Hush-hush tales from the world of stock markets, banking, corporate world and corridors of power
MF RED ALERT
With the market regulator and investigative agencies on an overdrive against corruption in the asset management industry, market chatter is that accommodation deals between operators/promoters and crooked fund managers have reduced significantly. Besides, there are enough disgruntled junior employees at fund houses, or small broking firms resentful of the high handed behaviour of mutual fund dealers/fund managers, willing to blow the whistle on shady practices. While SEBI and other agencies are probing the front running angle, industry insiders say the relatively uncomplicated ‘cash deals’ are more common, in which operators apparently offload their long positions to fund houses at inflated prices, or the fund houses allegedly buy large blocks of shares from the benaami holdings of promoters.
SHADES OF CHANGE
This story is about a marque stock in the “Marcee” manager’s portfolio. The Asian Paints’ stock fell 7% (about 20% from its 52-week high) after Grasim announced a massive capex in the paints segment last week. Since the paints leader is a market darling, there was a lot of buzz around its fall, and we reached out to the Marcee manager who has been quite vocal about his belief in the paints company. Why does he think the stock–which has mostly been like Caesar's wife (beyond reproach)--was correcting so sharply? Unlike other times, the manager excused himself...
An Orange County man has pleaded guilty to submitting nearly $270 million in fraudulent claims over an 11-month span to Medi-Cal for expensive prescription drugs containing generic ingredients tha...