Jefferies' CEO Richard Handler is reportedly looking for buyers for the distressed firm, and is "weighing whether the firm can remain independent".
The Doc's Translation (in the MF Global timeline of events): We are currently in a mad rush to confiscate client funds and gold and silver warehouse certificates, receipts, and bullion in a desperate attempt to secure a short term loan to make it until we reach a deal with JP Morgan. If we can't secure a short term by Wednesday, don't expect to see us in the office on Monday or your segregated funds ever again.
As he battles rumors that the brokerage company he runs is the next firm to fail, Jefferies & Co. (JEF: 10.06, -0.14, -1.37%) Chief Executive Richard Handler is weighing whether the firm can remain independent, investment banking sources tell the FOX Business Network.
Selling out to a larger player would be a bitter pill for Handler to swallow since he took pride in Jefferies' independence -- and until recently, success at remaining independent -- but according to people who know him, he is weighing whether a sale to a larger player is inevitable.
Rochdale Securities analyst Dick Bove told FOX Business that Jefferies is an "acquisition target" and the most likely acquirers are capital rich Canadian banks, which include Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank Group.
Handler is coming to grips that Jefferies is suffering from what one investment banking source called "the curse of Bear Stearns and Lehman." After the demise of both firms during the financial crisis, investors began to look at similar mid size firms as vulnerable to market swings.
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