DealZone

Activist investors are back and flexing their muscles again after fading into the background during the credit crisis, though they are now dependent on cutting deals with big institutions to get their way.

As technology giants and private equity firms look for potential acquisition targets, customer relationship company Convergys may spark renewed interest, several sources familiar with the situation said.

Putin and Medvedev, Gazprom and Rosneft: the key players in Russia tend to come in pairs. Now state banks Sberbank and VTB are set to strengthen their duopoly as Russia’s financial sector emerges from crisis.

Reuters columnist Felix Salmon discusses the relevancy of exchanges with Andrew Ross Sorkin.

“Top venture-capital firms including Accel Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are riding the frenzy around companies like Facebook Inc. and Groupon Inc. to raise billions of dollars in new funds, even as the rest of the venture industry struggles to gather money,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

It took the rarefied air of the Swiss Alps to bring together the chief executives of Sanofi-Aventis and Genzyme  and pave the way for a $20.1 billion deal.

As the cream of the telecoms industry debates how best to make money from mobile data,Vimpelcom’s Alexander Izosimov  is alone in betting his balance sheet on it in unfashionable western Europe.

Chinese oil majors are set to accelerate their overseas buying spree in unconventional oil and gas assets, with an eye on technology key to help shift China’s reliance on coal to lower-carbon fuel over the next decade.

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis agreed to buy Genzyme with a sweetened $20.1 billion cash offer, plus payments tied to the success of the U.S. biotech group’s drugs, the companies said. Reuters has a factbox about the two companies, a timeline of Sanofi’s quest for Genzyme and a look at Sanofi’s patient CEO.

The London Stock Exchange’s bid to take over Canada’s TMX Group  is likely to navigate through a battery of regulatory reviews and emerge intact, even though investors are nervous about its chances.

In Asia however, tough regulatory regimes, cumbersome ownership structures and protectionist-minded governments mean cross-border mergers involving regional markets will be difficult.

Record amounts of cash and cheap financing have emboldened chief executives to sign off on deals aimed at boosting growth in a sluggish economy, helping push global dealmaking to a four-year high.

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext announced the creation of the world’s largest exchange operator, dodging political issues that could threaten completion of a deal. BBC News takes a step back and looks at what is driving exchanges’ urge to merge.

In what must count as the longest game of chicken ever, biotechnology company Genzyme and French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis, which is seeking to acquire it, are still haggling over price.

Asia runs the risk of being left behind in the sudden wave of transatlantic stock exchange consolidation, given the tough regulatory regimes, cumbersome ownership structures and protectionist minded governments.

The Wall Street Journal profiles NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer.

Columnist Felix Salmon weights in on why the stock market is increasingly irrelevant.

General Electric is to buy a unit of British energy services firm John Wood Group for about $2.8 billion. The acquisition raises hopes of more deals in the oilfield services sector, where GE has recently been an active buyer of assets.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd may knock on the doors of the Nasdaq or Chicago’s CBOE as the stock exchange operator eyes a partner amid the politically-sensitive merger activity engulfing the sector.

The departure of L’Oreal Chairman Lindsay Owen-Jones may bring the cosmetics giant one step closer to buying a direct sales company. Some executives and bankers have long held a view that L’Oreal should get into direct sales to boost its penetration of emerging markets where make-up and creams are still sold door-to-door.

Multi-billion dollar deals are back in the headlines and and investors are onboard, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext’s plan to create the world’s largest exchange has sent competitors around the world scurrying to find partners, accelerating an industry shake-up.     The Wall Street Journal looks at the how stock exchanges make money and what it means for investors.

Google and Facebook, plus others, have held low level takeover talks with Twitter that give the Internet sensation a value as high as $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The London Stock Exchange is to buy the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange, TMX Group, in an all share deal that will create a mining-dominant exchange at a time of rising commodity prices.

In a long range forecast for the media sector, investors should expect radical changes and lots of M&A, The Washington Post reports.

Porsche is about to hit the road with a 5 billion euro ($6.8 billion) capital increase, paving the way for a planned merger with Volkswagen, two people familiar with the matter said.

AOL will buy The Huffington Post for $315 million, relying on the high-profile liberal pundit who co-founded the influential website to rescue it from the dustbin of Internet history.  The Wall Street Journal looks at the good and the bad of the deal. Felix Salmon asks if AOL is really the right parent for the unique and very valuable Huffington Post Media Group.

Danaher agreed to buy medical diagnostics company Beckman Coulter for $5.8 billion cash, moving further into its growing medical technology business.

Blackstone Group has taken a majority stake in San Diego’s historic Hotel del Coronado. The private equity firm has been active in buying U.S. commercial real estate such as hotels, retail property and warehouse space from distressed owners and others who need cash.

In a special report, Reuters’ Elinor Comlay and Matthew Goldstein look into Jamie Dimon’s relationship with the White House, his leadership at JPMorgan and if he lives up to his “regular guy” image.

Delaware touts itself as a business-friendly haven, but a new strategy by a well-known whistleblower takes the rules in an unexpected direction.

As Indian companies farm out across the globe chasing business where they can through a slew of M&As and joint ventures, stodgy Indian banks are following suit, as much to retain clients as to chase profits.