(Bloomberg) -- It’s a tale of love, murder, feng shui and $4.2 billion.
For the second time in a decade, the wealth amassed by property tycoon Teddy Wang has ended up in Hong Kong’s high court, which began a trial yesterday to decide whether the fortune should go to the family run company Wang built or to a 50-year-old feng shui master called Tony Chan.
The court will judge which is the real will of Nina Wang, Teddy’s wife, who herself had to wrest control of the inheritance in 1999 after her kidnapped husband was declared legally dead, though his body was never found.
At stake is the wealth of Asia’s richest woman when she died in 2007, according to Forbes magazine, including control of Chinachem Group, the company she built with Teddy, which owns some 200 buildings in Hong Kong and millions of square feet of development land.
“The estate battle is just like a soap opera,” said Kenny Tang, Hong Kong-based executive director of Redford Securities Co. “The details are too absurd even for a movie.”
The dispute is a further twist in the fate of a fortune Teddy Wang built up over three decades, turning his father’s Shanghai paint and chemical business into one of Hong Kong’s biggest closely held real estate developers. His wife only gained control of his estate years after Teddy had been kidnapped and presumed dead.
‘Little Sweetie’
Dubbed “Little Sweetie” by the Hong Kong media for her pigtails and traditional Chinese dresses, Nina Wang died of cancer on April 3, 2007, at the age of 69. The Shanghai native, born Nina Kung, was a childhood friend of Teddy, whom she married in 1955. They had no children.
Chan will present the famous pigtails at the trial as evidence of their intimate relationship, the Standard newspaper reported yesterday, citing an unidentified spokesman for Chan.
Denis Chang, a lawyer for the Chinachem foundation, told the court that Nina Wang gave Chan three payments totaling HK$2.06 billion ($265.8 million), the Standard reported today.
Wang left her estate to Chan because he understood her personal and business philosophy, Jonathan Midgley, a lawyer at Haldanes, the firm representing Chan, told reporters on April 20, 2007, 13 days after she died. Four days later, Chinachem filed a writ asking the court to decide which will is valid.
‘Nina’s Lover’
In November 2008, Midgley said Chan, who is married with three children, had been Nina’s “lover,” and that the two had a “long, close and affectionate relationship” for about 15 years. Chan later released photographs showing them together, with his hand on her shoulder. Midgley didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone or an e-mail seeking comment. Calls to his office were answered by his secretary, who said he was unavailable.
Chan has business interests in property development and practices feng shui as a hobby, Midgley said in 2007. The High Court appointed accountants from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in December 2007 to oversee Chinachem pending the trial.
Feng shui, which means “wind-water,” is a Chinese geomantic practice in which a site is chosen or a building configured in harmony with spiritual energy.
“I can say that in all 27 years I’ve known Nina, I never heard of, nor met, Tony Chan,” Ringo Wong, managing director of Chinachem Entertainment Ltd. and Wang’s former personal assistant, told reporters on April 27. He declined to comment on the trial.
Read more here
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
AIG CEO to fight criticism of employees: report
(Reuters) - American International Group Chief Executive Edward Liddy will speak out against criticism of the insurer's employees on Wednesday and talk about the company's future plans, the Wall Street Journal said.
Liddy will speak to a U.S. House oversight committee and ask for a better partnership with the government, according to the paper.
"Rampant, unwarranted criticism of AIG serves only to diminish the value of our businesses around the world," the paper quoted Liddy's prepared testimony.
The government has stepped forward three times as AIG's benefactor, committing some $180 billion in its efforts to rescue the insurer in exchange for an 80 percent stake. The government aid includes some $85 billion in loans that the insurer is trying to repay through divestitures.
Read more here
Liddy will speak to a U.S. House oversight committee and ask for a better partnership with the government, according to the paper.
"Rampant, unwarranted criticism of AIG serves only to diminish the value of our businesses around the world," the paper quoted Liddy's prepared testimony.
The government has stepped forward three times as AIG's benefactor, committing some $180 billion in its efforts to rescue the insurer in exchange for an 80 percent stake. The government aid includes some $85 billion in loans that the insurer is trying to repay through divestitures.
Read more here
Thursday, May 7, 2009
American Express files for permission to repay TARP
(Reuters) - American Express Co (AXP.N) asked on Thursday for permission to repay the $3.4 billion in TARP funds it received, after the U.S. government stress test showed the credit card firm is well capitalized.
According to bank regulators' guidance, American Express has to show it can issue long-term debt in the public markets that is not backed by government guarantees in order to repay the TARP funds, the fourth-largest U.S. credit card company said.
American Express became a bank last November as bond markets closed down and lenders outside the banking system began looking to fund themselves with deposits. Being a bank also helped American Express win access to capital from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.
"Since then, financial markets have become more stable, and American Express has made substantial progress in adapting to a very difficult economic environment," the company said in a statement.
The stress test estimated American Express had enough resources to remain profitable, even in a worst case scenario of 20 percent of credit card losses over 2009 and 2010.
Chief Financial Officer Daniel Henry told analysts on a conference call that American Express did not plan to raise common equity.
Read more here
According to bank regulators' guidance, American Express has to show it can issue long-term debt in the public markets that is not backed by government guarantees in order to repay the TARP funds, the fourth-largest U.S. credit card company said.
American Express became a bank last November as bond markets closed down and lenders outside the banking system began looking to fund themselves with deposits. Being a bank also helped American Express win access to capital from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.
"Since then, financial markets have become more stable, and American Express has made substantial progress in adapting to a very difficult economic environment," the company said in a statement.
The stress test estimated American Express had enough resources to remain profitable, even in a worst case scenario of 20 percent of credit card losses over 2009 and 2010.
Chief Financial Officer Daniel Henry told analysts on a conference call that American Express did not plan to raise common equity.
Read more here
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
iPhone app tracks stimulus spending
(CNNMoney.com) -- Arkansas said Wednesday it launched the first iPhone application to track state projects funded through the federal stimulus package.
The free application, Arkansas.gov Recovery Project Search, is available through the Apple iTunes Store and can be downloaded to an iPhone or iPod Touch
"We want transparency in the recovery process," said Chris Masingill of the Arkansas State Recovery Office. "This is taxpayers' money, so we want them to have the information and the tools to access it."
Users can search keywords to find Arkansas state project names and descriptions, including location, dollar allocation, start date and percentage completed.
The location lookup feature displays projects by city or county name, and the "Near Me" button uses an iPhone's Global Positioning System to find projects near the user's location.
Read more here
The free application, Arkansas.gov Recovery Project Search, is available through the Apple iTunes Store and can be downloaded to an iPhone or iPod Touch
"We want transparency in the recovery process," said Chris Masingill of the Arkansas State Recovery Office. "This is taxpayers' money, so we want them to have the information and the tools to access it."
Users can search keywords to find Arkansas state project names and descriptions, including location, dollar allocation, start date and percentage completed.
The location lookup feature displays projects by city or county name, and the "Near Me" button uses an iPhone's Global Positioning System to find projects near the user's location.
Read more here
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Why stimulus money goes unspent
(CNNMoney.com) -- The federal government has made available more than $74 billion in stimulus funds, but the majority of that money has yet to hit the streets.
That's because states have to jump through hoops before they can claim the funds and put them to use. Some have to get approval from their legislatures before they can spend the money. Others must wait for municipalities and school districts to submit applications to state agencies before distributing the dollars.
These are some of the main reasons why states have drawn down only $15.6 billion of the $74 billion made available to them in the 11 weeks since President Obama signed the $787 billion recovery act. Nearly $14 million of that amount has gone to help states handle the crush of Medicaid expenses.
Still, many states are not waiting to get the checks in hand before putting the stimulus funds to use. They are reversing some of their deepest cuts to public services -- particularly for education and social services -- in anticipation of getting the funds.
States have a lot of money to spend. They, along with local governments, are charged with administering about $280 billion of stimulus funds over the next few years, according to the Government Accountability Office, which is tracking states' use of the money. About $49 billion will be doled out this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Of that amount, about 90% will be spent on health, transportation and education, primarily through the Medicaid, highway infrastructure and state fiscal stabilization for education programs.
Other than for Medicaid, however, the majority of the money has yet to leave Washington. States have spent only $7.9 million in highway funds, about 10% of what's been made available, according to a federal Department of Transportation report from April 24. And they haven't claimed any of the $5.4 billion in state stabilization funds for education, though eight states have had their applications approved over the past two weeks.
Of course, in some cases, federal agencies dole out the funds over time. For road projects, states request reimbursement from the federal government as they pay the bills. So spending will always lag behind the dollars committed.
"Some outlays happen over years," said Lana Hurdle, the federal Department of Transportation's acting assistant secretary for budget and programs. "It's not something that happens over weeks. There's more than just one single bill per project."
States have even more work to do before they can claim other funds. Some programs, such as energy efficiency and law enforcement, require the states to apply for dollars. For others, such as job training for youths, states have to receive proposals from companies or social service agencies before they can award the money.
Read more here
That's because states have to jump through hoops before they can claim the funds and put them to use. Some have to get approval from their legislatures before they can spend the money. Others must wait for municipalities and school districts to submit applications to state agencies before distributing the dollars.
These are some of the main reasons why states have drawn down only $15.6 billion of the $74 billion made available to them in the 11 weeks since President Obama signed the $787 billion recovery act. Nearly $14 million of that amount has gone to help states handle the crush of Medicaid expenses.
Still, many states are not waiting to get the checks in hand before putting the stimulus funds to use. They are reversing some of their deepest cuts to public services -- particularly for education and social services -- in anticipation of getting the funds.
States have a lot of money to spend. They, along with local governments, are charged with administering about $280 billion of stimulus funds over the next few years, according to the Government Accountability Office, which is tracking states' use of the money. About $49 billion will be doled out this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Of that amount, about 90% will be spent on health, transportation and education, primarily through the Medicaid, highway infrastructure and state fiscal stabilization for education programs.
Other than for Medicaid, however, the majority of the money has yet to leave Washington. States have spent only $7.9 million in highway funds, about 10% of what's been made available, according to a federal Department of Transportation report from April 24. And they haven't claimed any of the $5.4 billion in state stabilization funds for education, though eight states have had their applications approved over the past two weeks.
Of course, in some cases, federal agencies dole out the funds over time. For road projects, states request reimbursement from the federal government as they pay the bills. So spending will always lag behind the dollars committed.
"Some outlays happen over years," said Lana Hurdle, the federal Department of Transportation's acting assistant secretary for budget and programs. "It's not something that happens over weeks. There's more than just one single bill per project."
States have even more work to do before they can claim other funds. Some programs, such as energy efficiency and law enforcement, require the states to apply for dollars. For others, such as job training for youths, states have to receive proposals from companies or social service agencies before they can award the money.
Read more here
Monday, May 4, 2009
AIG nears $1B sale of Japanese HQ
(Reuters) -- American International Group Inc. is near a deal to sell its Japanese headquarters for about $1 billion in what would be one of its largest asset sales since a September rescue, a source familiar with the matter said Monday.
A Japanese insurance company is expected to buy the prized building in the Otemachi section of Tokyo, although at least two parties were looking at the property, the source said.
A deal for the building, which overlooks the Imperial Palace, is expected to be announced later this week, the source said.
AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) declined to comment on the news, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The source did not want to be identified because the deal has not been announced yet.
The price for the building is in line with what was expected when it was put on the market in February.
Merrill Lynch (MWL) is running the auction for the Tokyo building.
Read more here
A Japanese insurance company is expected to buy the prized building in the Otemachi section of Tokyo, although at least two parties were looking at the property, the source said.
A deal for the building, which overlooks the Imperial Palace, is expected to be announced later this week, the source said.
AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) declined to comment on the news, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The source did not want to be identified because the deal has not been announced yet.
The price for the building is in line with what was expected when it was put on the market in February.
Merrill Lynch (MWL) is running the auction for the Tokyo building.
Read more here
Sunday, May 3, 2009
World Bank Bonds Show What Happens in State Rescues
(Bloomberg) -- Federal guarantees by 13 countries on more than $400 billion of financial company bonds are punishing the AAA-rated World Bank Group with record borrowing costs -- an indication of what can go wrong when government gets in the way.
The Washington-based World Bank, founded in 1944 to rebuild economies after World War II, sold $6 billion of three-year notes March 26 priced to yield 30 basis points more than the benchmark for such borrowings. The so-called spread was the widest for a dollar-denominated bond offering by the supranational lender, said George Richardson, the institution’s head of capital markets, in an interview.
Just seven months ago, the World Bank paid a record low 35 basis points less than the midswap rate, a market measure for exchanging fixed- and floating-rate cash flows. The sudden rise in World Bank relative bond yields is an unintended consequence of sales of taxpayer-backed debt by more than 50 companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. While these special offerings were designed to bring stability to the credit markets after $1.4 trillion in losses and writedowns in the past 28 months, no one realized the World Bank would be depreciated by such government policies.
“Governments started announcing guarantees for their banks, and then the whole world changed,” said Richardson, a former Goldman Sachs banker.
Rising Sales
Rising risk premiums are also affecting the Washington- based Inter-American Development Bank, which lends to Latin American and Caribbean countries, and Germany’s state-owned Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau, whose credit supports housing, education and small business.
Banks and financial companies worldwide sold 320 billion euros ($424 billion) of state-guaranteed debt since October, denominated in euros, dollars and U.K. pounds, according to Leef Dierks, a fixed-income analyst at Barclays Capital in Frankfurt.
They may issue a total of 900 billion euros in bonds for all of 2009, Dierks said.
The total includes $235 billion of dollar-denominated debt in the U.S. with backing from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as of yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Lenders backed by multiple governments, known as supranationals, have the flexibility to borrow billions in multiple currencies and at any part of the yield curve, making their bonds among the most liquid securities.
Read more here
The Washington-based World Bank, founded in 1944 to rebuild economies after World War II, sold $6 billion of three-year notes March 26 priced to yield 30 basis points more than the benchmark for such borrowings. The so-called spread was the widest for a dollar-denominated bond offering by the supranational lender, said George Richardson, the institution’s head of capital markets, in an interview.
Just seven months ago, the World Bank paid a record low 35 basis points less than the midswap rate, a market measure for exchanging fixed- and floating-rate cash flows. The sudden rise in World Bank relative bond yields is an unintended consequence of sales of taxpayer-backed debt by more than 50 companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. While these special offerings were designed to bring stability to the credit markets after $1.4 trillion in losses and writedowns in the past 28 months, no one realized the World Bank would be depreciated by such government policies.
“Governments started announcing guarantees for their banks, and then the whole world changed,” said Richardson, a former Goldman Sachs banker.
Rising Sales
Rising risk premiums are also affecting the Washington- based Inter-American Development Bank, which lends to Latin American and Caribbean countries, and Germany’s state-owned Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau, whose credit supports housing, education and small business.
Banks and financial companies worldwide sold 320 billion euros ($424 billion) of state-guaranteed debt since October, denominated in euros, dollars and U.K. pounds, according to Leef Dierks, a fixed-income analyst at Barclays Capital in Frankfurt.
They may issue a total of 900 billion euros in bonds for all of 2009, Dierks said.
The total includes $235 billion of dollar-denominated debt in the U.S. with backing from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as of yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Lenders backed by multiple governments, known as supranationals, have the flexibility to borrow billions in multiple currencies and at any part of the yield curve, making their bonds among the most liquid securities.
Read more here
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