Wall Street feels the "surge" .......

Lord Patel's favourite bank - Bank Santander , (STD)has taken up the remaining part of Wyomissing, Pa.-based Sovereign Bancorp.(SOV: Sovereign Bancorp Inc) in which they bought 24.9% three years ago.
The WSJ reported late yesterday they would announce buying the company shares at the Friday close price of US $3.81-a-share, or US$2.53 billion.

When they bought in Santander had an option to pay $38-a-share for the entire bank - it is unlikely that they paid anuythign above Friday's price.

Sovereign shares have dropped nearly 80% on the year and 60% in the last month - Long time Head Jay Sidhu collected his lunch pail recently - last week named Paul Perrault was named as CEO to replace Joseph Campanelli, who ran the bank following Jay Sidhu.

Morgan Stanley feels the heat from the Asian Tigers

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MTU )has closed the deal on a US$9 Bn. equity investment in Morgan Stanley (MS) which gives it a whopping 21% stake. (Press release)

MUFG has picked up US$7.8 Bn of perpetual non-cumulative convertible preferred stock with a 10% dividend and a conversion price of $25.25 a share. Under the revised terms of the deal, MUFG also gets US$1.2 billion of non-convertible preferred stock with a 10% dividend.

Morgan Stanley shares closed Friday at US$9.68 (80% down YTD).MS have slimmed down and now claim that , " As of today, total assets are now under $900 billion, down from $987 billion at August 31, 2008 "

Regulatory approval obtained

" The investment has been approved by the Federal Reserve in the United States and other key global regulators. Additionally, “early termination” under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act has been granted by the U.S. government. The transaction is expected to close promptly after the expiration of the Federal Reserve five-day post-approval waiting period."