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Strategies & Market Trends : John Pitera's Market Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (10590)	11/18/2008 10:26:03 AM
From: Augustus Gloop	4 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 33421

Here's an acutal stock cert I purchased for my collection. I don't have any history on it but I think it's fairly rare. Notice the name of the company and the date

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (10590)	11/18/2008 7:03:02 PM
From: John Pitera	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 33421

Citadel Hedge Funds’ Counterparty Rating Cut by S&P (Update3) By Katherine Burton Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Citadel Investment Group LLC, the Chicago-based investment firm run by Kenneth Griffin, had the <c>counterparty rating for its two biggest hedge funds cut by Standard & Poor’s after posting their worst losses. The ratings were cut to BBB from BBB+ on the Kensington Global and Wellington funds, which tumbled about 40 percent this year. Further reductions are possible if the funds, which oversee $13 billion in assets, don’t improve their investment returns, S&P said today in a statement. “The downgrade reflects Kensington/Wellington’s negative performance in September and October” after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the subsequent declines of stocks and bonds, Daniel Koelsch, S&P’s primary credit analyst for Citadel, said in the statement. A counterparty rating measures the risk that the other party in an agreement, or counterparty, will default. An obligation rated BBB has adequate protection from default. Koelsch declined in an interview to comment on how the downgrade would affect Citadel’s cost of borrowing or its ability to get loans. Katie Spring, a Citadel spokeswoman, declined to comment. Founded by Griffin in 1990, Citadel runs the only S&P-rated hedge funds, the result of a $500 million, five-year note sale in December 2006. While the funds were initially rated BBB, they were upgraded in April 2007 because of strong returns. Citadel bought back about a quarter of those notes beginning in October. Reduced Borrowing The funds reduced the amount of money they borrowed to 3.5 times their net assets as of mid-November from 5.2 times net assets at the start of this year. They are also holding about 30 percent in cash, S&P said. “Their liquidity has been managed strongly,” Koelsch said. “They have been diligent about diversifying their funding counterparties and locking in lending terms for as long as possible.” Wellington, a domestic fund, and Kensington, its offshore version, hold similar investments. Client withdrawals for the current quarter have been less than 10 percent of the funds’ assets, S&P said. Citadel limits clients’ quarterly redemptions to 1/16th of their investment. If total withdrawals exceed 3 percent of the fund, investors must pay a fee back into the fund ranging from 5 percent to 9 percent. While the funds expect to benefit from a rise in convertible bonds and other credit securities, “gains will take time and happen incrementally, and we expect will require patience from investors and funding counterparties,” S&P said in its statement. To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Burton in New York at kburton@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: November 18, 2008 17:01 EST