'Shame that you got the wrong buyer, Ian, but it was still a good call.' That was the message that I received from a high-flying investment banker at DLJ in London. I had been hoping that JP Morgan might recover from its long bout of sleeping sickness and seize the DLJ opportunity but CSFB beat Morgan to the draw.
As an owner of DLJ shares, purchased in the low $40s, I had suggested that Morgan might like to bid $80 (󌎊.4). In the event, CSFB bid $90 and I sold my holding at $86.50. I was lucky, but as our rugby coach at prep school in Scotland used to say: 'If the referee awards you a try, it doesn't matter how you cross the line.'
