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Siemens in $1.4B corruption settlements
German electronics company settles with SEC after charged with engaging in bribery.

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AIG sells $39.3 billion in assets to NY Fed's fund

NEW YORK (Reuters) – American International Group (AIG.N), the insurer bailed out by the U.S. government in September, said on Monday it sold $39.3 billion of assets to a fund established by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The new fund, Maiden Lane II, was created to hold mortgage liabilities from an AIG securities lending portfolio that caused huge losses to the troubled insurer, the company said in a press release.

The New York Fed extended the loan to Maiden Lane II to enable the purchase of the securities for $19.8 billion.

AIG, once the world's largest insurer, said it agreed to add $5 billion in cash to the fund, which will eliminate liquidity issues associated with the company's securities lending program and facilitate the repayment of its debts.

The deal is part of a plan to clear the insurer of its obligations on mortgage debt.

The need to post increasing amounts of collateral to counterparties for other mortgage assets held by a financial products unit left AIG with $42.5 billion in losses over the last year.

The U.S. government saved AIG from bankruptcy in September with a rescue plan that has ballooned to about $152 billion so far.

Shares of Reliant Energy drop after Exelon rejects rumors that it made an acquisition offer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Reliant Energy Inc. slipped on Monday after Exelon Corp. denied rumors that it had made an offer to acquire Reliant.

Reliant shares fell 12 cents, or 2.3 percent, to close at $5.09, rebounding from the session low of $4.75.

On Friday the Houston Business Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported that Chicago's Exelon placed an offer to acquire the Houston-based energy provider. However, Exelon flatly rejected those claims later in the day. Shares of Reliant rose 32 cents, or 6.5 percent, to close at $5.21 on Friday.

"Exelon has not made an offer to acquire Reliant or any part of Reliant, and we do not plan to make an offer," Exelon said in a statement.

Shares of Reliant Energy have tumbled since the beginning of autumn as the credit crisis spread and the company said it was considering a sale. This news came after it was forced to raise $1 billion in new capital and cut its retail profit expectations by $300 million to $350 million for the year, partly due to damage from Hurricane Ike.

In mid-November the company said it would sell its contracts for electricity supply and sales of its retail subsidiaries in the Northeast to Hess Corp. by year-end.

Then, at the end of November, Reliant backed away previously announced financing agreements with GS Loan Partners and First Reserve, citing sufficient liquidity. Earlier this month the company terminated a $300 million credit facility with a Merrill Lynch & Co. unit, saying that its board was reviewing strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of part or all of the company.

Shares of Reliant have dropped off 80 percent in the year to date. The stock traded at a year high of $28.06 in April.

Exelon shares fell $1.17, or 2.1 percent, to $53.54. The 52-week share price range is between $41.23 and $92.13.

Oracle shares down after analyst revenue warning

Oracles shares down after analyst warns that revenue projection will be cut

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oracle Corp. shares edged down Monday after an analyst said the database provider would probably lower its revenue forecast when reporting its earnings on Thursday.

The stock dipped 39 cents to close at $16.45, after losing as much as 4.2 percent to $16.13 earlier in the session.

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Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Brad Reback said given the difficult economic situation, it's likely the company struggled to meet its targets for the most recent quarter, its fiscal second. The company has said it is expecting earnings of 35 cents to 36 cents per share, while analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate a profit of 34 cents per share. Reback expects Oracle to post 33 cents per share.

He expects Oracle to earn $1.42 per share for the entire fiscal year, a figure he kept unchanged despite cutting his revenue forecast to $23.7 billion from $24.95 billion.

The company may be able to cut costs by as much as $700 million without cutting jobs, offsetting declines in license revenue, Reback wrote.

"We believe Oracle may announce a broad set of expense reduction initiatives to help maintain its margin structure," Reback wrote.

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Over 100 companies default on debts with more to come -S&P

NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Over 100 companies globally have defaulted on their debt this year, affecting $302 billion worth of securities, but that figure could rise as nearly 900 issuers are poised for credit downgrades, Standard & Poor's said on Monday.

"The rise in defaults in 2008 is in sharp contrast with trends in prior years, when only 22 defaults were recorded in all of 2007 and 30 in 2006," said Diane Vazza, head of S&P's global fixed-income research group.

The credit bubble appears to have been concentrated in the United States.

Of the 108 defaults this year, 86 are from the United States, seven from Europe, five each from Asia and Canada, three from Latin America, and two from Russia.

Furthermore, there are 897 issuers poised for downgrades, with the United States topping the list of potential bond downgrades, Vazza said.

The U.S. faces 531, or 59 percent, entities at risk for downgrades, but that concentration partly reflects the larger rated population in the U.S. And Europe holds the next position, with 173, or 19 percent, entities at risk for downgrades, she added.

* MAXAM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC - The fund has lost about $280 million on funds invested with Madoff, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

* PIONEER INVESTMENTS - UniCredit SpA's fund management unit is exposed to $280 million through its Primeo Select hedge fund, according to Bloomberg.

* EIM GROUP - Le Temps reported that EIM Group, a fund of hedge funds, said it had a $230 million exposure.

* FAIRFIELD SENTRY LTD - The $7.3 billion hedge fund run by Walter Noel's Fairfield Greenwich Group had accounts with Madoff Investment Securities.

* KINGATE GLOBAL FUND LTD - The $2.8 billion hedge fund run by Kingate Management Ltd had invested in Madoff Investment Securities.

* UBS - The investment bank unit of the Swiss financial group has a limited and insignificant counterparty exposure, its spokesman told Reuters.

* BENEDICT HENTSCH - Swiss private bank said its exposure to products linked to Madoff amounted to 56 million francs ($47 million), or less than 5 percent of assets under management.

* BRAMDEAN ALTERNATIVES LTD - UK asset manager, headed by well known fund manager Nicola Horlick, said almost 10 percent of its holdings were exposed to Madoff. Bramdean said it had two holdings that maintain trading accounts with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities that represented 9.5 percent of its net asset value at end-October.

* BBVA - Spain's second-largest bank said no customers in Spain were exposed to the alleged fraud.

* Real estate investor Mort Zuckerman tells the CNBC TV network that about 10 percent of one of his charitable trusts was invested with Madoff and had lost about $30 million.

* CNBC has also reported that the following firms were clients of Madoff:

-- Tremont Capital Management - The manager of funds of hedge funds portfolios could not be reached for comment.

-- Palm Beach Country Club - The institution did not return a call seeking comment.

-- Sterling Equities - The investment firm, owner of the New York Mets baseball team, did not return a call seeking comment.

-- Bank Syz - The Swiss bank dedicated to asset management could not be reached for comment.

-- Lombard Odier - The Swiss private bank could not be reached for comment. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Jason Szep, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Juan Lagorio, additional reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Andre Grenon)

Dec 15 (Reuters) - Investors around the world have scrambled since Friday to assess potential losses from an alleged $50 billion fraud by Bernard Madoff, the prominent Wall Street trader arrested last week.

Following are some of the firms exposed:

* Austin Capital Management managed money for the Massachusetts state pension fund, which lost $12 million with Madoff.

* Chais Family Foundation, which donates about $12.5 million annually to Jewish causes, will be forced to close after the entire fund was invested with Madoff.

* HSBC HOLDINGS PLC has potential exposure of about $1.5 billion, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed people close to the situation. The exposure is from loans it provided to institutional clients, mainly hedge funds of funds, that wanted to invest with Madoff, the FT reported.

* GRUPO SANTANDER SA - Spain's largest bank said its investment fund, Optimal, has a 2.33 billion euro ($3.05 billion) exposure to Madoff Securities.

* ASCOT PARTNERS LLC - According to a Wall Street Journal report, the fund where former GMAC chairman Jacob Ezra Merkin is a money manager has an exposure of $1.8 billion.

* ACCESS INTERNATIONAL ADVISORS - According to a report by Bloomberg, Access has an exposure of $1.4 billion.

* BENBASSAT & CIE - Swiss private bank has an exposure of $1.1 billion francs ($935 million), according to Le Temps.

* UNION BANCAIRE PRIVEE - Swiss bank that invests in funds of hedge funds has lost about 1 billion francs ($850 million), according to Le Temps, citing unnamed banking sources.

* ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC - Had exposure through trading and collateralized lending to funds of hedge funds invested with Madoff, with a potential loss of around 400 million pounds ($597.9 million)

* NATIXIS said it could have a 450 million euro ($602 million) indirect exposure to Madoff

* BNP PARIBAS - France's largest listed bank said it has a potential 350 million euro ($464.3 million) exposure.

* REICHMUTH & CO - Swiss private bank said its fund of funds Reichmuth Matterhorn had an exposure to investments linked to Madoff that amounted to about $325 million.

* NOMURA HOLDINGS said it had a 27.5 billion yen ($303 million) exposure related to Madoff, but the impact on its capital would be limited.

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