BNET Daily Dispatch: Blackstone, Toyota, Russia, and the Fed
By
Andrew Hines
May 17th, 2007 @ 11:39 am
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Categories: General
Tags: Alliance, Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke, Toyota Motor Corp., Andrew Hines
- The Blackstone Group is in a deal to acquire Alliance Data Systems, a leading provider of transaction, credit, and marketing services, for $6.76 billion. This deal marks the second business services company buyout this week — private equity firms are attracted to the sector because the companies tend to generate significant cash flows. Alliance Data Chairman and CEO Mike Parks said the buyout allows shareholders to “maximize the value of their investment.” Shares in Alliance Data jumped nearly 25 percent to $78.38 on the news.
- Toyota announced today the roll-out of its latest and most expensive hybrid vehicle to date — the $124,000 luxury sedan Lexus LS. The new model signals Toyota’s increasingly firm commitment to hybrid technology. Rejecting the idea that hybrid cars are a transitional technology, Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto said, “as long as cars exist, the need for hybrid technology will remain.” The new hybrid goes on sale today in Japan, and will gradually become available in the United States and Europe in the following months.
- Russia’s federal customs service said today that it had filed suit against the Bank of New York, seeking $22.5 billion in damages for a 1990s money laundering scandal. The bank issued a statement saying, “While we have not seen the complaint, based on our knowledge of the facts, we believe any such suit would be totally without merit, if not frivolous.”
- In a speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke helped ease concern that trouble in the sub-prime mortgage markets would affect the economy at large. Bernanke said, “Past gains in house prices have left most homeowners with significant amounts of home equity, and growth in jobs and incomes should help keep the financial obligations of most households manageable.”
