MF Global Rallying On Takeover Speculation

Shares of embattled futures brokerage MF Global (NYSE: MF) have rallied well off of their lows of the session on Friday on speculation that the firm may be taken over. The Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) State Street (NYSE: STT) and Australian bank Macquarie are all interested in the firm.

This morning, the stock traded as low as $0.86 on reports that the firm was experiencing a bank run and will not survive the weekend. The stock has moved strongly off of those lows, and is currently trading at $1.37. MF Global has been capsized due to a proprietary trading position the firm has in European sovereign debt.

Jon Corzine, who is the former governor of New Jersey and a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, is MF Global's CEO. He has said that he is responsible for the outsized positions that his firm has in European sovereign debt. MF Global's exposure is around $6.3 billion, which represents five times its tangible common equity and is around 26 times its market value of $235 million.