British billionaire Joseph Lewis plans to take action to protect the value of his 8.4 percent stake in Bear Stearns Cos, which is being acquired in an emergency deal with JPMorgan Chase & Co, a regulatory filing in the US on Wednesday indicated.
In a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Lewis reported holding 12.1 million shares of the New York-based investment bank. He holds the stake through Aquarian Investments Ltd, Cambria Inc, Nivon Inc and other entities.
Nivon bought more than 500,000 Bear Stearns shares on March 13 for US$55.13 apiece, just days before Bear Stearns agreed to be acquired for US$2 per share.
Lewis said the shareholder group will take "whatever action that they deem necessary and appropriate to protect the value of their investment in the shares," including encouraging Bear Stearns and third parties to consider an alternative transaction.
Bear Stearns was forced to accept the deal after risky bets on securities tied to subprime mortgages pushed the bank to the brink of collapse.
Lewis, a magnate who controls more than 170 companies, first reported taking a 7 percent Bear Stearns stake last September. The investment made him one of the company's largest shareholders.
In related news, Deutsche Bank was the only big European bank to bid for Bear Stearns in last week's fire sale, the German business daily Handelsblatt said yesterday.
The biggest German bank stayed in the bidding until late in the process, Handelsblatt said, citing financial industry sources.
It said Deutsche Bank might still get a chance to buy Bear Stearns because shareholders in the US investment bank have staged a revolt against the cut-rate deal with JPMorgan Chase.
Over the weekend, JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy Bear Stearns for a bargain price of US$2 per share.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS