By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

International Power’s independent directors have done a decent job in securing a better buyout from GDF Suez. It’s not that easy to extract a big premium when a bidder is already a 70 percent shareholder. But the terms of the original tie-up helped, as did GDF’s evident keenness to take full control of the emerging-markets focused power generator.

By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Skoda cars and MAN trucks, meet your potential Volkswagen stablemates: 186-mph superbikes. No-one walks into a showroom after a cheap family car and screeches out on a blood-red Italian motorcycle. But Audi’s ambitions to buy Ducati would make some sense for VW’s luxury marque. And even with an appropriately macho price tag, the deal could pay off if Audi turbo-charges Ducati sales in emerging markets.

By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The stock market has already done half the job for International Power’s independent directors. Two months of rumours of a full buyout from 70-percent owner GDF Suez have added something of a premium to the power generator’s shares. But now there’s official confirmation of a likely 6-billion-pound bid, IPR non-executives still have some power to push for a little more.

By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

UPS’s 4.9 billion euro ($6.4 billion) love letter validates TNT Express’s recent divorce. The U.S. parcel service has admired its smaller Dutch peer for years, and proposed just before Valentine’s Day. TNT is thinking about it. But clearly its 2011 split from PostNL, the dowdy domestic mail business, is finally achieving the desired effect.

By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

How many banks does it take to put together a friendly, all-share merger – and one that’s been on the cards for years anyway? If the companies are Glencore and Xstrata, the punchline is seven – plus a lone banker acting as go-between. And despite the abundance of expensive wisdom informing the negotiations, this mega mining deal clearly needs wider shareholder support.

By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

There’s never been a better time to bid for Xstrata. Glencore’s 34 percent stake has always been a stumbling block but now some Xstrata shareholders oppose an all-share merger proposal from the commodity trader. That backlash could build, and both boards would have to consider any credible counter-bids. An auction may not be probable – but it isn’t impossible.

By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Mitt Romney’s low-tax private equity payouts caused a storm stateside. European buyout bosses are unlikely to run for high office. But, like the former Bain Capital boss fighting to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, they also cash in on “carried interest” schemes which usually avoid income tax. The system is due a re-think on both sides of the Atlantic.

By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Xstrata shareholders are right to fret over Mick Davis’s potential rewards from selling the company to Glencore. The chief executive drives a hard bargain, is a shareholder too, and won’t be the one recommending any merger to outsiders. But there is a potential conflict of interest in that Davis could receive two extra benefits merely for clinching a deal.

By Quentin Webb

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Contestants live under constant threat of eviction on “Big Brother”, Endemol’s flagship television show. Creditors have found turfing out the company’s owners much harder.

After years of wrangling, hedge funds which bought the TV producer’s loans on the cheap are set to take sizeable stakes through a debt restructuring. That makes Endemol a textbook example of what the distressed-debt specialists which are pouring capital and manpower into Europe call a “loan-to-own” deal. But it’s also a case study in how difficult these victories can be.