Late tonight it has been revealed through anonymous sources that JPM and Bear are in negotiations to raise the bid price from $2 to $10 per share. The renegotiation came about with JPM approaching BSC about upping the price on the sentiment that the deal will be rejected. Apparently, he felt bad about the price – cognitive dissonance.

According to the New York Times…

“The Fed, which must approve any new deal, was balking at the new offer price on Sunday night after several days of frantic, secret negotiations, these people said. As a result, it was still possible the renegotiated deal might be postponed or collapse entirely, said these people, who were granted anonymity because of their confidentiality agreements.

If the Fed were to reject the new proposal, it could set off a furor among shareholders of both firms that the government was preventing them from making a fair deal.”

In another strange twist, JPM is working the deal to ensure they can snare approx 39.5% of the outstanding shares from BSC that would give it nearly the 40% required by Delaware law to be considered the “majority”. This would give them the power to override challenges made by the largest shareholder, British billionaire financier Joe Lewis.

This comes on the heels of Mr Dimon apparently calling other Wall Street CEOs pleading with them not to hire away the BSC employees.

The drama continues….Personally, I think the deal prices goes up even more. As I stated previously, I didn’t think the deal would get done at $2. And, honestly, I still don’t think this is over yet. In fact, if it doesn’t get passed at $10 per share then is it possible that the deal falls apart completely.

Last 5 posts by Agustin Gonzalez

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