My Connroy Finance Blog

Morgan Stanley Emerges As Top M&A Advisor

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06222009/business/macks_on_track_175418.htm

In the current year, so far John Mack led Morgan Stanley has emerged as the leading advisor for mergers and acquisitions by handling deals worth $175 billion. The company has toppled Goldman Sachs from the top position as it handled deals worth $158 billion, according to a report. Morgan Stanley has returned to the top position after 1996. The merger activity on the whole has, however, declined significantly and has tumbled by 47% year this year to $284 billion. Although the deal volume has gone down, Morgan Stanley has emerged as a winner by advising 13% more deals than last year. Goldman Sachs’ downfall is attributable to a 46% year on year decline. Several other bankers such as the Citi Group, Bank of America, UBS and Deutsche Bank have witnessed a significant fall in their deal volumes.

Chrysler Sale Put on Hold by Court

http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/08/news/companies/chrysler_stay/?postversion=2009060905

Chrysler LLC’s hopes of a quick exit from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection have been dashed by a stay announced by the Supreme Court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has granted a request for the delay in the approval of the proposed sale of the most valuable assets of the automobile major to a group led by Italy based Fiat AG. The delay was sought by a group of Indiana based pension funds who had argued that they were being unfairly treated by the bankruptcy court. The Treasury department believes that the stay is meant to allow the bankruptcy court to have a closer and detailed look on the merits of the stay.  Fiat has given Chrysler the deadline of June 15 to close the deal and a longer stay could delay the whole process.

Books And Recession

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/business/media/29books.html?ref=economy

Another sector that has been hit by the recession is book sales. The downturn has had an overpowering effect on book sales with fewer books being sold in 2008 and 2009. The sales figures have reduced by 1.5% according to book experts.  More and more publishers are reporting dwindling sales. To save on costs, some publishers have even begun to gather to focus on digital publishing. They are also toning down their customary parties and events. Even the hugely popular “Twilight” series have not been able to garner good sales. The book market sure doesn’t look good since Harry Potter made an exit.