June 19, 2008 – stlplace

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Last Updated on June 19, 2008 by stlplace

WuXi Pharma Tech (NYSE:WX) continued to slide, during my absence. One (main) concern is heavy insider selling (source: seekingalpha) lately, after the secondary offering was suspended on May 4.

I double checked the F1 filings for secondary offering (principal and selling shareholders), and found its CEO Dr. Ge Li was going to sell 8 million shares, and he unloaded 200,000 shares on May 30 according to AOL finance. BTW, it is a bit strange I could not find those transactions at SEC web site. Adding insult to the injury, United Overseas Bank (UOB) said it was going to sell 2.1 million shares at $18.4 each, according to Reuters. I guess they must need cash badly (hint: sub-prime trouble). Seriously, from its F1 it appears to me UOB is a venture investor in WuXi, and I am not surprised to see it wants to cash out some (note it intended to sell those shares in the now aborted Secondary). In other words, UOB still sells the shares planned in the Secondary, but the Wuxi management did not.

I am back to St. Louis

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Last Updated on June 19, 2008 by stlplace

Bread and gas
Panera officially raised the price of Asiago cheese bagel, from 97 cents to $1.25, which is expected as I read it from news couple weeks ago. The regular unleaded gas is $3.999 in STL. Cheaper than Salt Lake city, but more expensive than Jackson, WY.

Some random thoughts about the trip
Chevlet Impala is good. Dodge Avenager is a piece of xxx.

Mount Washburn and Teton pass (WY-Idaho route 22) are difficult to drive. Perhaps also because I am getting older?

The news I missed
Tim Russert: the number and profile of people attended a journalist’s funeral and memorial service speaks the volume of his legacy. Quote Tim “go to other people’s funeral, otherwise they won’t come to yours”. I will write more about Tim later.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev merger (STLToday): now Buffett is into play because he has 5% stake in A-B. I believe he was incidentally pulled in, because he bought the A-B stock couple years ago mostly out of valution, not speculation on M&A.