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Dresdner’s future
Like people, most companies have done something they regret. For Allianz, which reported mixed first quarter numbers last week, it was the purchase of Dresdner Bank in 2001
Australian banks
Deals don’t get much more opportunistic than this. Australia’s fourth biggest bank by market capitalisation has approached St George barely a week after the fifth-ranked lender trimmed its earnings guidance
Who is the ECB lending to?
Since the credit crunch began, some have argued the ECB’s lending policies are too generous and transfer banks’ private risks onto the public. The numbers suggest worries may have been exaggerated
Vallejo goes bust
Legislators are battling with Vallejo’s leaky finances – the US city is filing for bankruptcy. The median property price has tumbled by about one-third since March 2007
US Reits
Retail landlords started chewing their fingernails in 2007 as concerns mounted that key tenants might become bankrupt
Fannie Mae’s loss
Hopes from Washington to Wall Street are running high, but there can be no guarantee that this will be the last time Fannie has to tap the markets
Shrinking investment banks
Forget what investment bankers say about profitability or shareholder returns – what they care most about is size
US property
During the US commercial property slump from 1991 to 1995, the market ground some real estate investors to a pulp. The market is again softening, but the broader foundation looks less rickety than in the early 1990s
Weyerhaeuser’s loss
Should the paper and timber giant convert to a REIT?
UK house price slide
Prices have, so far, barely budged in the UK compared to those of the US since July 2006. Now they are actually falling year-on-year, how much further could they go?



