this needed its own thread...BSC 383 Madison Ave building worth $1.2 BILLION....

Bear Stearns owns all 47 floors of plush 383 Madison Avenue estimated to be worth at least $1.2 billion.

 

So?

 

Why do so many people on ET fail to understand the concept of negative equity.

If liabilities exceed assets, how much is it worth. If stocks did not have limited liability, shares of BSC would be trading for less than zero.

Think of it like a sub-prime loan. If the building is worth 1.2 billion but the mortgage is 2 billion. How much is the building with mortgage worth to an investor?

 

JPM has the option to buy the building if the deal doesn't go through. That is pretty funny.

 

I hear someone at JPM really wanted that building. It seems like it's the only thing they want anyway.

 

Did Bear own the bldg free and clear or did its lenders have mortgages on it?

That big RE value is a headline grabber but teh company might not have had any equity in it.

Nobody talking.

 

They also want the prime brokerage division.

 

I hear their prime brokerage business is a mere shell of what it used to be. Lots of client defections. I would assume all of the infrasctructure is in place, though.

 

And the people with the knowledge. And the technology. I believe the WSJ even wrote about it yesterday. Bear was #1 in prime brokerage before this collapse. They probably dropped to #3 though because 2 and 3 were not far behind. JPM would love to get into that business in a big way.