Commentary - 04/03/2008

Squeezing National City Into KeyCorp

Rival banks? Yeah, like two used car dealers across the street from each other screamin' they've got the better deal. In the meantime, the owners of both dealers set down to dinner at the same table and gloat 'cause they own them both. But the deal's got to look good to keep up illusions. Don't want to disappoint the customers. When they're done merging the two plantations, they won't need all 32,000 Nat'l City employees either. We're in a recession, ya know!

Apologies to all those employees, too. My only point is that this is how the top brass thinks. Having been cut by the experience myself, I know it's hell. So much for long-time company loyalty. It was supposed to flow both ways. They claim "It's just business."

National City may need cleaning up before a sale
Nat'l City taking a long time to sell itself-analysts
National City, KeyCorp talking merger

Here's some text from the first story listed above:

Market rumors about a possible merger have long surrounded National City, which lost more than $330 million in the fourth quarter on bad bets in the mortgage market.

Speculation reached a new pitch Tuesday, when the company released a statement saying it had hired New York investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to examine "strategic alternatives."

It's been a tough year for the 163-year-old bank, as National City has been besieged by turmoil in the housing and capital markets. Its stock has fallen more than 70% over the past 12 months.

Now isn't that interesting. National City hires Goldman Sachs, to help it explore "strategic alternatives." It just so happens that Goldman Sachs is one of the TOP 10 Major Holders of KeyCorp.

And one more thing: take a look at the TOP 10 Major Holders of Goldman Sachs. Then look at the TOP 10 of National City and KeyCorp. One big happy family, unless you're a minority shareholder in the wrong company at the wrong time. That's why the bondholders come out grinnin'. Same ol' buddy-buddies. The Barclays (London) and AXA (Paris) connections just keep poppin' up most everywhere, especially in this little example. Are you catchin' on yet?

Perhaps this is why: Sometimes The Dragon Wins


Symbol Name Of Corporation
NCC

Major
Holders
National City Corporation (As of 31-Dec-2007)
Top 10 Institutional HoldersShares2007Value2006
Brandes Investment Partners L.P.28,402,5914.48%$467,506,647-.--%
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd25,169,8753.97%$414,296,142-.--%
National City Corporation25,020,8343.95%$411,842,927-.--%
Capital Research And Management Company24,542,0003.87%$615,758,780-.--%
State Street Corporation19,316,1203.05%$317,943,335-.--%
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The)17,557,8022.77%$289,001,420-.--%
Capital Research Global Investors16,942,0002.67%$278,865,320-.--%
Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management, LLC11,554,7001.82%$190,190,362-.--%
LSV Asset Management9,082,8261.43%$149,503,315-.--%
AXA (Paris, France)8,513,0151.34%$140,124,226-.--%
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners:1%-.--%
Top 10 [1.9%] of 514 Institutional Holders Control29.35%-.--%
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control7.02%-.--%
NOTE: Capital Group manages three funds that control 6.20%.
Vanguard manages three funds that control 2.08%.
Barclays manages a fund that controls 0.59%.
State Street manages a fund that controls 0.59%.
T.Rowe Price manages a fund that controls 0.55%.
Putnam manages a fund that controls 0.51%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 Major Holders control 39.87%, and
Barclays/Associates control 9.26% of National City.
Capital Group now controls 12.74%.

Symbol Name Of Corporation
KEY

Major
Holders
KeyCorp (As of 31-Dec-2007)
Top 10 Institutional HoldersShares2007Value2006
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd36,275,9499.10%$850,671,004-.--%
Allianz Global Investors of America L.P. (Munich, Germany)19,320,7104.84%$453,070,649-.--%
State Street Corporation12,942,9653.25%$303,512,529-.--%
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The)12,608,3173.16%$295,665,033-.--%
Keybank National Association10,970,8282.75%$257,265,916-.--%
Dreman Value Management, LLC8,268,5322.07%$193,897,075-.--%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc8,143,6422.04%$190,968,404-.--%
LSV Asset Management7,302,6091.83%$171,246,181-.--%
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (Frankfurt, Germany)7,129,6621.79%$167,190,573-.--%
AXA (Paris, France)6,724,3761.69%$157,686,617-.--%
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners:6%-.--%
Top 10 [2.2%] of 452 Institutional Holders Control32.52%-.--%
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control14.39%-.--%
NOTE: Capital Group manages two funds that control 2.23%.
Vanguard manages three funds that control 2.07%.
Barclays IShare manages a fund that controls 1.04%.
Allianz manages a fund that controls 1.00%.
Goldman-Sachs manages a fund that controls 0.91%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 Major Holders control 39.77%, and
Barclays/Associates control 16.34% of KeyCorp.

Symbol Name Of Corporation
GS

Major
Holders
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (As of 31-Dec-2007)
Top 10 Institutional HoldersShares2007Value2006
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd17,075,9284.31%$3,672,178,316-.--%
Marsico Capital Management, LLC14,496,2103.66%$3,117,409,960-.--%
State Street Corporation14,274,7763.61%$3,069,790,578-.--%
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The)11,231,0272.84%$2,415,232,356-.--%
Wellington Management Company, LLP9,760,9432.47%$2,099,090,792-.--%
AXA (Paris, France)9,240,2732.33%$1,987,120,708-.--%
FMR LLC7,831,4921.98%$1,684,162,354-.--%
Janus Capital Management, LLC6,791,8871.72%$1,460,595,299-.--%
Bank of New York Mellon Corporation6,418,0881.62%$1,380,209,824-.--%
Northern Trust Corporation6,357,4111.61%$1,367,161,235-.--%
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners:9%-.--%
Top 10 [0.9%] of 1010 Institutional Holders Control26.15%-.--%
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control12.87%-.--%
NOTE: Vanguard manages three funds that control 2.10%.
SPDR Trust controls 0.60%.
Janus Capital manages a fund that controls 0.55%.
Fidelty manages a fund that controls 0.45%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 Major Holders control 29.85%, and
Barclays/Associates control 14.02% of Goldman-Sachs.

© 2008 by Edward Ulysses Cate
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