Top Firm Confirms 2,000 Job Cuts
The news agency also reports that hedge fund Citadel Investment Group has hired three former Merrill Lynch executives as its expands its activities into investment banking.
And The Wall Street Journal reports that monoline insurer MBIA has sued Merrill over $5.7bn of troubled derivatives contracts. According to the newspaper, the bond insurer has accused the firm of 'deliberately offloading its deteriorating subprime mortgage exposures.....and misrepresenting them as high-quality assets' back in 2007 and 2008.
The newspaper also reports that AIG is close to announcing the sale of its Japanese HQ building, which could go for as much as $1bn.
The Financial Times reports that Australian investment bank Macquarie posted its first annual profit decline in 17 years Friday. Net profit for 2008 came in 52% down at $634m. The firm is now believed to be looking to raise additional capital.
CityWire reports that Hyde Park Investment, a fund of hedge funds, appears to have succeeded in its bid to get fund management guru John Duffield to change the name of his new venture, which was to be known as Hyde Park Asset Management. Let's hope that Duffield hadn't already ordered the stationery.
And Les Echos newspaper says that French bank Societe General is likely to post a first-quarter profit of some $426m, with rival BNP Paribas's earnings hitting around $1.3bn for the period.
Finally, Bloomberg reports that Whistlejacket Capital, the defaulted SIV established by Standard Chartered, has sold over $2.5bn of distressed assets at an average discount of 33%. The assets were sold at auction last week by receivers Deloitte & Touche.