Post by psychecc on Sept 2, 2008 16:52:26 GMT -6
Lehman Brothers needs to sell part of itself to survive. This will make that hard job harder. Link to full article follows.
Major Commodities Fund Closes, In Blow to Lehman
By Charlie GasparinoOn-Air Editor
CNBC.com
| 02 Sep 2008 | 06:10 PM ET
Ospraie Fund, a big commodities fund partly owned by Lehman Brothers Holdings, is closing down and will return money to investors after incurring big losses this year.
People close to the fund, which had nearly $4 billion in assets, said the losses resulted from bad bets in copper and natural gas, causing the flagship fund to lose 38% since the beginning of the year.
The closing of the fund is a big blow to Lehman, whose 20% stake in Ospraie is part of the investment-management business that Lehman is shopping to help raise capital.
Lehman's stock fell sharply in after-hours trading after CNBC reported the fund was closing.
Lehman has been trying to sell all or part of its investment-management unit, which includes the crown jewel, the Neuberger & Berman money management business, to offset what many analysts expect to be billions of dollars in additional losses in the third quarter because of soured debt assets on Lehman's books.
As reported, Lehman Chief Executive Dick Fuld is running out of time not only to keep his job as CEO but to have the Wall Street firm remain independent. The selling of Neuberger is one of the narrowing list of options available to Fuld, many believe.
....
"This is absolute shocker," John Kilduff, senior VP of Energy Trading at MF Global, and a CNBC contributor, said in response to Ospraie's closing....
In a deal that closed earlier this summer, Ospraie purchased ConAgra's trading arm, utilizing information from ConAgra's physical production of corn, wheat and all agricultural products to trade in the futures market.
In Kilduff's opinion that gave Osperai a huge advantage, until the current losses started setting in.
....
In recent weeks, shares of Lehman have been pounded as the commercial shops a sale of the depressed assets to clean up its balance sheet, and the money making Neuberger to give the firm additional capital.
Most analysts believe that the firm cannot issue more stock to raise capital because of the firm's shaky finances.
CEO Fuld has also held talks with sovereign wealth funds to make a major investment in Lehman, and some analysts have suggested that Fuld might sell the firm outright.
So far none of those options have panned out....
www.cnbc.com/id/26515055/
Major Commodities Fund Closes, In Blow to Lehman
By Charlie GasparinoOn-Air Editor
CNBC.com
| 02 Sep 2008 | 06:10 PM ET
Ospraie Fund, a big commodities fund partly owned by Lehman Brothers Holdings, is closing down and will return money to investors after incurring big losses this year.
People close to the fund, which had nearly $4 billion in assets, said the losses resulted from bad bets in copper and natural gas, causing the flagship fund to lose 38% since the beginning of the year.
The closing of the fund is a big blow to Lehman, whose 20% stake in Ospraie is part of the investment-management business that Lehman is shopping to help raise capital.
Lehman's stock fell sharply in after-hours trading after CNBC reported the fund was closing.
Lehman has been trying to sell all or part of its investment-management unit, which includes the crown jewel, the Neuberger & Berman money management business, to offset what many analysts expect to be billions of dollars in additional losses in the third quarter because of soured debt assets on Lehman's books.
As reported, Lehman Chief Executive Dick Fuld is running out of time not only to keep his job as CEO but to have the Wall Street firm remain independent. The selling of Neuberger is one of the narrowing list of options available to Fuld, many believe.
....
"This is absolute shocker," John Kilduff, senior VP of Energy Trading at MF Global, and a CNBC contributor, said in response to Ospraie's closing....
In a deal that closed earlier this summer, Ospraie purchased ConAgra's trading arm, utilizing information from ConAgra's physical production of corn, wheat and all agricultural products to trade in the futures market.
In Kilduff's opinion that gave Osperai a huge advantage, until the current losses started setting in.
....
In recent weeks, shares of Lehman have been pounded as the commercial shops a sale of the depressed assets to clean up its balance sheet, and the money making Neuberger to give the firm additional capital.
Most analysts believe that the firm cannot issue more stock to raise capital because of the firm's shaky finances.
CEO Fuld has also held talks with sovereign wealth funds to make a major investment in Lehman, and some analysts have suggested that Fuld might sell the firm outright.
So far none of those options have panned out....
www.cnbc.com/id/26515055/