NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Initial bids for Interactive
Data Corp <IDC.N>, the financial market data provider
controlled by Pearson PLC <PSON.L>, are due in mid-February,
sources familiar with the situation said.

Interactive Data has a market value of about $2.8 billion,
based on Tuesday’s closing share price of $29.35 on the New
York Stock Exchange. That values Pearson’s 61 percent stake at
roughly $1.7 billion.

NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Leap Wireless International Inc
<LEAP.O> has hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to advise
the low-cost mobile service provider on a possible sale,
according to two people familiar with the matter.

Leap has reached out to potential buyers in recent days,
including MetroPCS Communications Inc <PCS.N>, AT&T Inc <T.N>
and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications
Inc <VZ.N> and Vodafone Group Plc <VOD.L>, one of the sources
said on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc <PEET.O> plans to announce on Monday it will extend its tender offer for shares of Diedrich Coffee Inc <DDRX.O> by 30 days, a person with knowledge of the situation said, signaling its anticipation that regulators could block Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc’s <GMCR.O> deal to buy Diedrich.

In December, Waterbury, Vermont-based Green Mountain outbid Peet’s, a premium coffee and tea seller, with a $35-a-share all-cash offer for Diedrich that values the coffee roaster at about $285 million.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which has received several first-round bids in an auction to sell itself, is considering a prepackaged bankruptcy along with a sale, sources familiar with the matter said.

The move would offer a healthier company to a buyer of MGM — which is struggling with $3.7 billion in debt — by reducing liabilities and cleaning up its balance sheet, the sources said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – First-round bids for the debt-ridden MGM studio were due Friday afternoon, but most of the bids are expected to trickle in through the weekend, sources familiar with the matter said.

It was unclear if any bids had come in as of late Friday, and two of the sources said bids could come in as late as Tuesday. Sources said the deadline was considered to be a “soft” one.

NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) – U.S. mobile phone maker
Motorola Inc <MOT.N> is revisiting its plan to reorganize its
business units and as a result, the auction of its home and
networks division has slowed down, a source familiar with the
matter said on Thursday.

Motorola’s board will meet at the end of January to decide
whether to sell the networking division or spin it off along
with its mobile handset business as one entity, the source
said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Time Warner Inc, Lions Gate Entertainment and private equity firms are among those weighing potential offers for the debt-ridden MGM studio, but no bids have come in yet, several sources familiar with the matter said.

First-round bids are due on Friday, and the 12 companies that signed MGM’s confidentiality agreements to look at the business are expected to make offers, the sources said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. mobile phone maker Motorola Inc’s <MOT.N> set-top box unit has generated a lot of private equity interest, with a number of major buyout firms putting in initial bids this week, several sources familiar with the matter said.

Motorola is exploring a potential sale of its television set-top box and wireless networking equipment business, sources told Reuters last month. Called “home and networks mobility,” the unit had $10.1 billion in 2008 sales.

NEW YORK, Dec 18 (Reuters) – U.S. mobile phone maker Motorola Inc’s <MOT.N> set-top box unit has generated a lot of private equity interest, with a number of major buyout firms putting in initial bids this week, several sources familiar with the matter said.

Motorola is exploring a potential sale of its television set-top box and wireless networking equipment business, sources told Reuters last month. Called “home and networks mobility,” the unit had $10.1 billion in 2008 sales.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – First-round bids for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will come in later than initially expected because negotiations over confidentiality agreements have slowed down the sale process, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

MGM, the famed film studio that said in November it was exploring a potential sale, has sent out a sales prospectus to all the parties who signed its non-disclosure agreement, including Time Warner Inc <TWX.N> and Lions Gate Entertainment <LGF.N>, the sources said.