Goldman Sachs Group Inc., riding a rising market, is considering making a multibillion-dollar offering of its shares to investors as part of an effort to repay a $10 billion government loan, according to people familiar with the matter.
…In October, the Treasury Department forced the nation’s largest banks, including those that didn’t need additional capital, to take government funds. Goldman received $10 billion….Goldman executives privately say the firm doesn’t need new capital to pay back the loan but doing so would signal its financial health.
Let’s not shilly shally here: I don’t believe a word of this. If Goldman could pay back the loan, which they only received six months ago, they’d just do it. Conversely, there’s simply no way they’d try to raise private capital in the worst environment for stock offerings since the Depression unless they really needed the money. What they say “privately” to the contrary isn’t worth the paper it’s not written on.
