The Committee to Protect Canadians from Competition has come up with a new bid for the TMX:
A group of nine Canadian banks and pension funds have offered to buy the TMX Group Inc., attempting to break up a planned merger between TMX and London Stock Exchange Plc with a richer offer that values the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange at $3.6-billion.
The bid for all of TMX, which includes all but two of Canada’s six biggest banks, is worth $48 a share, sources said. That’s a 15-per-cent premium to TMX’s market price, sources said.
…
The bid from the banks and pension funds will be made by a new company called Maple Group Acquisition Corp. In addition to cash, the banks and funds would merge their stakes in the country’s stock clearing system, CDS Inc., and a rival trading system, Alpha Group, with TMX as part of Maple.Investors in TMX would get cash as well as new shares in Maple. The result would have the banks owning 25 per cent of the company, the pension funds 35 per cent and existing TMX shareholders the remaining 40 per cent, said a source familiar with the situation.
Lucky or Smart? A lot of guys achieve a measure of success and decide they’re not just smart, they’re invincible. And now another career’s been blown up:
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund and a potential candidate for the French presidency, was charged with attempted rape and a criminal sex act on a New York hotel maid, police said.
The attack allegedly occurred yesterday against a 32- year-old female at a Sofitel hotel in midtown Manhattan, according to an e-mailed statement by the New York Police Department.
…
The alleged victim is a maid at the hotel, New York Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said. The assault occurred about 1 p.m. yesterday when the woman entered the $3,000-a-night suite — Room 2806 — Strauss-Kahn had checked into on May 13, Browne said in a telephone interview. Strauss-Kahn is alleged to have emerged from a bathroom naked and made two attempts to forcibly have sex with the maid, Browne said.She managed to escape from the room and notified colleagues who called the police, Browne said. When officers arrived, Strauss-Kahn wasn’t there and his mobile phone had been left behind, he said.
Strauss-Kahn was in the first-class section of an Air France flight when it was minutes from departing.
Very hard to prove an unconsummated rape attempt. I’m more interested in what you get for three grand a night in a New York hotel. He’s being held without bail, which is a poke in the eye of France, not to mention him personally:
“He has almost no incentive to stay in this country,” Assistant District Attorney Artie McConnell told Jackson at the hearing in a packed courtroom in lower Manhattan. “He has an extensive network of contacts throughout the world.” France “does not extradite its nationals,” he said.
The judge agreed to hold Strauss-Kahn without bail, agreeing he is a flight risk.
The theatre has started already, with some people shouting it could be a set-up and others claiming that it’s old news.
The yuan took another baby-step towards becoming a global currency:
RBC Capital Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE), has announced the launch of its deliverable offshore Chinese Yuan (CNH) platform.
Commenting on the launch Ed Monaghan, Global Head of FX, RBC Capital Markets, said: “The ascent of China to the second largest economy in the world means its currency has grown in importance and is even more relevant to our global client base. We see significant future prospects in the CNH market and will be developing this business over the coming months.”
The new platform, which will originate from RBC’s operations in Hong Kong, will enable RBC Capital Markets to execute interbank trades in CNH with its clients and counterparties, offering FX Spot, Forwards and Swaps. This new offering builds on RBC’s existing CNY Non-Deliverable Funds product.
Hat tip to Assiduous Reader BG for bringing this to my attention!
Higher education fails to provide students “good value” for the money they and their families spend, more than half of U.S. adults said in a survey.
The debate over higher education’s value “has been triggered not just by rising costs but also by hard economic times,” according to a report released yesterday by the Washington-based Pew Research Center. The organization, an independent research group funded by Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts, surveyed 2,142 adults, aged 18 and older, from March 15 through March 29.
There’s a new name in the bond markets:
Google Inc. (GOOG) made its first foray into the bond market with a $3 billion sale to pay back short-term borrowings at relative yields comparable to companies with the highest credit grade.
…
Google, with total cash and marketable securities of $35 billion at yearend, according a regulatory filing, is tapping the corporate bond market as investment-grade borrowing costs tumble to about the lowest since November. Chief Executive Officer Larry Page, who replaced Eric Schmidt last month, is ramping up spending to expand in mobile and video advertising even as U.S. and European authorities mount investigations into the company’s business practices.The world’s biggest Internet-search company split the sale evenly between three-, five- and 10-year notes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 1.25 percent, three-year notes yield 33 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, the 2.125 percent, five-year debt pays a 43 basis-point spread, and the 3.625 percent, 10-year securities offer 58 basis points above benchmarks, Bloomberg data show.
The Bank of Canada has released a working paper by Jason Allen and Teodora Paligorova titled Bank Loans for Private and Public Firms in a Credit Crunch:
Banks reliance on short-term funding has increased over time. While an effective source of financing in good times, the 2007 financial crisis has exposed the vulnerability of banks and ultimately firms to such a liability structure. The authors show that banks that relied most on wholesale funding were the ones to contract its lending the most during the crisis. Their results suggest that banks propagate liquidity shocks by reducing credit only to a certain type of borrower. Importantly, in the financial crisis banks passed the liquidity shock only to public firms. Furthermore, long-term relationships between firms and banks played an important role during the crisis. Public firms with weak banking relationships pre-crisis experienced a greater credit crunch than other public borrowers.
It was a mixed day on the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts gaining 6bp, FixedResets down 3bp and DeemedRetractibles up 9bp. Volatility picked up a little, but not to any special extent. Volume was desultory.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
|||||||
| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2932 % | 2,454.3 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2932 % | 3,691.2 |
| Floater | 2.46 % | 2.25 % | 38,691 | 21.62 | 4 | 0.2932 % | 2,650.0 |
| OpRet | 4.88 % | 3.46 % | 62,527 | 1.15 | 9 | -0.1417 % | 2,416.6 |
| SplitShare | 5.20 % | -1.72 % | 59,739 | 0.58 | 6 | -0.0558 % | 2,506.2 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.1417 % | 2,209.7 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.75 % | 5.55 % | 129,673 | 6.07 | 9 | -0.0441 % | 2,062.4 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.52 % | 5.57 % | 120,947 | 14.48 | 15 | 0.0620 % | 2,151.8 |
| FixedReset | 5.15 % | 3.24 % | 196,619 | 2.89 | 57 | -0.0324 % | 2,310.3 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.17 % | 4.94 % | 296,063 | 8.14 | 53 | 0.0874 % | 2,122.5 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| BAM.PR.R | FixedReset | -1.44 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2041-05-16 Maturity Price : 23.42 Evaluated at bid price : 25.93 Bid-YTW : 4.67 % |
| PWF.PR.K | Perpetual-Discount | -1.27 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2041-05-16 Maturity Price : 23.01 Evaluated at bid price : 23.24 Bid-YTW : 5.36 % |
| CIU.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | 1.21 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2041-05-16 Maturity Price : 22.51 Evaluated at bid price : 22.67 Bid-YTW : 5.08 % |
| GWO.PR.I | Deemed-Retractible | 1.51 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 22.15 Bid-YTW : 6.07 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| BNS.PR.L | Deemed-Retractible | 69,417 | TD crossed 25,000 at 24.35 and 20,000 at 24.40. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.37 Bid-YTW : 4.86 % |
| SLF.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | 45,936 | Desjardins crosed 14,000 at 23.17; TD crossd 20,000 at 23.20. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.20 Bid-YTW : 5.82 % |
| RY.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | 34,820 | RBC crossed 25,000 at 24.65. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.61 Bid-YTW : 4.90 % |
| MFC.PR.C | Deemed-Retractible | 34,155 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.53 Bid-YTW : 6.28 % |
| TD.PR.K | FixedReset | 30,630 | TD crossed 25,000 at 27.42. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-08-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 27.43 Bid-YTW : 3.23 % |
| TD.PR.P | Deemed-Retractible | 27,790 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2016-12-01 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.35 Bid-YTW : 5.04 % |
| There were 24 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| PWF.PR.M | FixedReset | Quote: 26.70 – 27.02 Spot Rate : 0.3200 Average : 0.1876 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.K | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 23.24 – 23.52 Spot Rate : 0.2800 Average : 0.1757 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.G | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.04 – 25.42 Spot Rate : 0.3800 Average : 0.3039 YTW SCENARIO |
| CIU.PR.C | FixedReset | Quote: 25.01 – 25.29 Spot Rate : 0.2800 Average : 0.2163 YTW SCENARIO |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | Quote: 25.95 – 26.25 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.2404 YTW SCENARIO |
| SLF.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 23.20 – 23.35 Spot Rate : 0.1500 Average : 0.0960 YTW SCENARIO |