Walker Interactive, all of which in the past had employed Mr. Shahbazian in the capacity of Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Shahbazian reacted temperamentally to Mr. Chapman with the eloquent response, “Fuck you... More About: Naught
Money is the New Black
2007-03-20 16:30:00 The Black stone Group :: private equity?Blackwater USA :: private army?Conrad Black :: privateer?There's a blog in there somewhere.© 2007 The Epicurean Dealmaker. All rights reserved. More About: Money , The N , Lack
The Self-Made Man Club
2007-03-20 00:45:00 In the neverending quest to satisfy you, Dear Readers, by delivering the trenchant financial commentary, biting social satire, and smokin' hot stock tips that you have told me you require, I have begun a habit of devoting at least 20 minutes out of my busy work week to reviewing my own performance, qua bloggist.(While you may view this as admirable dedication on my part, I must admit it is time I would otherwise spend on finding financing for the high-speed rail project in Mogadishu. However, it now appears that the Somalis have taken fright at all the negative publicity hedge funds, private equity, and the recently volatile public equity markets are generating in the world press, so they have approached Robert Mugabe for money instead. C'est la guerre.)Imagine my surprise, then, when perusing Google Analytics© this weekend I discovered that the most popular post on this site since its inception was my little bagatelle on Steve Schwarzman's 60th birthday bash last month, "... More About: Self , Club , Made
Life During Wartime
2007-03-18 16:00:00 I was "surfing" the web the other day (don't you just love hackneyed phrases?), when I stumbled across a couple nuggets that have (temporarily) restored my faith in humanity, or at least in that small and elusive subsection of it that can occasionally be found hiding in the dark corners of the financial Goat Rodeo known as investment banking. I speak, of course, of the Financial Analysts.Now, for those of you not in the know, Financial Analysts are those bright, promising, and often attractive college classmates of yours who disappeared into someplace called Douche Bank or Golden Slacks after graduation and from whom you have not heard since. Sometimes you will run across one in the street, usually late at night when you are stumbling home from a hot nightspot with some smokin' cutie on your arm and images of the Kama Sutra running through your head. Invariably, you are shocked and (temporarily) sobered by their altered appearance: pasty complexion, dark circles under the eyes,... More About: Life , Time , War , Ring
Crooked Timber
2007-03-17 23:30:00 Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here![a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]Croupier: Your winnings, sir.Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.[aloud]Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!Free exchange at Economist.com is confused. Poor FE. (S)he writes:"BLACKSTONE in advanced IPO talks" says the FT this morning (requires subscription), and now I really am confused. Isn't the whole point of private equity supposedly that you can run a company more profitably and efficiently as a private corporation than as a public one? That in the private world you escape the short-termism, the compliance overhead, the social responsiblity that dogs the publicly listed? And here is a top private equity firm that wants to go public: who's fooling who?Well, FE, I hate to break it to you, but I would reply that it is Private Equity (Blackstone, proxy) which has fooled you (proxy for simil... More About: Timber , Rook
Separated at Birth?
2007-03-05 23:00:00 I know, I know, this is soo cheap and obvious, but once I saw Rudy Giuliani's photo on the FT website today I just couldn't resist.The smile is wrong, the hairline is wrong, and Rudy's suit does not appear to have a batwing collar. But look at the ears, and the hair on the temples. And the eyes. Look at the eyes.I hope this doesn't mean I can't be on Rudy's Campaign Finance committee.I am so ashamed.© 2007 The Epicurean Dealmaker. All rights reserved. More About: Para , Birth , Rate , Separated
It's a Small World, After All
2007-03-05 21:01:00 This story just in, from the We're-All-Connected-in-a-Great-Chain-of-B eing department, along with additional reporting from the Sometimes-Bloomberg's-Top-News-Page-Alone -is-(Almost)-Worth-the-Price-of-a-Subscri ption bureau:March 5 (Bloomberg) — An increase in the cost of tortillas, a staple of the Mexican diet since the Maya ruled 1,000 years ago, has triggered a slump in the peso.Tortilla prices jumped 5.9 percent in January, the most in eight years, after costs climbed for corn, the main ingredient. That increase fanned inflation and a bond market rout that curbed demand for the currency. The peso has fallen 2.4 percent in the past month, making it the world's third-worst performer against the dollar among the 70 currencies tracked by Bloomberg."There's a big risk that tortilla price increases will lead to higher wage demands and fuel inflation," said Eduardo Perez, head bond trader at Mexico City-based brokerage Valores Mexicanos SA, the country's largest independent... More About: World , Small , After , Mall , Small World
Clothes Make the Man
2007-03-02 18:00:00 Damn! I forgot how good that dusty old tome "Doing Deals: Investment Banks at Work"1 really is. Full of juicy nuggets, still fresh from the literary oven after 19 years.Attentive readers will know that Dennis Berman's recent article on underappreciated investment bankers in The Wall Street Journal triggered a post from me yesterday, and after I went back to the Doing Deals book for reference I could not put it down until late in the evening. It almost made me late this morning for a conference call on the high speed rail project in Mogadishu. (We are trying to decide between Steve Cohen of SAC Capital and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway as lead investor, although they have agreed to share the role.)Anyway, this little jewel of a book explains so much about The Life, which is surprising given its provenance from Harvard Business School.On the topic of relations between i-bankers and their corporate customers:The vast disparity in compensation between investment bankers and ... More About: Clothes , Make , The Man , Cloth
Woe is me
2007-03-02 04:16:00 I'd lay my head on the railroad tracksAnd wait for the Double "E"But the railroad don't run no morePoor, poor pitiful me — Warren ZevonIn the news category of "Sympathy for the Devil," or "Schadenfreude for Breakfast," The Wall Street Journal regaled its readers today with the sorry tale of poor little rich investment bankers sobbing into their bourbon about how none of their clients love them any more. Perhaps like you, Dear Reader, my first reaction was—in addition to a rueful smirk—puzzlement: Is this news? Or even, after we have all cruelly snickered at the dashing of overcompensated young investment bankers' naive dreams of socioeconomic relevance, really interesting?At least the pompous piffle out of the anonymous Goldman Sachs spokesman that "the advisory business is at the center of our franchise" did trigger a reflexive snort of amusement over my morning roll. If the advisory business ever was at the center of that hulking behemoth, it has been many ...
A Simple Request
2007-02-14 04:00:00 In the course of an investment banking career spanning almost two decades, I have yet to meet a private equity professional who is wracked with doubt, paralyzed with uncertainty, or unsure about his or her own brilliance and effectiveness in the realm of investing. Perhaps this perception is not a true reflection of these peoples' character and beliefs, but rather just a pose they all adopt when meeting an investment banker, one of those low and despicable intermediaries who are only out to skim a fee and who never put their own capital at risk in any deal. I do not know.This also seems to be a common attitude among those refugees and recruits from Corporate America who join financial sponsor firms as operating, adjunct, or advisory partners. I still remember a series of meetings a few years ago when a Senior Operating Partner at A Very Prestigious Private Equity Firm argued strenuously in one meeting that Portfolio Company XYZ absolutely needed to be characterized as an Industr... More About: Simp , Request , Simple , Quest
L'État, c'est moi
2007-02-12 19:00:00 Dan Primack of peHub has recently weighed in with a jeremiad against Steve Schwarzman's upcoming 60th birthday bash in Manhattan, scheduled for tomorrow evening.In it, Dan bewails the fact that such a high profile, posh affair as is apparently being planned is coming at exactly the wrong time, what with increased scrutiny of the private equity juggernaut in the press, Washington, and among public company shareholders:The New York society pages estimate that the bash will cost in excess of $4 million, and I’m told that Schwarzman [is] a bit miffed that the details are being scrutinized as if it were a taxpayer-funded event. But this party presents Schwarzman with a much bigger problem than personal pique—it will be just another reason for public company shareholders to reject leveraged buyout offers (or at least to drive them up). In other words, this party is bad for business.I agree with Mr. Primack that there is almost nothing about this bacchanal that will be good for th...
Lucky Fool
2007-02-09 01:15:00 Dear Readers — It appears I have been failing you, my only constituency. I have received several e-mails along the following lines:Yo, T.E.D. —You write too much. Don't you have a job?Anyway, don't you know that no-one visits a blog about Wall Street and M&A to read about corporate governance, CEO pay, or any of that other [stuff]? We want to know how to get RICH.Now, are you gonna deliver, or do I have to go to richdadpoordad.com?Sincerely,Vinnie S.Brooklyn, NYHerewith, I share my response:Dear Vinnie — You are right. I'm sorry. I have gotten a little carried away with blogorrhea, but my doctor assures me it comes from my newness to the medium, and it will pass. I do have a job, but I have been able to post so much because my partners believe I am busy financing a high speed rail link in Somalia.You're also right about the lack of wealth-building pointers. I thought there already were enough blogs out there dispensing investment advice, but I guess ther... More About: Fool , Lucky , Luck
Whoa, Nellie!
2007-02-08 20:00:00 Business.view at Economist.com (cute use of dots, btw) writes—rather hysterically, in our view—that the "[the] backlash against the private-equity boom is becoming a tad hysterical." As evidence, they cite recent opinion pieces by John Gapper in The Financial Times and Ben Stein in The New York Times.As is typical of many apologias for our current system of capitalism found in The Economist, there is a lot of apparent even-handedness ("still," "on the other hand"), but at the end of the day what caps it for B.v is that 1) "many private-equity firms are paying over the odds for their acquisitions" and 2) "the shareholders of [the] firm must approve any sale." We shall dispatch each of these arguments in turn.First, I think few would dispute that all acquirors, private equity and strategic, are paying lots of moolah for their acquisitions nowadays. Money is cheap and plentiful, and most businesses are relatively healthy, so acquisition multiples have been climbing relen... More About: Ellie , Whoa
The Fat Lady Sings
More articles from this author:2007-02-07 22:15:00 Well, it's over.It appears that Steve Schwarzman and The Blackstone Group have won the bidding war for Equity Office Properties Trust today, as EOP shareholders approved the $39 billion deal in the biggest LBO ever. I guess I am happy for Steve and his colleagues, but I suspect there are a lot of unhappy people out there.First, of course, must be Steve Roth, Chairman and CEO of competing bidder Vornado, who has missed out on yet another juicy whale of a target after bemoaning all the previous whoppers that got away. He must be feeling a little like Rodney Dangerfield, since the equity component of his bid never did get any respect. I suppose he can take some consolation from the fact that his stock is up over 15% since Blackstone announced their original deal with EOP, and Vornado shareholders seem to be drowning their sorrows in Cristal champagne by bidding up VNO shares over $1.3 billion today alone. He may also get several smaller bites at the same apple, now that Blackstone... More About: Lady , Sing , Sings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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