The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) EDGAR may have some competition on its hands as the industry consolidates. Morningstar (NDAQ: MORN), a popular investment research and data firm, has acquired 10-K Wizard, a premier provider of SEC filings research and alert services, for $12.5 million subject to working capital adjustments. 10-K Wizard is one of many SEC filings firms that has been developing data mining tools to make sense of complex filings as well as compare different filings and time periods.

Other competitors include public companies like Accelerize New Media's (OTC-BB: ACLZ) SECFilings.com and EDGAR Online's (NDAQ: EDGR) EDGAROnline.com platforms. Morningstar will use the acquisition to add to its overall research services and said that 10-K Wizard's technology can be applied to documents of all kinds, like its mutual fund prospectuses.

The SEC is bringing more transparency to the marketplace by introducing the ability for pubicly traded companies to data-tag their financial statements using its new XRBL mark-up language. Instead of sifting through one form at a time, investors will be able to instantly search and collate information to generate retports and analysis from thousands of companies and forms.

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AIG Group (NYSE: AIG) received a letter from their dear friend Hank Greenberg Monday inquiring as to the status of government funds being used to fix the firm. The former Chief Executive has good reason too – he still owns nearly 8% of the company.  Mr Greenburg’s exact question dealt with their use of funds to buyout CDO counterparties at what he saw as favorable terms.

Here’s a copy of the letter filed in their Schedule 13D/A:

There are any number of things that we ought to catch up on, but you are probably busy and so am I, so I’m not sure it will happen in the near term.
 
I am curious about the latest change in the AIG terms with the New York Fed (still far from the right mark). One of the Maiden Lane special purpose vehicles purchased approximately $50 billion of CDOs at par, at least that is what has been reported, and obviously canceled the default swaps. It is hard to believe that the counterparties would be carrying the CDOs at par and not have marked them to market.  If so, what is the rationale for buying them back at par?
 
The counterparties were advised to keep the approximately $35 billion of collateral that had been transferred to them.  AIG wrote down the CDOs to reflect their underlying value which was approximately 50%.  I am sure I am missing something, and I would be more than interested in finding out what transpired.  It certainly seems it was very good for the counterparties.

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TM Entertainment & Media, Inc. (AMEX: TMI) may be one of the most inactive stocks on the market, but recent developments make it worth watching. Activist investor Phillip Goldstein of Bulldog Investors sent a letter to the board of directors demanding that the company be dissolved and the proceeds be distributed to shareholders. While offering no guidance as to the potential value of a liquidation, the fact that it is being proposed at such a low price suggests that it would generate value.

According to the letter:

Opportunity Partners L.P. is a shareholder of TM Entertainment and Media,Inc. (TMI) and is part of a shareholder group that owns more than 22% of TMIs publicly held shares.

In view of current market conditions, we believe there is virtually no chance that TMI can complete a transaction by October 17, 2009.  Since its stock price is significantly below the value of the trust account, we believe it is in the best interests of TMIs shareholders to dissolve TMI as soon as possible.

Please advise us by December 5, 2008 whether the board will (1) promptly take the necessary actions to dissolve TMI and make a liquidating distribution to the public shareholders or (2) hold an annual meeting as soon as possible. At the meeting we intend to (1) propose a bylaw change to increase the size of the board, (2) nominate a slate of directors to fill all open seats, and (3) submit a proposal to dissolve TMI.

If neither a proposed dissolution nor an annual meeting is announced by Friday, December 5, 2008 we intend to file a petition pursuant to section 211(c) of the Delaware General Corporation Law in the Delaware Court of Chancery to ask the Court to summarily order TMI to hold an annual meeting to elect directors.

TMI is a blank check company that was designed to serve as a vehicle for the acquisition of an entertainment company. Now that this possibility has been eliminated given the poor markets, many investors including Bulldog are demanding their money back. Whether or not this happens remains to be seen, but if it does take place, the liquidation value could exceed the market price.

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