DealZone

Nunavut Iron Ore sweetened its hostile bid for control of Baffinland Iron Mines, extending a battle with steel giant ArcelorMittal for a vast iron ore deposit in the Canadian Arctic.

Groupon, the social buying site that spurned a $6 billion takeover bid from Google earlier this month, has attracted several big institutional investors, writes NYT’s Evelyn M. Rusli.

Carlyle Group has sold a 2.5 percent stake worth around $860 million in China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd, sources said, helping the buyout fund recoup its investment in what could be one of its best Asian deals to date.

Western funds are leaving the Japanese market and local firms are picking up the slack, targeting investments in small and mid- sized companies, writes Bloomberg’s Tomoko Yamazaki and Komaki Ito.

The new year is offering hope to deal advisers, as U.S. bank M&As promise to return at a healthy clip after three years of gloom. The return of the mega transaction, however, is still some time away, writes Paritosh Bansal.

Norilsk Nickel launched a $4.5 billion share buyback after failing to persuade co-owner UC RUSAL to sell its 25 percent stake in the company, opening a new front in core shareholder Vladimir Potanin’s campaign to secure strategic control over the world’s top nickel and palladium miner.

After record solar-plant approval in 2010, the California Energy Commission believes its “big push” in solar-thermal projects is over.

Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co will take full control of Tower Australia Group Ltd for $1.2 billion in cash, the latest in overseas acquisitions by Japanese insurers keen to move away from a stagnant home market.

ChemChina plans to buy 60 percent of Israel’s MA Industries in China’s latest move to expand in the global agricultural chemicals market.

The red-hot trading market that has developed in the shares of privately held stocks has drawn the attention of the SEC, writes the NYT’s Peter Latman.

A spokesman for Taiwan’s Hon Hai said he had not heard about a deal reported by the Nikkei newspaper that would see the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone and iPad become the world’s top-ranked maker of small and medium sized LCDs in a majority stake, $1.2 billion buy of a Hitachi display unit.

Spanish construction group ACS has moved closer to control of German bid target Hochtief.

After a year in which most U.S. IPOs clocked in at less than $200 million, investors can expect a larger slate of billion-plus offerings in 2011, writes WSJ’s Lynn Cowan.

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto offered $3.9 billion to buy African-focused coal miner Riversdale in an agreed deal that is likely to be challenged by rivals seeking to secure coking coal reserves.

Companies issuing yuan denominated bonds are finding that raising funds in Hong Kong  is the easy part. It’s getting the money into China that’s hard.

Retailers have been prominent buyout targets again this year, and one private-equity firm has been particularly busy: Leonard Green & Partners, writes the NYT’s Dealbook

The healthcare industry is poised for a robust year of dealmaking in 2011 as a wider variety of players from scientific tool makers to hospital companies looks for new growth.

With many buyout firms fighting for survival and others hard-up for fresh funds, there’s an opportunity for investors to reform the private equity model in their favor. They shouldn’t squander it, writes columnist Jeffrey Goldfarb.

For private equity to be successful abroad it will need to leave behind many of its established profit models, writes Steven M. Davidoff in the NYT.

General Motors has raised billions of dollars in its IPO, but big investors still have plenty of cash on hand to plow into other new stock issues — if they have merit.

General Motors’ swift journey from dying company to blockbuster IPO is a remarkable story, which the Democrats received little political credit for.

One of the first signs General Motors was driving toward a record-setting IPO with booming demand from investors came from an unlikely indicator: a sudden shortage of chocolate mousse at an investor meeting.

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.

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.