Olam is fighting back against Muddy Waters:
Olam International Ltd. (OLMIF), the world’s second-largest rice trader, filed a lawsuit against investment firm Muddy Waters LLC and its founder Carson Block after he questioned the commodity trader’s accounting methods.
The legal action was initiated in the High Court of Singapore following Block’s statements against the company at a conference in London on Nov. 19, Olam said yesterday in a regulatory filing. The suit, which couldn’t immediately be confirmed in the court, is for slander, libel and/or malicious falsehood, Olam’s spokesman Aditya Renjen said. He declined to comment on the size of the damages sought.
A war of words between Olam and Block began when the Muddy Waters research director accused the Singapore-based company of booking profits on transactions before it’s clear how they would work out over time. Olam Chief Executive Officer Sunny Verghese said on Nov. 20 the statements were designed to panic shareholders of the company.
I see that Joe Fontana has been charged with fraud:
Mayor Joe Fontana is facing three criminal charges relating to a federal cheque that paid the deposit on the 2005 wedding reception for his son Michael, his lawyer says.
The charges of fraud, breach of trust by a public official and uttering forged documents were filed against him Wednesday by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police following an investigation of more than two months.
They relate to a $1,700 cheque issued by Public Works Canada that was used to pay the Marconi Club — a London social club. A copy of the stub from that cheque was obtained by QMI Agency and published five weeks ago. The invoice number on the cheque stub, dated April 6, 2005, matched that of the Marconi Club invoice issued about six months earlier.
A former Marconi Club manager told QMI Agency Fontana later produced a similar cheque for the $18,900 balance owing. He said he remembered the payment clearly because he had to chase Fontana six months to get it.
At the time, Fontana was a Liberal mMember of Parliament for London North Centre and federal minister of labour and housing. He was elected mayor here in late 2010 and is midway through his four-year term.
Fontana was my MP when I lived in London. I called him once to express my irritation with a call received from a federal agency that was trying to track down some other Hymas (not even a relation. They had no reason other than my name to call me) … I told him that I resented being considered an informer by government agencies on fishing expeditions. He got angry with me – perhaps he’d just returned from a ‘Bring the STASI to Canada’ meeting – and told me that I had a duty to help out my government.
Have a nice time with your defence, Joe! Remember your duty to help out your government!
It was a good day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums gaining 2bp, FixedResets up 9bp and DeemedRetractibles winning 27bp. Volatility was average. Volume was quite good and all the highlighted issues are FixedResets.
PerpetualDiscounts now yield 4.89%, equivalent to 6.36% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long Corporates now yield a little over 4.25%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) is now about 210bp, a narrowing from the 220bp reported November 14 and equal to the spread paid by CIU with their recent 40-year deal.
HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
|||||||
Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.1072 % | 2,458.2 |
FixedFloater | 4.17 % | 3.52 % | 28,660 | 18.27 | 1 | 0.2643 % | 3,855.0 |
Floater | 2.81 % | 3.01 % | 53,471 | 19.66 | 4 | 0.1072 % | 2,654.2 |
OpRet | 4.60 % | 2.55 % | 57,713 | 0.59 | 4 | 0.1236 % | 2,594.1 |
SplitShare | 5.45 % | 4.80 % | 58,759 | 4.47 | 3 | -0.2908 % | 2,852.8 |
Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.1236 % | 2,372.0 |
Perpetual-Premium | 5.26 % | 2.43 % | 72,831 | 0.87 | 30 | 0.0226 % | 2,315.4 |
Perpetual-Discount | 4.85 % | 4.89 % | 100,560 | 15.59 | 3 | 0.1227 % | 2,623.1 |
FixedReset | 4.99 % | 3.01 % | 199,670 | 4.19 | 75 | 0.0934 % | 2,447.4 |
Deemed-Retractible | 4.90 % | 3.31 % | 123,659 | 0.50 | 46 | 0.2742 % | 2,404.3 |
Performance Highlights | |||
Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
BNA.PR.C | SplitShare | -1.03 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2019-01-10 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.10 Bid-YTW : 5.03 % |
GWO.PR.J | FixedReset | 1.00 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-12-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.26 Bid-YTW : 2.18 % |
MFC.PR.F | FixedReset | 1.03 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.50 Bid-YTW : 3.54 % |
HSB.PR.D | Deemed-Retractible | 1.13 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2012-12-31 Maturity Price : 25.50 Evaluated at bid price : 25.90 Bid-YTW : -2.95 % |
Volume Highlights | |||
Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
SLF.PR.F | FixedReset | 214,270 | TD crossed three blocks: 70,000 and 100,000 at 26.45 and 39,400 at 26.50. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-06-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.45 Bid-YTW : 2.84 % |
BNS.PR.R | FixedReset | 182,667 | Nesbitt crossed blocks of 85,000 and 50,000, both at 25.25; RBC crossed 19,000 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.26 Bid-YTW : 3.34 % |
TD.PR.A | FixedReset | 148,648 | TD crossed 147,000 at 25.60. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.56 Bid-YTW : 3.25 % |
BMO.PR.Q | FixedReset | 125,048 | National crossed 100,000 at 25.15. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.12 Bid-YTW : 3.01 % |
BMO.PR.M | FixedReset | 111,810 | TD crossed 85,900 at 25.01. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.95 Bid-YTW : 3.13 % |
CIU.PR.B | FixedReset | 94,826 | National crossed three blocks: 40,400 shares, 35,000 and 15,400, all at 26.72. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-06-01 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.67 Bid-YTW : 2.14 % |
There were 37 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. |
Wide Spread Highlights | ||
Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
IAG.PR.C | FixedReset | Quote: 25.60 – 26.05 Spot Rate : 0.4500 Average : 0.2664 YTW SCENARIO |
IAG.PR.G | FixedReset | Quote: 25.70 – 25.96 Spot Rate : 0.2600 Average : 0.1452 YTW SCENARIO |
MFC.PR.D | FixedReset | Quote: 26.48 – 26.79 Spot Rate : 0.3100 Average : 0.2090 YTW SCENARIO |
BMO.PR.L | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 26.66 – 26.88 Spot Rate : 0.2200 Average : 0.1333 YTW SCENARIO |
BAM.PR.K | Floater | Quote: 17.45 – 17.71 Spot Rate : 0.2600 Average : 0.1800 YTW SCENARIO |
MFC.PR.C | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 23.94 – 24.20 Spot Rate : 0.2600 Average : 0.1846 YTW SCENARIO |
[…] PerpetualDiscounts now yield 4.89%, equivalent to 6.36% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long Corporates now yield about 4.2%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) is now about 215bp, a small (and perhaps spurious) increase from the 210bp reported November 21. […]