Whitney Comments On Capital Raising By Lehman,Others Lehman is selling shares ahead of what will probably be a ``barn rush'' of firms trying raise capital this year, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney wrote in a report. ``While this capital raise is expensive on a near-term historical basis, it will only get progressively more expensive to raise capital as the year evolves.'' Conversion Price The convertible preferred shares have a coupon of 7.25 percent, Lehman said. The conversion price is $49.87, compared with $37.64 at the close on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. Lehman rose $3.21 to $40.85 in 10:03 a.m. composite trading, after reaching $41.62. UBS AG, Europe's biggest bank, said today it's seeking a cash infusion of 15 billion francs ($15 billion) to rebuild capital after a 12 billion franc quarterly loss linked to subprime mortgages. Deutsche Bank AG, the largest bank in Germany, will write down 2.5 billion euros ($3.9 billion) in loans and asset-backed securities as a result of subprime investments gone bad, the Frankfurt-based company said. While many investors were expecting writedowns to be concluded in last year, first-quarter results are proving to be a disappointment, Oppenheimer's Whitney said. Banks will have to raise more capital to cope with further value reductions of their portfolios, she said. `Rude Awakening' ``Another rude awakening will likely be the need to refocus on capital ratios of the financials as net losses wipe out a material portion of new equity raised in the past three months,'' Whitney wrote in a report today.
if the stock ever gets up to the conversion price, they short the common and buy the convert. for a free look at the yield they used to pound on Lucent whenever it had to issue paper and it never recovered.