Deals wrap: Ramping up to GM’s IPO
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.
Deals wrap: Caterpillar bets on mining
Caterpillar plans to buy Bucyrus International for $7.6 billion. The deal would create a global supplier of trucks, hydraulic shovels, blasting drills and coal-mining equipment and mark a step-up in acquisitions by Caterpillar under its new chief executive, Doug Oberhelman.
BHP Billiton scrapped its $39 billion bid for Canada’s Potash Corp and bowed to calls from investors to return cash, a move that came days after regulators blocked the year’s biggest takeover deal.
Australian wealth manager AMP and French insurer AXA SA launched a new $13.1 billion-plus bid for AXA Asia Pacific, a move set to challenge banks’ domination of the world’s fourth-largest wealth market down under.
Global M&A may jump more than a third in 2011 to the highest level since the credit crisis, driven by a big pick-up in real estate and financial services deals, according to a poll of senior executives by Thomson Reuters and Freeman, a consultancy.
The WSJ takes a look at Japan’s tough retail market and how it will affect Wal-Mart’s expansion plans in the country.
Deals wrap: BHP blocked
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.
The market is ripe for M&A but the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are dampening enthusiasm, writes the NYT.
Deals wrap: Eying the GM IPO
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.
The Deal looks at the private equity shops, accounting and law firms which make up the dealmaking community in Cleveland.
Deals wrap: Weighting the benefits of a Potash deal
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.
The NYT’s Andrew Ross Sorkin looks at how investors are buying big stakes in companies and disclosing the purchases long after the fact. Is it time for a regulatory change?
Deals wrap: Focus on private equity
Communications cable maker CommScope said it agreed to be bought out by The Carlyle Group in a $3.9 billion deal. It’s the latest sign of a resurgence of acquisitions by private equity firms, which are under pressure to invest billions of dollars of capital raised in the past few years. *View article *View preview of Blackstone and KKR’s results
Green Mountain’s near-monopoly in single-cup brewing, just 4 years after it bought coffee machine maker Keurig, makes it a compelling target for food or consumer products giants seeking entry to a fast-growth part of the U.S. beverages market, writes Mihir Dalal. *View article
Private equity is testing the regulatory waters with a rare bank takeover, reports Bloomberg. *View article
BHP Billiton’s biggest shareholder, BlackRock, called on the mining giant to reward shareholders with a share buyback whether or not its $39 billion bid for Potash Corp succeeds, writes James Regan. *View article *View additional article on the BHP deal.
Deals wrap: Cracking down on hostile bids
“Britain’s takeover watchdog has unveiled proposals to make hostile bids harder but stopped short of endorsing the most radical proposals floated following the controversial takeover of Cadbury by Kraft Foods,” writes Quentin Webb. *View article
The Canadian province of Saskatchewan dismissed the idea that a hostile offer from BHP Billiton for Potash Corp would bring net benefits. *View article
“Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts is hiring part of Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s proprietary trading team, which is being shut down due to new restrictions on such trading,” write Steve Eder and Megan Davies. *View article
In other Goldman news, the company is considering paying back Berkshire Hathaway’s $5 billion investment, the WSJ reports. *View article
Deals wrap: Appeasing Saskatchewan
BHP is offering more concessions to Canada’s Saskatchewan province to get a $39 billion deal for Potash Corp approved. “I think it’s wrangling rather than anything more serious. There’s a lot that BHP is willing to do in order to ensure that this deal is a success,” said analyst Charles Kernot at Evolution Securities in London. *View article *View timeline *View scenarios for Potash
“General Electric, Honeywell International and United Technologies are among the suitors for BAE Systems’ aerospace unit that could fetch up to $2 billion for Europe’s top defense group, people familiar with the matter said,” writes Soyoung Kim. *View exclusive *View analysis on defense stocks
Sanofi has received the green light from U.S. antitrust regulators to take-over Genzyme. *View article *View analysis on how Sanofi could raise bid *View article on Genzyme earnings
Super-angels are changing the dynamics within the startup funding business and this is good news for founders, writes Paul Graham. *View article from paulgraham.com
Deals wrap: Taiwan’s tough market
Three Taiwanese life insurance assets worth $2.5 billion are up for grabs, but a rash of exits by foreign firms and picky regulators could make investors think twice about a deal, write Faith Hung and Denny Thomas. *View article
“With its options running out and time running out, Potash Corp may soon have little choice but to negotiate with BHP Billiton over the $39 billion bid that the world’s largest fertilizer supplier has flatly rejected,” write Euan Rocha and Michael Erman. *View article *View article on Yara open to buying Potash Corp assets
Andrew Ross Sorkin interviews Felix Rohatyn. The veteran investment banker has “grown uneasy about his own industry and perhaps himself,” writes Sorkin. *View NYT article
Is the private equity industry on the verge of a shakeout? The Deal looks at which firms are in peril. *View article
Is a hedge fund investment firm touted as being controlled by women really run a man? *View article
