You see? Temasek, you see?
Merrill Lynch seeking new capital from Chinese and Mideast investors – report
December 30, 2007: 08:46 AM EST
LONDON, Dec. 30, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) — The new chief executive of Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) (OOTC:MERIZ) & Co Inc is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern investors this weekend that could lead to a capital-raising sale of another big stake in the US investment bank, the Observer reported.
John Thain is taking calls from a number of potential buyers, understood to include sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf and China, in a bid to raise extra capital, the newspaper quoted an unidentified US observer as saying.
Singapore state-linked investment company Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd said on Dec 26 it had invested 4.4 bln usd into Merrill — equivalent to 91.7 mln of Merrill’s shares at 48 usd a share — plus options to buy more shares worth up to 600 mln usd, as a vote of confidence in Thain’s leadership.
The newspaper quoted the unnamed US observer as saying the Temasek cash would not be enough to insulate the group from the impact of the global credit crunch and another unidentified source as saying Thain was seeking extra overseas capital to boost Merrill’s balance sheet and to avert potential future liquidity problems.