DealZone

Takeover talk swirled around Research In Motion as investors and analysts pondered whether new Chief Executive Thorsten Heins had been appointed to lead a turnaround of the struggling phonemaker or prepare it for sale.

Here is a brief biography of Thorsten Heins, the little known insider at RIM’s helm.

Gas producer Apache is to buy privately owned oil and gas company Cordillera Energy Partners III in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $2.85 billion to expand its acreage of oil and petroleum liquid fields. The deal will give Apache access to Cordillera’s portion of Granite Wash — a geological formation that holds tight gas trapped in its sands.

Sony Corp and Fujifilm Holdings are leading contenders for an equity stake in Olympus Corp, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters, as the scandal-hit medical equipment maker moves to shore up its finances.

Time’s Joe Klein writes about the trouble with private equity.