DealZone

Britain was looking for a way out of approving media baron Rupert Murdoch’s multi-billion dollar deal to buy broadcaster BSkyB amid a phone-hacking scandal that has damaged the prime minister and raised broader questions about politicians’ relations with the media.

American International Group plans to replace one or more Wall Street banks in its next sale of shares from the U.S. government, the WSJ reported on Sunday. AIG Chief Executive Robert Benmosche told the newspaper he was disappointed in the bank’s efforts to drum up interest in the previous offering.

Peabody Energy has teamed up with ArcelorMittal to offer $5 billion for Australia’s Macarthur Coal, the world’s biggest producer of pulverized coal, as demand for steel-making raw materials intensifies.

Nestle, the world’s largest food company, is paying a hefty $1.7 billion for a 60-percent stake in candymaker Hsu Fu Chi International to move deeper into fast-growing markets in China.

Alarmed by widening accounting debacles at U.S.-listed Chinese companies, American regulators are scrambling to stem the damage from gaps in laws adopted to protect investors after the Enron scandal a decade ago.