Bear Stearns: Indian Connection
The news that global investment banking and brokerage firm Bear Stearns has been acquired by JPMorgan will go down the memory lane exactly the same way as we remember debacle of Barings Bank in 1995 and Societe General more recently (I believe no one remembers them).
Bear Stearns was sold at a valuation of US$2 per share against market price of US$30 per share. It replicates the situation when Barings Bank was sold for a song to ING Group (£1 to be precise….no billions here).
Probably nobody reading this blog remembers Barings or Nick Leeson, but this time many investors will remember Bear Stearns. Reasoning for this is very simple, Bear Stearns sold shares in Indian markets worth Rs 265 crores in last couple of days. While the amount was not particularly large, bears made sure that Big Bear gets its due share in Indian stock market history. Sensex tumbled by approximately 1000 points. Almost all Bear Stearns shares including Madhucon Projects, Clutch Auto, Dabur Pharma, Indo tech Transformers and Jaiprakash Associates fell flat on the bourses. Retail investors in these stocks were taken by surprise by the abrupt fall in share prices.
India has been historically insulated from global turmoils but now its markets are more linked to international markets (There is no decoupling yet). This time atleast some of the investors will remember the Big Bear.
Bear Stearns was sold at a valuation of US$2 per share against market price of US$30 per share. It replicates the situation when Barings Bank was sold for a song to ING Group (£1 to be precise….no billions here).
Probably nobody reading this blog remembers Barings or Nick Leeson, but this time many investors will remember Bear Stearns. Reasoning for this is very simple, Bear Stearns sold shares in Indian markets worth Rs 265 crores in last couple of days. While the amount was not particularly large, bears made sure that Big Bear gets its due share in Indian stock market history. Sensex tumbled by approximately 1000 points. Almost all Bear Stearns shares including Madhucon Projects, Clutch Auto, Dabur Pharma, Indo tech Transformers and Jaiprakash Associates fell flat on the bourses. Retail investors in these stocks were taken by surprise by the abrupt fall in share prices.
India has been historically insulated from global turmoils but now its markets are more linked to international markets (There is no decoupling yet). This time atleast some of the investors will remember the Big Bear.
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