It is my opinion that by June of 2008, Countrywide will be somehow aquired by Bank of America. What! You say! No way! Well maybe I am going out on a bit of a limb but there are a few indicators that I think are key.
First, it is no secret that Bank of America has been itching to buy Countrywide for a while now, BUT U.S. rules will not let the company make an acquisition that raises its share of U.S. deposits above 10 percent.
Next, in early August 2007 Countrywide said that it borrowed $11.5 billion from a group of 40 banksjust to maintain an operational status. They may be The number one lender in the country but they also have huge bills to pay just to operate.
Then, there was the $2 Billion purchase of Countrywide preferred stock by Bank of America in late August 2007, which some analysts have said was even more vital to keeping Countrywide’s doors open. Now why would the number two lender help the number one lender stay open? Curious isn’t it.
Finally and this to me is by far the most significant, ANGELO R MOZILO, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Countrywide since July 11, 2007 has exercised approximately 1.8 million shares of stock options and in turn sold 1.557 million of those shares for gross proceeds of $39 million. I don’t know about you but this looks like Mozilo is trying to get as much as he can right now before things get really bad.
I think this is worth watching!
