Chase Manhattan Corp. said Thursday that its private equity unit could record a $240 million gain in the second quarter on an investment in StarMedia Network Inc.
Chase said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that as a result, Chase Capital Partners' gains could be "substantially higher" than the $325 million reported in the first quarter.
StarMedia is a Latin American Internet network company that went public May 26.
Analysts said the gain could add as much as 17 cents per share to Chase's earnings, which have set records in the past two quarters. "It could be a big second quarter," said George Bicher, an analyst at BT Alex. Brown.
Before the disclosure, Wall Street's consensus target for Chase was $1.28 per share, according to First Call Corp. Ruchi Madan, an analyst from PaineWebber Group, was the first to revise her estimate Thursday, raising her target to $1.51 from $1.33 per share.
Robust trading helped push Chase's profits to record levels in the first quarter and in the 1998 fourth quarter, when per-share earnings were $1.32 and $1.31, respectively.
The $240 million figure assumes StarMedia's shares stay at about $48 each. Chase said a $10 gain or loss in StarMedia's share price would affect reported private equity gains by $60 million.
Chase shares closed up 56.25 cents, to $71.625. StarMedia shares closed down $8.6875 to $40.250.
