Failure of Regulations or Regulator? By Matthew Parker  Many words have already been written about the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”): the causes, the implications, whether there should be a Government bailout, should Glass Steagall be reintroduced – even should the FDIC deposit insurance be increased from $250k to $20m! To add to the […]

How to ensure you and your team obtain essential finance skills Financial training comes in all shapes and sizes so how does one decide which is the best option to obtain new functional finance skills?  At Training The Street, we consider the knowledge and skills required to be a high-performing finance professional.  In other words, […]

The story of Twitter and Elon Musk, after playing out in the media for months, is now headed to the courts. Regardless of the outcome, the case will have a major impact on deal-making for years to come, affecting the way due diligence is conducted, transactions are structured, merger agreements are written, and disputes are […]

Charlie Munger, Buffett’s long-time partner, and chairman of Daily Journal Corporation (DJCO) was answering shareholder questions today when the subject of crypto came up. On being asked whether he was wrong about buying crypto, Charlie said, “I’m proud that I never invested in Crypto. It’s like venereal disease”. That’s nice Charlie. That’s real nice. But […]

  The following three statements are all true: In November 2019, Hertz went out to investors asking for $750M. Investors, impressed with what they saw, gave the company $900M instead. In April 2020, four billion dollars of Hertz’s debt was rated triple-A, the same rating that the US government gets for its debt. Triple-A is […]

  Neiman Marcus and J. Crew are the latest to join a list of growing retailers filing for bankruptcy and they both have something in common – enormous debt burdens from leveraged buyouts led by private equity firms. As the government rolls out trillions of dollars in stimulus funds, a push by the private equity […]

Marks and Spencer – When they announced that sales had risen in the quarter but they had, in fact, fallen; mistake due to… an Excel summing error. JPMorgan Chase – When they had $6.2bn in trading losses in 2012 (the “London Whale” incident) due to… an Excel error. Fidelity’s Magellan fund team – When they miscalculated […]

Last week, Kraft Heinz bonds were downgraded to junk status, making it one of the largest “fallen angels” to enter the junk-bond market since 2005! Here are some key points… What is a “fallen angel”? A company that gets downgraded and loses its investment grade rating. What is the impact of the downgrade? Bonds tumbled […]