FEATURE-Commercial real estate refuses to cool in New York

(Reuters) - The Woolworth Building, a 1913 Gothic masterpiece in
downtown Manhattan, was set for conversion to luxury
condominiums, but the price of commercial office space has
risen so much that the owners changed course.




Instead of becoming one of the coolest places to live in
New York City, the building will house luxury office space. In
a city where people pay $500,000 for a studio apartment, the
owners -- led by the developers Steven Witkoff and Ruben Schron
-- scrapped a 7-year-old residential plan in May in favor of
the commercial project.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Parmalat wins injunction against U.S. creditors

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 22 - Parmalat , the Italian dairy company, on Friday said a U.S. bankruptcy judge has awarded it a permanent injunction to protect it against claims by Bank of America Corp. and other U.S. creditors.



The order by Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, which Parmalat said was dated Thursday, would be a defeat for an estimated 31 holders of privately placed Parmalat bonds with some 646 million euros of claims.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

RPT-UPDATE 2-Michael Jackson settles breach of contract claim

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 18 - Pop star Michael Jackson
reached a settlement on Monday with a New Jersey financial
company that brought a $48 million breach-of-contract lawsuit
against him.




Prescient Acquisition Group, which claimed Jackson reneged
on payments he owed for helping him refinance more than $200
million in bank loans, settled with the entertainer as the case
was about to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 2-Amaranth seeks to dismiss San Diego lawsuit

(Reuters) - The San Diego Employees Retirement Association
sued Amaranth in March for $150 million in the first and so far
only investor lawsuit over the biggest hedge fund collapse
ever. The suit claimed Amaranth violated its investment
mandates by not maintaining proper portfolio diversity or risk
controls.




Greenwich, Connecticut-based Amaranth, which is in the
process of liquidating assets now valued at about $400 million,
said in Thursday's court filing in Manhattan that its offering
documents do not require it to maintain investment diversity as
the San Diego fund claimed. The case is being closely watched
in the hedge fund industry.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UBS Hedge Fund Loss Ensnares Wuffli With Mess Reprising Long-Term Capital

(Bloomberg) -- UBS AG Chief Executive Officer Peter
Wuffli spared no expense when he agreed two years ago to let
John Costas, the top-ranking American at Switzerland's largest
bank, start an internal hedge fund.

Wuffli gave Costas $3.5 billion, 80 top traders and 40
support staff for the Dillon Read Capital Management LLC
venture. Costas hired another 130 people and leased space in
London, Singapore, Tokyo, Connecticut and Manhattan, where his
corner office on the 22nd floor has a view of St. Patrick's
Cathedral. By the time he was done, Dillon Read's 250 employees
received bonuses averaging $1 million a year, or almost three
times the comparable payout at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News