NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co on Monday raised its all-stock offer for Bear Stearns Cos to about $10 a share, roughly five times its original bid, in a move to appease disgruntled shareholders.Under the revised deal, JPMorgan will be allowed to buy 95 million newly issued Bear Stearns shares and Bear's board agreed to vote in favor of the deal. With those shares, JPMorgan would have a 39.5 percent stake in Bear Stearns, in reach of a majority stockholding.
The new deal, which has financial backing from the Federal Reserve, is likely to raise concerns that the U.S. government is prepared to help rescue a failing Wall Street bank while declining to bail out millions of home owners facing the possibility of foreclosure.
JPMorgan's original offer on March 16 of $2 per share in stock for Bear was widely considered a fire-sale price for the 85-year-old Wall Street investment bank.
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