Finance in brief

Webster increases business lending in Q2

Webster Financial Inc. increased commercial lending activity 35 percent between the first and second quarters, even as total loans deemed nonperforming dropped 13 percent.

Waterbury-based Webster Bank has nearly 20 branches in Fairfield County, including one in Newtown slated for closure in October.

Commercial and small-business deposits rose 6 percent for Webster from the first quarter. The company”™s net profit declined slightly to $34.2 million.

In June, Webster Financial spent $14.4 million to repurchase 70 percent of stock warrants it sold to the U.S. Treasury to raise capital following the market collapse of 2008, with other investors buying the remaining warrants.

 

People”™s United assigns new credit chief

People”™s United Financial Inc. transitioned its chief credit officer Dave Bodor to a part-time position overseeing loan workouts and recoveries, and promoted its vice president of commercial banking as his replacement.

The Bridgeport-based bank said the move was a planned part of Bodor”™s preparations for retirement. Dave Berey takes over as chief credit officer.

“Dave Bodor has been the cornerstone of the bank”™s credit culture,” said Jack Barnes, CEO of People”™s United, in a prepared statement. “I am confident Dave”™s leadership will ensure that, as we grow, we continue to emphasize the importance of credit risk management.”

Separately, People”™s United hired Michael Maiorino as executive vice president of its asset-based lending and mortgage warehouse lending operations. Maiorino previously was an executive with Sovereign Bank/Banco Santander in Boston and before that with Fleet Bank.

 

Hedge funds end first half with slight gain

Despite a 1.3 percent decline in June, hedge funds finished the first half of the year with a 0.4 percent return, according to indexes maintained by Greenwich Alternative Investments.

Fairfield County has a large phalanx of hedge funds, including the world”™s largest in Bridgewater Associates of Westport.

Market-neutral and long-short equity funds outperformed broad equity market indexes in June, according to Clint Binkley, senior vice president for Greenwich Alternative Investments in Stamford. For the year, fixed-income arbitrage traders have put in the best performance with a 4.1 percent gain, while hedge funds focused on futures trail the pack, down 3.1 percent.

“Managers were fully occupied in negotiating the risk trade as investor sentiment changed dramatically over the course of the month,” Binkley said, in a written statement. “We continue to believe that in volatile markets, actively managed hedge fund portfolios will provide superior results to index investing.”

 

W.R. Berkley, PartnerRe ”˜blacklisted”™

W.R. Berkley Corp. and PartnerRe Ltd. were the lone Fairfield County companies included on a “black list” published by Corporate Responsibility Magazine, which called executives to task for a lack of transparency in investor communications and other public documents.

W.R. Berkley is based in Greenwich, where PartnerRe has its main U.S. office with its official headquarters in Bermuda.

Other recognizable companies on the list included Dreamworks Animation Inc., Madison Square Garden Inc. and SL Green Realty Corp.

 

Brant company buys time

SP Newsprint Co. L.L.C. entered into a forbearance agreement with lenders who agreed to forebear exercising any rights that might otherwise have been available to them as SP restructures.

Greenwich-based SP says it is the fourth-largest newsprint manufacturer in North America, with approximately 900,000 metric tons of newsprint production capacity. It operates mills in Dublin, Ga., and Newberg, Ore., as well as 22 recycling facilities.

 

Black Diamond acquires bankrupt financier

Greenwich-based Black Diamond Capital Management L.L.C. said it secured bankruptcy court approval to acquire the investment management business of GSC Group Inc. and its affiliates, to which it was a major creditor.

New York City-based GSC manages private equity, mezzanine and other funds totaling $7 billion in assets under management. The deal gives Black Diamond $13 billion in assets under management, and 15 additional employees joining from GSC including some in an office in London.

 

Report of layoffs at Aladdin

Aladdin Capital Holdings L.L.C. reportedly undertook layoffs in its global capital markets business, which offers securities and financial advisory services to corporations.

According to Dow Jones, the Stamford-based company will focus instead on its alternative credit asset management business. The report did not specify how many employees were let go.

 

Mobile technologies coming for banks

Roughly one in three Connecticut banks plan within a year”™s time to offer smart-phone technologies, such as balance transfer and bill payment, according to a survey published this month by the Connecticut Department of Banking.

Nearly the same number of Connecticut banks plan to establish a presence on Facebook, with far fewer intending to do so on Twitter. Currently, about one in five banks maintain a Facebook page, according to DOB.