Below are two pieces from Wed.’s FT Alphaville’s The 6am Cut I’d like to share:
(1) “Overworked, understaffed, banks fear errors” — In short, executives at the world’s top i-banks admit their staff are under pressure from the record volume of M&A activity. [By the way, I read on a WSJ Deal newsletter / blog that disappointing results from Lazard and Greenhill are not worrisome since (according to both firms) they expect a busy second-half from backlog.] What is worrisome, as the FT Alphaville team reports, “… overworked staff around the world are in danger of making costly mistakes,” according to senior i-bank executives. Hey, I’ve got fresh legs, put me in!
(2) “Record start to the year in Asia-Pacific” — Sticking to the same theme, M&A: Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan) region M&A activity is robust, despite the U.S. and Europe grabbng most of the headlines. Data from Thomson shows banks have taken in an estimated $4.7b in fees ytd through May, +30% y/y, on pace to top last year’s record $10b. UBS is the top earner so far at $350m. // Anyone notice it has been rather quiet in Japan in ’07, and ’06 wasn’t exactly the big year everyone expected. The impact from allowing triangular mergers is still uncertain given key questions regarding taxation, among other things.
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