pennies, page-18

Thanks TP. To be honest, it's good to be back. A period out of action does make you reconsider life and how important it is to do what you love. Unless of course the doctors tell you that you are no longer allowed to do most of what you loved, in which case you sulk like a 12 year old.

From what I can tell, Andy R is a good chap. We've all heard him on the Centro webcasts and he always sounds to me like he would be more at home surfing on a beach in Hawaii rather than stuck at CS HQ on Circular Quay. It's a little known fact but the Gateway Building, in which he works is one of the highest terrorist risk buildings in Australia because of its location, prominence and the couple of high commissions which are housed there. Did you get him before or after lunch? From what I hear, if the client is paying they go round the corner to Cafe Sydney. If Credit Suisse are paying, they go for a couple of schooners in the Ship Inn (shudder) and a big mac next door. Times are tough in investment banking.

You went to the UBS trading room? Were they on their best behaviour? It's a little known swapfact but in the late 80s, when I was a little younger than I am today, I used to work for UBS, not here but in London, where they used to be known as UBS Philips & Drew. No 'business casual', email, iPods, bots, quants or online trading in those days - it was business attire, long lunches and late nights in the pub.

I agree we need to see the details on the D2E swap. Essentially Buffett gave GS a whopping loan paying 10% interest with a warrant to buy more in the future. I think the average rate of Centro debt from memory is about 6.4% ish. I'd look for a swap which removed the interest component but gave a deep discount on conversion in the future to, as you say, make it worthwhile on a yield basis. That'd get our vote.

As for learning.. Not a day goes by when I don't learn something new and often in the most unusual places. For instance, I'm off the booze for a while and the other day I found out that Soda Water isn't just a mixer. Who'd have thought? Apparently one can drink it straight (or with a twist of lime) as a refreshing alternative to an alcoholic beverage.

Roll on Christmas.