Citigroup grabs Wachovia on the cheap

Wachovia Corporation has agreed to be bought out by Citigroup in a deal supported by the U.S. government. Exact terms of the deal are still forthcoming, but this could be seen as a best case scenario for a bank which was increasingly under stress due to the global credit crisis. In 2006 Wachovia’s shares changed

JP Morgan Chase buys WaMu out

JP Morgan Chase has taken over the deposit taking subsidiary of Washington Mutual. The transaction is effective immediately, meaning it has closed. This is the biggest deal in FDIC activity yet. Note: I originally heard this story just before 9PM ET and Yves Smith at naked capitalism has her take on the news. Obviously, this

Gateway Bank sold, hurt by Frannie preferreds

When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went bust, a number of major players were stung as the value of Fannie and Freddie preferred shares plummeted. Principal amongst these players was Gateway Bank, which had a huge percentage of bank capital tied up in the preferreds. Now Gateway has arranged a takeover by a rival smaller

Bradford & Bingley is being shopped by the FSA

Just in case you thought the crisis was over, I have to remind you that there are still firms out there that are very concerned about their futures. Principal among them is the UK buy-to-let specialist Bradford & Bingley. The word on the street is that the FSA, the UK banking regulator, is shopping the

Lloyds gets HBOS for a song

Lloyds TSB has announced that it will buy rival HBOS for 232 pence a share. Back in May 2007, just over a year ago, HBOS shares were trading for almost £17 each. However, HBOS closed trading today at £1.47, sustaining a loss of over 90% in 16 months time. While HBOS is often touted as

Consolidation through merger over bankruptcy

As we plan for another day in financial turmoil, I have to admit to preferring financial services industry consolidation through merger to bankruptcy. I was just reading FT Alphaville‘s post on a proposed Lloyds TSB takeover of HBOS (the UK equivalent of a JP Morgan Chase takeover of Washington Mutual) and I thought, “what a

Barclays gets “core Lehman” assets

It’s done. Core Lehman is sold. Now the rest of the company can be liquidated. Barclays will buy the core assets for a measly $2 billion. For Lehman staff in the US, this has to be a relief. However, staff in London are probably left out in the cold as Barclays sees this operation as

Merrill – Bank of America deal

It has now been confirmed that Bank of America has bought Merrill Lynch for $44 billion.

Originally, Bank of America had been in the running to buy Lehman Brothers but balked at Lehman’s black hole of a balance sheet. The U.S. Government was offering no backstop for a Lehman purchase as it had for Bear Stearns.

Merrill shrewdly dialed up Bank of America, in fear for their own continued existence. They have been able to strike a deal – and at a decent price. Notch one up for John Thain.

Bank of America made a big mistake in buying Countrywide Financial — one that they will regret for years. Buying Lehman Brothers would have been even more disastrous given their exposure to Commercial Real Estate. But, this deal is good for several reasons. It is better for Merrill than BoA though, as it is a premium to book value and the current stock price

AIG down; Lehman and WaMu looking to be sold

The world of financial services in not looking terribly stable in the wake of the Frannie nationalization. In fact, things are as jumbled as they have ever been. The latest news has AIG down 30% and both WaMu and Lehman brothers on the auction block. Given the pace of the news cycle these past few

Deutsche Bank buys Postbank

I have only seen this story in Germany so far. The long and short is that this is a done deal. Deutsche Bank is expected to close the deal tomorrow. Helping to seal the deal is the fact that no layoffs are anticipated initially. This will make union leaders very happy, as they opposed the

Nationwide merger with Cheshire and Derbysire now a done deal

I posted yesterday that Nationwide had confirmed it was in advanced talks with both Cheshire and Derbyshire. Now, it seems the mergers are complete. However, it should be noted that these deals were done under duress (see post mentioned above). Cheshire and Derbyshire were foisted onto Nationwide by the FSA. See the details of the

Nationwide looking to buy targets in UK mortgage market

Nationwide Building Society, the largest not to demutualise, is taking full advantage of the troubles in the mortgage market and looking for rivals to snap up on the cheap. Multiple news outlets are reporting that Nationwide is in talks with Derbyshire and Cheshire amongst others. UPDATE: This merger is now a done deal. See my