I see UK Prime Minister David Cameron is crowing over the success of the controversial part-privatization of the Royal Mail.
The share offering was heavily over-subscribed and the shares have jumped well above the offering price in the first day of trading. As a former investment banker, I'd be tempted to say that the offering must have been underpriced, which means that the UK taxpayer has just been royally hosed for the benefit of investors.
Then again, it's unlikely that the interests of taxpayers were topmost in Cameron's mind when he decided to carry out this fire sale -- and it's a reasonable bet that most of the investors are good Tory voters who've just received a nice little bonus at the expense of their fellow citizens. What was Cameron's catchphrase again: oh yes, "we're all in this together".
UPDATE, October 17: Royal Mail shares are now trading almost 50% above the IPO price, which means Cameron's "triumph" has now cost taxpayers almost $1 billion in foregone revenue.
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