DealZone

HCP said it would buy most of the real estate assets of privately held nursing and assisted living firm HCR ManorCare from Carlyle Group in a $6.1 billion sale and leaseback deal. The deal follows a spate of acquisitions in the seniors’ housing and assisted living space.

Japan’s Otsuka Holdings could rise about 5 percent on its market debut on Wednesday after pricing its $2.4 billion IPO conservatively to reflect investor worries about its heavy reliance on profits from one drug.

In Hong Kong, the weak state of the IPO market is seen in Huaneng Renewables’ scrapped IPO plans and Datang’s low-priced IPO, the WSJ reports.

General Motors prepared for a dramatic return to the stock market with what is set to become the world’s largest initial public offering, less than a year and a half after emerging from bankruptcy. “I think it shows that investors think that the worst is over and I agree,” said Morningstar analyst David Whiston about the oversubscribed IPO.

Small investors are clamoring for a piece of General Motors but financial advisers are not confident they will be able to satisfy client demand. The U.S. government says it has achieved its objective and is prepared to relinquish majority ownership in the resurgent carmaker.

View a factbox on GM’s share offering.
View a graphic on how GM’s IPO stacks up against the biggest.
Read an analysis on the outcome for taxpayers.
View a slideshow of GM though the ages.

General Motors raised the common stock portion of its initial public offering by 31 percent, putting the deal on track to raise as much as $22.7 billion. For details on GM’s IPO click here. The NYT reports the IPO does not mark the end of the bailout era and the WSJ takes a look at the numbers behind GM’s valuation.

Britain’s Diageo is poised to be the leader in a race for Fortune Brands’ $8 billion plus Jim Beam spirits business if the U.S. conglomerate is pressed into breaking itself up.

Shares in Actelion soared on reports that the world’s largest biotech firm Amgen is studying a takeover offer for the Swiss drugmaker.

General Motors has increased the preferred stock on offer by 25 percent and raised the price for common stock in its landmark IPO, bringing the U.S. government closer to break-even on a still-controversial bailout of the automaker. NYT’s Andrew Ross Sorkin looks into who should get the credit for GM’s IPO and Dow Jones Newswires cautions investors with a look back to Blackstone’s IPO.

BHP Billiton is still interested in big acquisitions and does not regret spending $875 million pursuing three major deals that collapsed in the past two years, its chairman said.

If two’s a trend, expect more management/private equity buyouts of U.S.-listed Chinese companies — taking advantage of big discounts to peers on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets.

BHP Billiton’s boss is likely to face calls next week for a massive share buyback when he faces shareholders in Australia after his third straight failure to pull off a major acquisition.

Investment bankers are pitching to advise Symantec on strategic options as some shareholders push to break up the company, but the software maker has not made a decision to hire bankers and remains on track with its own strategy, sources said.

General Motors is in the final stage of talks to sell equity to Chinese partner SAIC as part of its landmark initial public offering, two people familiar with the matter said.

Australia’s farm sector would have too much of an advantage if BHP Billiton was allowed to buy Potash Corp, argued Canada’s farm minister. While Canada’s decision to block the deal stunned many, most Potash Corp investors seem unperturbed, eying its long-term growth prospects.

Alastair Sharp looks at what Ottawa’s market-rattling decision could mean for Canadian tech giant Research In Motion.

The terms of GM’s upcoming share sale show that, once public, the stock will have to as much as double before its biggest shareholder, the U.S. government, gets close to breaking even, writes columnist Antony Currie.

By blocking BHP Billiton’s $39 billion bid for Potash Corp, Canada reveals it’s not entirely “open for business.” Like many countries, it has become more wary about allowing foreign investors to gain control of companies that hold strategic resources. Reuters takes a look at BHP’s tenacious CEO, what’s next for the company and if other Canada-Australia deals can expect some backlash.

U.S. regulators have quietly been warming to the idea of private equity playing a bigger role in rescuing banks, as they deal with hundreds of institutions that are hurting for capital, writes Paritosh Bansal.

Private equity firms are on the prowl for more technology targets, said several senior sector bankers, but investors should not expect a mad rush of deals before the end of the year, writes Nadia Damouni.

Top Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp is close to making a decision on whether to buy a stake in its long-time partner General Motors, sources told Reuters. The WSJ reports General Motors will not have to pay U.S. federal taxes on up to $50 billion of profits for as long as 20 years. *View WSJ’s timeline on GM

Russian fertilizer group Phosagro wants Russian firms to buy a stake in Potash Corp in an attempt to scupper BHP Billiton’s $39 billion offer awaiting a crucial ruling from the Canadian government.

MUFG is in talks to buy Royal Bank of Scotland’s project financing unit, sources said, in a deal reportedly worth $6.4 billion and aimed at accelerating the overseas expansion of Japan’s biggest bank.

Canada insisted it had made no decision yet on what to do about BHP Billiton’s $39 billion offer to buy Potash Corp, even as two newspapers reported that bureaucrats were advising that the bid should go ahead. A decision by the Canadian government is due by the end of Wednesday.

General Motors plans to sell just over $13 billion of shares in its IPO, people familiar with the matter said. GM could file an updated prospectus for its IPO today.

Spanish bank BBVA has bought joint control of Turkish peer Garanti Bank in a $5.8 billion deal to escape a price war for deposits and high funding costs in its sluggish home economy.

As General Motors gears up for its initial public offering, the Treasury Department is calling the shots on everything from banking fees to the potential involvement of offshore investors. *View graphic on world IPOs *View graphic on GM value

ICBC, the world’s biggest lender by market value, paid a token $1 for a small U.S. brokerage firm, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal highlights the continued strength and growing influence of Chinese financial companies.

Ambac, once one of the largest U.S. bond insurers, said it may file for bankruptcy protection this year, after missing an interest payment due on some debt.