Monday, May 7, 2007

Insider Trading Concerns Increase as Stock Options Surge Before Buyouts

(Bloomberg) -- While Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., TPG Inc. and Bain Capital LLC meet behind closed doors to mount the world's biggest leveraged buyouts, their deals already are common knowledge in the stock options market.

Options trading jumped an average 221 percent in the three days before the 17 biggest U.S. takeovers of the past year were disclosed, compared with the average for the previous 50 days, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The acquisitions of Dallas- based electric utility TXU Corp., HCA Inc., the biggest U.S. hospital operator, First Data Corp., the world's largest processor of credit-card payments, and student loan company Sallie Mae were all preceded by a surge in seemingly well-timed options bets, the data show.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

No comments: