"08:16 Are deal makers on Wall Street leaking secrets? - WSJ WSJ reports suspicious trading patterns -- including increased activity and well-timed bets -- have cropped up in several cos' securities in advance of news of their involvement in big transactions, suggesting Wall Street's deal-making machine may be leaking confidential information. The list includes deals both mammoth and modest: the just-announced $21 bln leveraged buyout of hospital operator HCA Inc. (HCA); the $1.7 bln buyout of Petco Animal Supplies (PETC); the $2.6 bln sale of Maverick Tube (MVK) to Tenaris (TS); and Anadarko Petroleum's (APC) $21 bln offer for both Kerr-McGee (KMG) and Western Gas Resources (WGR). Some of the trading is in a corner of the financial mkts that hardly existed during past takeover waves, which featured questionable trades mainly in plain-vanilla stocks, bonds and options." nitro
ya' fucking think?????? I'm writing my Congressman, so as soon as he gets out of jail, he can look into this.
"06:36 Whispers of mergers set off suspicious trading - NY Times NY Times reports the boom in corporate mergers is creating concern that illicit trading ahead of deal announcements is becoming a systemic problem. But an analysis of the nation's biggest mergers over the last 12 months indicates that the securities of 41% of the cos receiving buyout bids exhibited abnormal and suspicious trading in the days and weeks before those deals became public. The cos identified by Measuredmarkets represented many industries and received bids not only from corporate rivals, but also from private investor groups and mgmt-led buyout teams. They included Amegy Bancorp, the subject of a $1.7 bln takeover announced last September by Zions Bancorp; CarrAmerica Realty (CRE) acquired for $5.6 bln by the private investment co Blackstone Group after a March announcement; Dex Media, whose $9.5 bln purchase by the R. H. Donnelley (RHD) was disclosed in October; the IDX Systems Corporation, whose $1.2 bln acquisition by General Electric (GE) was announced in September; and Texas Regional Bancshares (TRBS), which BBVA said it would acquire in June for nearly $2.2 bln. In each of the five cases, the abnormal trading occurred during periods of significant behind-the-scenes progress in the mergers, as outlined by the cos themselves in regulatory filings long after the deals were struck. Another case in point is the surprise merger, announced May 7, between the Wachovia Corporation (WB) and Golden West Financial (GDW). On May 3, the number of Golden West's call options that changed hands was triple the daily average. Subsequent filings show that was the day Wachovia's board met to review a possible acquisition of Golden West and the day after Golden West's board met to weigh the bid." nitro
Large Republican donors are affiliated with each one of these companies. And that makes them "un-touchable". These guys put the mafia extortion rackets to shame.