2 Banks Doubling Down
By Morgan Housel
June 3, 2008
Recommended (4)
The dilutive deluge continues. An unprecedented need to raise capital to shore up their balance sheets has been one of the most overlooked side effects that financial companies have had to deal with in the midst of the housing mess.
Citigroup (NYSE: C) has already coughed up more than $40 billion. Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) and E*Trade (Nasdaq: ETFC) have practically given away the house. Since last summer, big banks have had to raise a mind-boggling $213 billion to even out the credit crunch.
Here are two more taking the equity plunge:
Binge No. 1
Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) is considering raising additional capital, estimated to be between $3 billion and $4 billion. The exact terms will likely be announced when Lehman reports quarterly earnings later this month.
Trying to defend itself from short-sellers picking apart its books, Lehman raised $4 billion a couple of months ago. Just last week, it took heat from hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who's short Lehman stock, after he poked holes in certain assets Lehman had marked up. With shares down more than 50% year to date and a market cap under $18 billion, shareholders might have a bone to pick over the capital-raising binges, but in today's survival-of-the-fittest environment, options are running slim.
Binge No. 2
While it's held up far better than most of its peers, State Street (NYSE: STT) announced yesterday that it is raising $2.5 billion by selling common stock. The stock sale comes with a hefty price tag, expected to dilute existing investors around 9%.
Back in January, State Street warned that it would have to put aside more than $600 million to cover legal costs stemming from frustrated customers who may have felt duped into subprime investments that just weren't their thing. The plot thickened last month. Although State Street stood by its January estimate, Bloomberg reported that the final damages could be as much as $7.8 billion. Yowza!
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