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March 19 Barclays Bank Makes Inquiry on Takeover of ABN AmroLONDON, March 19 — Barclays, one of Britain’s largest banks, has made an informal takeover approach for ABN Amro Holding, the largest bank in the Netherlands, which is under pressure from hedge funds to consider a merger or asset sales to bolster its lagging share price. A takeover of ABN by Barclays would be the largest crossborder merger ever in the European banking industry, and would create a combined company with market value of more than £80 billion, or $155 billion, with businesses in the United States and Africa, as well as Europe. Such a merger would help Barclays compete with larger rivals like HSBC Holding and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, but two people who confirmed that the inquiry had been made said that the contact between the two European banks was at a preliminary stage and that there was no certainty that Barclays would make a formal offer. The people declined to be identified, citing confidentiality agreements. Among other banks that analysts have said might be interested in all or parts of ABN are the Royal Bank of Scotland, ING Group of the Netherlands and Banco Santander, Spain’s largest bank. Barclays stated an interest in playing a role in any takeover battle involving ABN, one of the people said. ABN Amro, based in Amsterdam, came under pressure from shareholders earlier this year for failing to revive its share price, which has lagged behind those of other banks for years. Shares in ABN, which has its roots in a trading company set up by King Willem I in 1824, have barely budged since Rijkman W. J. Groenink took over as chief executive in May 2000. Analysts have said that the bank’s strategy is lacking focus and that at least three unsuccessful efforts to take over European rivals over the last eight years have weighed heavily on investors’ trust in Mr. Groenink. The Children’s Investment Fund and Tosca, two hedge funds that hold shares in ABN, called on Mr. Groenink last month to explore the options to sell, merge or spin off some of the bank’s assets, which they claimed were not meeting their full potential. Both hold stakes of about 1 percent in ABN. The Children’s Investment Fund is known for exerting pressure on management at companies it has invested in. In 2005, the fund successfully pushed for the ouster of two top executives at Deutsche Börse, the company that runs the Frankfurt stock exchange. Neil Moorhouse, a spokesman at ABN, declined to comment on an approach, as did a spokesman at Barclays. ABN, which owns LaSalle Bank in Chicago, has been considered a takeover target by rivals for years. ABN shares gained in September on speculation that Bank of America might be interested in acquiring it. About two years ago, it also sounded out the possibility of a combination with Barclays, based in London, but nothing came of it. Previously, potential bidders balked at hurdles, including ABN’s struggling wholesale division and disagreements on where a combined bank would be based, bankers said earlier. Mr. Groenink made it clear in the past that he was unwilling to give up Amsterdam as headquarters of any merged lender. Yet, in an interview with Bloomberg News in July, he said that he would not have a serious argument to reject a takeover approach with a “very good story” and an offer worth 40 percent above the share price. Any potential bidder for ABN may be attracted by the business in the United States, which is generating the largest slice of profit, and operations in fast-growing emerging markets like Brazil. ABN has a 56 percent stake in the South African bank Absa and also owns banks in Spain, Portugal and the Middle East. ABN bought Banca Antonveneta, an Italian bank, last year but has had trouble keeping a cap on expenses from the acquisition. For Barclays, an acquisition of a bank the size of ABN Amro would place it among the leaders in the global banking industry. It would help John Varley, chief executive, to meet his goal of more than doubling the share of earnings outside the bank’s British home market, where lenders have been hit by increasing loan losses. Barclays invested heavily over the last years in its investment banking unit, hiring bankers and adding products. The investments paid off last year when earnings from the securities business helped the bank to more than offset losses from bad loans. Mr. Varley has repeatedly said that he wanted to expand Barclays organically in markets like China but has not ruled out acquisitions. He hired Frits Seegers from Citigroup last year to help lead an expansion of the bank’s retail and commercial banking units. March 06 MotivationTop Wall Street & Bank Traders Michael Hutchins ~~~~~~~~~~~~~this guy is my boss's boss's boss's boss City: New York As UBS’s global head of fixed income, rates and currencies, Hutchins is one manager who still actively trades. The expectation that he will soon retire from the bank has sparked mass speculation among Street watchers over who his replacement might be. Publicly, however, Hutchins does not appear inclined to depart. Last October, he joined the Bond Market Association’s board of directors. City: London The head of Goldman’s exotics-derivatives desk in London, Ben-Brahim made partner and was named successor to Christian Siva-Jothy and Geoff Grant, the former co-heads of Goldman’s global foreign-exchange prop-trading desk who left for hedge-fund land last year. Ben-Brahim did not take home a 2004 bonus in the same stratosphere as his 2003 check (which was rumored as high as $70 million), but he can still ably afford London rent. City: New York Running the UBS prop-trading desk (known internally as PFG) as well as the firm’s credit arbitrage group, Karl fared well last year, winning a bonus package that might have made even a hedge-fund manager envious. City: London Dubbed “Keyser Soze” by some rivals after the mysterious kingpin from The Usual Suspects, Wood, yet another big-earning UBS trader near the top of the Wall Street heap, is known for being secretive. He has also earned a reputation as one of the most aggressive and successful traders today. With just a few others alongside him, Wood runs what is viewed as one of the City’s most powerful equity-prop desks. He was recently lured out of seclusion as a result of his involvement in a legal spat concerning the Gadget Shop in the United Kingdom. Keyser Söze apparently has a sense of humor; British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G) provided the entertainment at his fortieth birthday party. City: London Goldman insiders say Bertuzzi, another energy warrior, was on fire in 2004. “He made well over $100 million in profit for the bank,” one source tells us. While oil was so hot last year that many could turn a profit just by getting up in the morning, to rank among the most profitable in Goldman’s elite crew takes an edge. City: New York Considered among the best debt traders on the buy side, Cignarella, a graduate of the University of Chicago Business School, is one of the brightest lights at GSAM, the asset-management arm of Wall Street’s most prestigious firm. City: New York As Goldman’s head of crude-oil trading, Frase had the catbird seat for the one of the biggest oil-price run-ups ever witnessed — and it appears he made good use of it. Colleagues report that his raw trading talent is as good as anyone’s. City: London A top Forex-market prop trader at Goldman, Grant took his bonus check and traded London drizzle for California sunshine, moving to Santa Barbara, California, to launch a hedge fund with fellow Goldman alum Ron Beller. The global macro fund, Peloton Partners, will be based in London, but Grant will operate from his little piece of paradise. City: New York Some rival traders have dubbed him the “King of New York Harbor” for his savvy rental of waterfront real estate — he controls a large chunk of oil-storage space, which gave the firm an edge in last year’s raging oil market. Refvik, a Norwegian, is also known to sail around the harbor in his yacht, Song of Norway. His February bonus check should allow for a significant naval upgrade. City: New York Part of the crack energy team that was practically printing money for Morgan Stanley in 2004, Shear was rewarded for his success. In March, he was appointed head of fixed income, replacing Zoe Cruz. If the energy markets weren’t excitement enough for Shear last year, his appointment lands him neatly in the midst of a major power struggle between the backers and the enemies of CEO Phil Purcell. City: New York Considered one of the best young traders on Wall Street, as well as a likely candidate to be among the next crop of Goldman pros bolting for a hedge fund, Varadhan heads up North American interest-rate products, reporting to Philippe Khuong-Huu. The numbers gene runs in the family: Varadhan’s father, Srinivasa, is an eminent mathematics professor at New York University. City: New York A cool cat, DiMaio has gone through a few lives in his career on Wall Street. The acclaimed bond trader first made headlines when he threatened to take his credit team to rival Barclays Capital, and later did an about-face after extracting a breathtaking compensation deal from CSFB. Former CSFB CEO John Mack, chagrined by the episode, later shunted DiMaio and his team over to the asset-management wing, CSAM. Now, with more than $1 billion of CSFB’s money under management, DiMaio is starting his own credit hedge fund, DA Capital. City: New York Another of the hot energy traders who made Morgan Stanley’s commodities department one of the top performers on Wall Street last year, Greenshields, a natural-gas and electricity trader, was handsomely rewarded for his performance. City: London After a successful run heading a prop-trading desk in London for J.P. Morgan, Huo moved last year to a prop-trading position for UFJ International in the City, where he continued to excel. City: New York Bear Stearns had a phenomenal year in mortgage-backed securities, and few did better than Nierenberg, the firm’s co-head of MBS trading. In 2004, Bear dominated the global MBS market, with $93 billion in issuance for a 10 percent market share, some $6 billion more than its closest rival. Nierenberg is reportedly so superstitious that he refuses to write in red ink; we suspect he used quite a bit of black throughout 2004. City: New York The head of Morgan Stanley’s commodities-trading team, Street veteran Shapiro is known for trading in the physicals as well as energy derivatives. Morgan sources say Shapiro didn’t do too badly for his own book. City: New York Appointed head of strategic risk trading for Merrill Lynch’s global debt markets in January, Wittlin made his 2004 score heading the firm’s global-rates group. While the titles sound official and stuffy, Wittlin is in fact “one of the biggest prop traders there,” one insider says. City: New York The A in Jack DiMaio’s new DA Capital, Ahmad, part of the group that jumped over to CSAM with DiMaio, has been running an internal credit hedge fund for CSFB. An accomplished fixed-income trader, he will now help run the more than $1 billion in DA Capital’s pot. City: Singapore The head of emerging-markets FX trading, Chan (whose full name is Charlie Chan Wai Kheong) paced the bank-trading scene in Asia in 2004. His trading book for CSFB created buzz; might a move to a hedge fund be in the works? City: New York French banks have a reputation for not paying as well as their American counterparts, but industry sources say BNP Paribas was hardly stingy when it came to Dusart’s bonus. The director of high-yield prop trading is said to be well worth all those euros.
City: New York Another in a long line of brilliant minds to serve Goldman masters, Khuong-Huu was brought in four years ago from J.P. Morgan, where he launched the firm’s options-arbitrage group. A world traveler, Khuong-Huu worked in Paris at Société Générale in the late ’80s, trading in the bank’s index-arbitrage business. He later moved to J.P. Morgan in Tokyo. City: New York Among the top traders at J.P. Morgan, Long last year ran high-yield and credit-derivatives trading; she was recently promoted to be deputy to Eric Rosen, the head of credit trading. Extremely bright and a trader’s trader — she can hold her own on the desk and on the town — she’s also the only female on the Trader Monthly 100. City: London Misra, head of global credit trading, has helped turn Deutsche into a credit-derivates powerhouse. His inspiration was to better integrate the unit into the bank, leading to greater innovation and more money. City: London Head of prop trading at J.P. Morgan, Nahas was lured away from CSFB along with Cyril Levy-Marchal last March. He reported to head prop honcho Yan Huo (see page 81), but when Huo left, Nahas took over. City: New York Naro surprised many when he left UBS this spring to launch a new hedge fund with SAC Capital veteran Mark Fishman. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, the fund is called Sailfish Capital. City: New York While the Olympic swimming stud who shares his name took home more gold in 2004, the Phelps who works at J.P. Morgan took home more green: He’s among the top prop traders at the bank. City: New York In the past 18 months, Rosen has risen, going from head of loan trading to co-head of credit trading and then to sole head of credit trading. Many speculate he’ll climb further still. City: New York Named co-head of the newly created global credit group at UBS along with Sal Naro late last year, Ryan is the man left standing at the helm after Naro bolted to start his own hedge fund. UBS insiders say Ryan does not possess quite the trading chops of Naro, but he certainly did all right for himself in 2004. City: New York As head of credit prop-trading at J.P. Morgan, Sabath had a scorching year in 2004. This spring, he left to team up with Satellite Asset Management’s David Ford to launch a broad-based credit hedge fund. Before coming onboard at J.P. Morgan’s prop group, Sabath headed up distressed debt at Golman Sachs. City: New York It has been an interesting 18 months or so for Sherry, who was promoted in November, along with Eric Rosen, to run J.P. Morgan’s credit-trading business. Sherry did not stay especially long in his new seat, however. This past March, he bolted the firm to join Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates, where he’s starting a new fixed-income hedge fund. City: New York One of the most popular traders on Wall Street, Weinstein is also among the most talented. As head of global credit trading-U.S., overseeing approximately 100 traders, he still spends a good deal of time trading for the firm’s internal hedge funds and prop-trading book. A star chess player, Weinstein was also once something of a card counter. |
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