03 May 2008

"Where are All the Customer's Yachts?" becomes "Where Are All the Customers?"


It appears that the line about 'Where are all the customer's yachts?' is to be shortened to 'Where are all the customers?'

Once in the dear dead days beyond recall, an out-of-town visitor was being shown the wonders of the New York financial district. When the party arrived at the Battery, one of his guides indicated some handsome ships riding at anchor. "Look, those are the bankers' and brokers' yachts.

'Where are all the customers' yachts?' asked the naïve visitor."
"What in the world should we do, now that 'virtually all investors will withdraw their money?'" - Citigroup

Citigroup Evaluates Options for Old Lane Fund After Investors Pull Money
By Trista Kelley

May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, said virtually all investors in its Old Lane hedge fund will withdraw their money.

The investors will be allowed to exit the fund as of July 31, the New York-based bank said in a regulatory filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. The Wall Street Journal reported today that the clients will pull about $3 billion from Old Lane, citing unidentified people familiar with the fund.

``In April 2008, substantially all unaffiliated investors had notified Old Lane of their intention to redeem their investments,'' Citigroup said. The bank is ``evaluating alternatives for the restructuring of Old Lane.''

Citigroup agreed in April 2007 to pay about $800 million for Old Lane, whose co-founder Vikram Pandit became Citigroup's chief executive officer in December. Citigroup's alternative- investments unit posted a loss in the first quarter, taking a $202 million pretax writedown on Old Lane, the bank said last month.