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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44940)	11/4/2003 3:47:37 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

The new face of kinder 'brokers' the ones who may be nice and honest!! Wall St. Deal Promises Bigger Payout to Fewer Investors By Judith Burns Dow Jones Newswires WASHINGTON -- Wall Street's $1.4 billion settlement likely will offer bigger payouts to fewer investors, as the final deal calls for repaying investors in about three dozen stocks, far less than an earlier proposal that encompassed almost 150 stocks. U.S. District Judge William Pauley III signed off on the deal Friday, months after 10 Wall Street firms agreed settle investigations by federal and state regulators without admitting or denying allegations they issued upbeat stock research to curry favor with investment-banking clients. Under the final deal, $399 million will be funneled to investors through nine separate funds created with payments from Wall Street firms to federal regulators. A single administrator for the funds is still to be named. The administrator will provide final recommendations on how to divide the money among investors who relied on allegedly biased research from the settling firms. Final approval of the administrator's plan rests with the federal judge, and isn't expected until mid-2004. The administrator's job should be easier as the final settlements identify the stocks and relevant holding periods that will qualify for reimbursement. The list has gotten shorter. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers previously identified more than 140 stocks the administrator might consider when recommending which investors qualify for repayments. The deal approved on Friday whittled the list down to no more than 42 stocks bought by clients of the brokerage firms during specific time periods. Shrinking the list should speed the process of returning money to investors and increase the size of payouts, SEC officials said Friday. "Clearly, the court wants this done in an efficient manner," said Antonia Chion, an associate director in the SEC's enforcement division. Another goal, she said, is ensuring payments to investors are "meaningful." While Ms. Chion said the SEC's original list was "very, very broad," and covered a large swath of stocks recommended by the Wall Street firms, the final list targets stocks for which the Wall Street firms allegedly issued fraudulent research or violated industry advertising rules. Nothing in the deal precludes investors from bringing private lawsuits against the Wall Street firms, however, Ms. Chion stressed. Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C) 's (C) Salomon Smith Barney's $150 million payment -- the largest of any of the firms -- will cover the biggest list of stocks. The final deal targets payments for investors in eight stocks: AT&T Corp.(NYSE:T) (T), Adelphia Business Solutions Inc. (ABIZQ), Focal Communications Corp., Level 3 Communications Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:LVLT) (LVLT), Metromedia Fiber Networks Inc., RCN Corp.(NASDAQ-SMALL:RCNC) (RCNC), Williams Communications Group Inc. and XO Communications Inc.(NASDAQ-OTCBB:XOCM) (XOCM). Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.'s $75 million payment will cover six stocks: Agilent Technologies Inc.(NYSE:A) (A), Digital Impact Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:DIGI) (DIGI), New Power Holdings Inc. (NWPWE), Numerical Technologies Inc., Synopys Inc. (SNPS) and Winstar Communications Inc. (WCIIQ). Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(NYSE:GS) 's (GS) settlement will cover five stocks: 360networks Inc., AT&T, Exodus Communications Inc.(NASDAQ-OTCBB:EXDQE) (EXDQE), Global Crossing Ltd.(NASDAQ-OTCBB:GBLXQ) (GBLXQ) and WorldCom Inc.(NASDAQ-OTCBB:WCOEQ) (WCOEQ). Five different stocks are covered by the Lehman Brothers Inc.(NYSE:LEH) (LEH) settlement: Broadwing Inc., DDi Corp.(NASDAQ-OTCBB:DDICQ) (DDICQ), Razorfish Inc., RealNetworks Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:RNWK) (RNWK) and RSL Communications. Bear Stearns & Co.(NYSE:BSC) (BSC) and Morgan Stanley(NYSE:MWD) (MWD) have settlements that tag payments for four stocks. Bear Stearns' payments would cover certain investors in SonicWall Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:SNWL) (SNWL), Micromuse Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:MUSE) (MUSE), CAIS Internet Inc. and Digital River Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:DRIV) (DRIV), while Morgan Stanley(NYSE:MWD) will cover investors in AskJeeves Inc. (ASKJ), Drugstore.com Inc. (DSCM), Inktomi Corp.(NASDAQ-NMS:YHOO) , now part of Yahoo! Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:YHOO) (YHOO), and Ventro Corp., formerly Chemdex Corp. Settlement with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.(NYSE:JPM) (JPM) will provide payments for two just stocks sold through specific underwriting firms -- Eipcor Software Corp. ( EPIC) investors who were clients of Hambrecht & Quist LLC or Chase H&Q(NYSE:JPM) , and International Rectifier Corp.(NYSE:IRF) (IRF) investors who were clients of J.P. Morgan Securities. UBS AG's (USB) UBS Warburg LLC's settlement fund will cover investors in Triangle Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Interspeed Inc. If any additional funds are left over, it will apply to investors in Flextronics International Ltd.(NASDAQ-NMS:FLEX) (FLEX) and Atmel Corp.(NASDAQ-NMS:ATML) (ATML). The settlement of U.S. Bancorp's(NYSE:USB) (USB) Piper Jaffray Inc. unit will provide payments to shareholders in Esperion Therapeutics Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:ESPR) (ESPR) and Triton Network System Inc. If any money is left over, it will apply to investors in Just For Feet Inc., JDS Uniphase Corp.(NASDAQ-NMS:JDSU) (JDSU) and Comverse Technology Inc.(NASDAQ-NMS:CMVT) (CMVT). In addition to repaying investors, the final settlement calls for creation of an $80 million investor education fund that will be structured as a nonprofit organization and run by an executive director. Wall Street firms that are party to the deal also agreed to provide customers with independent research for five years, slotting $432.5 million for the additional expense. Any money left over after five years would be tagged for regulators at the NASD and the New York Stock Exchange. -By Judith Burns; Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6692; Judith.Burns@dowjones.com