The Hindu Business Line : Investment quiz

1. He is currently the manager of a football team in Ireland and has recently authored his second book, `Back from the Brink'. His name, however, is indelibly etched in the history of financial markets. His trading deals were responsible for the collapse of an investment bank that had a history of more than a 200 years. It was eventually sold for a consideration of 1 pound. Name the person and the investment bank he was responsible for bringing down?

2. Ballantine's, Beefeater, Malibu and Kahlua are all well-known alcoholic beverage brands from the stable of Allied Domecq. Recently, Allied Domecq was taken over by a set of two companies (one French and the other American), resulting in the combined entity becoming the second largest alcoholic drinks company in the world, behind Diageo. Who are the acquirers in question?

3. Electronic Internet-based platforms for stocks and bonds have walked away with market share from leading stock exchanges in the U.S over the past five years. Now two such platforms are to be acquired by The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. Name them?

4. April 2005 has been a watershed for the automobile markets in the U.S. General Motors and Ford last month reported losses in excess of $1 billion for the first quarter of 2005. But there has been another development that points to even greater troubles for the U.S auto majors, including Chrysler (it is now a part of DaimlerChrysler). Toyota of Japan is making life difficult for the auto majors from Detroit. What did it manage to achieve in April?

5. Avid followers of the markets and economic trends across the globe use this financial information network, which also provides news from other domains extensively. A person who is now the Mayor of New York founded this company.

Name this news service network and its founder?

6. Cyber Media's IPO is now open for subscription. It has the rights to publish the Indian edition of which widely read international business magazine?

7. Dr Verghese Kurien is credited with having ushered in the `White Revolution' in India and also for a pioneering co-operative movement that still remains a benchmark. Amul is his brainchild. He was the principal force behind the establishment of a management institute to provide managers for rural India. Name this institute of repute that is now finds itself in a cloud of controversy?

8. Hewlett Packard recently announced the appointment of Mr Mark Hurd as replacement for its high profile CEO, Ms Carly Fiorina, who was booted out by the board. The latter was responsible for HP's acquisition of Compaq in a merger that failed to live up to expectations and led to her exit. Which organization Mr Hurd head prior to taking up this new assignment?

9. Pixar Animation Studios has produced blockbusters such as the Spiderman series. Its founder was also instrumental in starting one of the biggest success stories in the world of information technology, a company that is now at the cutting edge of hardware and software as IT, telecom and entertainment converge. Who is person we referring to?

10. This mutual fund, which has now been around for more than a decade in India, acquired renown for building a portfolio that comprised about 350 stocks in the mid 1990s. This portfolio was put in place within a couple of years after it mobilised close to Rs 1,000 crore in a much-hyped initial public offering. As the markets tanked, the fund lost about 50 per cent in value and changed tack quickly to own a compact portfolio that now comprises only about 50 stocks. Name the fund?

Answers

1 Nick Leeson and Barings Plc of U.K

2 Pernod Ricard of France and Fortune Brands of the US

3 The NYSE is to buy Archipelago and NASDAQ is to acquire Instinet

4 It has moved up to the number three slot in terms of domestic sales in the

US for the first time, dislodging DaimlerChrysler

5 Bloomberg and Michael Bloomberg

6 BusinessWeek

7 Institute of Rural Management, Anand.

8 ATM manufacturer NCR

9 Steve Jobs (in the picture).

10 Morgan Stanley Growth Fund