LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – The owners of Edwards, a British
engineering firm whose vacuum technology is used by the world’s
biggest chipmakers, have hired a trio of investment banks to
explore a $2 billion-plus sale or flotation.

People familiar with the matter said CCMP Capital and Unitas
Capital, both former buyout arms of JPMorgan, have hired Morgan
Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Bank of America Merrill
Lynch (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to advise on strategic options for Edwards.

LONDON/PARIS, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Chris Viehbacher’s tilt at
Genzyme Corp (GENZ.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the maker of drugs for rare diseases, has
boosted Sanofi-Aventis SA’s (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shares, sparked broker
upgrades and is backed by very cheap debt.

A stock rally since the Sanofi chief executive made his
approach public has added about 3.8 billion euros ($4.8 billion)
to Sanofi’s value — a sharp contrast to the billions wiped off
the market capitalisation of other acquisitive companies
recently, including BHP Billiton (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Adrian Mee, Nomura’s (8604.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) top
European mergers and acquisitions (M&A) banker, has left to
rejoin former Lehman Brothers colleague Christian Meissner at
Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Merrill Lynch.

Mee told Reuters he will join BoAML as international head of
M&A in December. He had been global co-head of healthcare at
Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) before joining Lehman Brothers in 2006,
remaining after Nomura took on Lehman’s European operations.

LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Private equity firm Vision
Capital has rehired Matt Shafer from Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), two people
familiar with the matter said, less than three months after Citi
poached him to bolster its team advising buyout firms.

Citi suffered a series of senior defections from its
European investment banking business earlier this year,
including several departures to Barclays Plc (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) unit
Barclays Capital. It countered by making a string of
appointments, including Shafer. [ID:nLDE6520PL]

LONDON, Aug 31 (Reuters) – British private equity firm 3i
Group Plc (III.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it had hired Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to conduct a
“strategic review” of Global Energy Services (GES), the Spanish
builder of wind farms.

Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that 3i was
hoping ultimately to sell the company, and the buyout firm hoped
GES could fetch roughly 500 million euros ($632 million). GES
could interest both rival private equity firms and trade
bidders, the people said.

LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The state sell-off of Britain’s 186-mph rail route hinges on how rosy a view bidders take of Europe’s coming fast-rail revolution.

With a price tag of at least 1.5 billion pounds ($2.3 billion), a sale would be a welcome contribution to British government coffers as it seeks to tame a budget deficit that will near 150 billion pounds this year, and would bode well for further privatizations.

SEOUL/LONDON (Reuters) – POSCO is considering a takeover of Norway’s Elkem, a maker of silicon for solar panels, the CEO of the South Korean group said, in a move that would give the world’s No.3 steelmaker a presence in the fast growing renewable energy materials space.

Elkem, owned by pizza-to-aluminium conglomerate Orkla ASA, could cost POSCO around $1 billion, based on the company’s financial figures and analyst research notes.

SEOUL/LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) – POSCO (005490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is
considering a takeover of Norway’s Elkem, a maker of silicon
for solar panels, the CEO of the South Korean group said, in a
move that would give the world’s No.3 steelmaker a presence in
the fast growing renewable energy materials space.

Elkem, owned by pizza-to-aluminium conglomerate Orkla ASA
(ORK.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), had operating revenues of $1.2 billion in 2009. A
deal with POSCO would allow the Norway-based conglomerate to
shed the silicon unit and sharpen its business focus.

SEOUL/LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) – POSCO (005490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) is
considering a takeover of Norway’s Elkem, a maker of silicon
for solar panels, the CEO of the South Korean group said, in a
move that would give the world’s No.3 steelmaker a presence in
the fast growing renewable energy materials space.

Elkem, owned by pizza-to-aluminium conglomerate Orkla ASA
(ORK.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), had operating revenues of $1.2 billion in 2009. A
deal with POSCO would allow the Norway-based conglomerate to
shed the silicon unit and sharpen its business focus.

SEOUL/LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) – POSCO (005490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) is
considering a takeover of Norway’s Elkem, a maker of silicon
for solar panels, the CEO of the South Korean group said, in a
move that would give the world’s No.3 steelmaker a presence in
the fast growing renewable energy materials space.

Elkem, owned by pizza-to-aluminium conglomerate Orkla ASA
(ORK.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), had operating revenues of $1.2 billion in 2009. A
deal with POSCO would allow the Norway-based conglomerate to
shed the silicon unit and sharpen its business focus.