Irish tax payer picking up tab for Russian Billionaire

Sceala Philosopher Location: Dublin

Irish taxpayers paying for Roman Abramovich speculations.
A very foolish and greedy man to go public against a nation. He has promoted himself as a hate target for the Irish everywhere.

Prime Time - 14th October 2010
Tonight on Prime Time, the government now says the bank bailout will cost €81 billion, but where is all of that money going? Some of it will go to repay, partially at least, Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, for his investment in Irish Nationwide bonds. Reporter, Paul Murphy, looks at how Mr. Abramovich got involved in those bonds and the returns he got for them.

In the piece we also break down where our €81 billion is going and we identify some of the biggest loan defaulters whose borrowings we now have to cover. We also look at a series of property deals in Offaly, where land was sold at inflated prices, as an example of what typically happened to property profits during the boom.

I told you that foreign speculators were targetting Ireland. Most of these greedy vultures are dealing out of the UK, our supposed good neighbor. Foreign speculators exploit Ireland
Today we find out from RTE, that the Billionaire Russian Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea FC, is one of the foreign speculators out to destroy our country and people.
If the Irish government do not take this greedy Russian Billionaire on, there is bound to be trouble. The Irish people are not just going to sit back and pay this greedy man. He was getting a staggering 13% for his last minute speculation in Irish nationwide. He would have known the risks.
We Irish with a brain know that our government are most to blame, corrupt liars like Bertie encouraged all this. The whole story is much more complicated, we have been let down by the UK. I now have to agree that their media are encouraging and reveling in bad Irish news.
I have always thought that the UK was a good neighbor, I was mistaken. Most of these speculators are dealing in London. A coincidence that the most broke of the British banks seem to have passed their debts on somewhere else? Back in profit?
It is now very clear that UK PLC is out to harm Ireland, the Irish people, all of our futures, we must stand up to them.
They are not just laughing at Lenihan when they mock him and shout to short Ireland.
Ireland's finance minister Brian Lenihan ridiculed by City investors
The treatment of the minister, which comes as Ireland faces a standoff with a group of hedge funds over its rescue plan for Anglo Irish Bank, will increase tensions between the country and the debt markets.
Mr Lenihan had been speaking for less than two minutes on Friday before a mistake by Citigroup meant that the bank's clients were all able to be heard on the line.
Between 200 and 500 investors are understood to have been on the call, and as they realised their lines were not muted many began to heckle Mr Lenihan.

Some traders began making what one banker on the call described as "chimp sounds", while another cried out "dive, dive". A third man said "short Ireland" before adding "why not short Citi too?"
As the call descended into chaos, with one participant heard to say "this is the worst conference call ever", Citigroup officials shut down the line.

continues
In what would be a hardening of Ireland's stance, Mr Lenihan is understood to have said the authorities would consider "market suspensions" in future, meaning the government could order the closure of bond and equity trading if it thought the market was threatening the country's financial stability.
telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8038000/Irelands-finance-minister-Brian-Lenihan-ridiculed-by-City-investors.html

Reuters believe that his assault on the Irish, will backfire personally for the Roman Abramovich, The Russian billionaire who owns Chelsea FC.
Roman Abramovich’s Irish assault could backfire
Roman Abramovich is unhappy. The owner of Chelsea football club thinks that the Irish government is about to let him down, and if it doesn’t see things his way, he’s threatening legal action. Both sides are playing a high-stakes game, where the result could have much more impact on Ireland’s impoverished government than it will on him.

Abramovich’s investment vehicle, Millhouse, bought subordinated, government-guaranteed debt in Irish Nationwide Building Society in August 2009. Millhouse now describes the purchase as its contribution towards the survival of INBS. Possibly the 13 percent coupon also weighed.

The guarantee was for a single year and has expired, along with most of Ireland’s banks, and now the government wants the holders of subordinated debt to “share the burden”. Abramovich’s response raises the possibility of the Russian billionaire enforcing his rights against a country whose people are already suffering.

On Oct. 5 ratings agency Moody’s placed Ireland on credit watch. The central bank now expects growth of just 0.2 percent this year. Unemployment is almost 14 percent, and net emigration has resumed. Debt spreads are widening again.

Millhouse argues that INBS cannot default on the junior obligations unless it is in default on the senior debt, and the government has already pledged to honour the senior obligations. Legislation could impose a haircut on the junior debt, but the move would look uncomfortably like an Irish sovereign default.

Neither side wants to go to law, and the price of the bonds, at 63 percent of par, suggests that an offer at a discount would tempt most holders.
The Irish government is desperately unpopular. The next administration might argue that abandoning the banks is not a sovereign default, while struggling on with endless austerity makes a full-blown default more likely.

Were Abramovich to press his case too hard, the likely public reaction would bring that day nearer. Besides, what did he think the 13 percent coupon was indicating?

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Irish tax payer picking up tab for Russian Billionaire