Category Archives: Capital Markets

Tech Mahindra Acquisition of Satyam and Next Steps

Here’s an update on the Satyam corporate incident from Dec-Jan, on which we had shared our thoughts. Tech Mahindra has emerged as the winning bidder for the 51% equity stake sale in Satyam. Tech Mahindra is also an IT outsourcing services company, and this development is a relief for Satyam’s employees and customers worldwide.

Kiran Karnik, the interim chairman of the Indian government appointed board of Satyam, said that it is up to Tech Mahindra to decide the way forward for Satyam. And of course, it shouldn’t be any other way. Tech Mahindra now has a wide array of restructuring projects as it tries to merge/rationalize Satyam’s services into its overall IT services portfolio.

Temasek Holdings Reveals $39 Billion Loss

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YlvEjlIelzk/R-xvJCBdpJI/AAAAAAAAJ0Y/Q997dhiOFP0/s400/Temasek%2BHoldings.jpgTemasek Holdings, the Singapore state owned investment company, has revealed today that it has lost $39 billion, or 31 percent of its holdings, in eight months last year.Temasek Holdings portfolio went down from SG$ 185 billion to SG$ 127 billion Singapore dollars ($85 billion) as of November 30.

The revelation comes just days after Temasek said Chief Executive Ho Ching, the wife of Singapore’s premier Lee Hsien Loong, steps down to be replaced by former BHP Billiton CEO Charles Goodyear.

The fund made a number of wrong moves under Ho Ching, including a $5 billion investment in brokerage Merrill Lynch in late 2007. And as you may know already, Merrill’s shares fell 78 percent in 2008 amid the global financial turmoil and it was bought by Bank of America Corp. on 1st Jan in a lifesaving deal.

Temasek Holdings also has large stakes in other financial companies such as Standard Chartered Plc, DBS Group Holdings Ltd and Barclays Plc. So it looks like Temasek financed a good chunk of the toxic mortgage securities in the US.

This is a learning for all of us. Warren Buffet invested $5bn in Goldman Sachs, and Temasek in ML. And the difference in the quality of decision making is clear.

Lessons from Satyam Episode

Rather unique set of events have happened with Satyam, which is India’s 4th largest IT services company, having $2.1 billion annual revenue in FY 2007-2008.

There is much to learn for any business, whether it is privately held or a public-listed.

Read the specific analysis here: Lessons From Satyam Investor Issues 

Goldman Sachs Reports First Quarterly Loss But Remains Strong

The unbeatable hero of Wall Street, Goldman Sachs, has reported its first ever quarterly loss since it went public 9 years ago. And yes, the market conditions are quite bad.

Goldman Sachs has posted a quarterly loss of $2.1 billion, or $4.97 per share, on net negative revenue $1.58 billion, down from a profit of $7.01 per share in the same quarter last year. Results for the entire year weren’t actually all that bad; the i-bank posted a profit of $2.3 billion, or $4.47 per share, on revenue of $22.2 billion.

Though some may say its down from an $11.6 billion profit last year, but if you see it with a “grounded perspective”, most of Goldman Sach’s competition is in tatters, or buried already.

To us, a surviving and standing Goldman Sachs represents strength. And they have managed to be significantly less exposed to much of the sub-prime crisis and its toxic derivatives.

More than that, Goldman Sachs has the belief to battle it out. If anyone on Wall Street can do it, it has to be Goldman Sachs. And at their current valuation, they are still a ‘buy’!