Barclays Names C.E.O. Amid Tumult  | Barclays has appointed Antony Jenkins, the head of the retail and business banking unit, to be its new chief executive, as the British bank deals with the fallout from the interest-rate manipulation scandal and other legal issues.
Mr. Jenkins, who will become C.E.O. immediately, steps into the top spot during a period of uncertainty for the bank.
Along with the rate-rigging scandal, the bank faces questions about its capital-raising efforts in 2008. On Wednesday, Barclays disclosed that the Serious Fraud Office is looking into payments related to agreements between the bank and Qatar Holdings, an investi gation that follows a similar inquiry by the Financial Services Authority.
âWe have an obligation to all of those stakeholders - customers, clients, shareholders, colleagues and broader society - and a unique opportunity to restore Barclays' reputation by making it the âgo to' bank in all of our chosen markets,â Mr. Jenkins said in a statement.
DealBook '
Warren Buffett Celebrates 82nd Birthday  | The Omaha investor is marking the occasion by increasing an earlier pledge of Berkshire Hathaway shares to the three foundations run by his children, according to The Omaha World-Herald. âI'm confident you will use the money wisely, each in your own way,â Mr. Buffett said in a letter to his children.
OMAHA WORLD-HERALD
Slowing Growth Underscores Pressure on the Fed  | With data released on Wednesday showing the economy continued to grow at a tepid pace, Ben Bernanke faces pressure to outline a plan to stimulate growth when he speaks on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyo., The New York Times reports. Still, many economists expect the Federal Reserve chairman to wait to announce major plans until after a meeting on Sept. 12-13.
NEW YORK TIMES
Carlyle Agrees to Buy DuPont Performance Coatings for $4.9 Billion  | Private equity firm Carlyle Group has struck a deal with DuPont to buy its DuPont Performance Coatings for $4.9 billion in cash.
DealBook '
ING to Sell Canadian Unit to Scotiabank for $3.1 Billion  | The ING Group said on Wednesday that it would sell its Canadian unit to Scotiabank for about $3.1 billion in cash, as the Dutch bank continues to sell assets to pay for its government bailout.
DealBook '
Two Views of This Summer's Deal-Making  | The dollar value of mergers announced this summer was the lowest amount since financial markets began trembling in the summer of 2007. But the number of transactions was the second highest, reflecting a time of plentiful but small deals.
DealBook '
Facebook Allowed to Use Stock for Instagram Deal  | A California regulator signed off on Facebook's deal to a cquire Instagram, allowing the social network company to use stock that has fallen significantly in value since the agreement was struck, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ryan Seacrest Said to Abandon Bid for Dick Clark Productions  | The âAmerican Idolâ host, along with his private equity partners Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, have withdrawn from the auction for Dick Clark Productions after performing due diligence, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
French Banks Prepare to Pull Out of Greece  | Société Générale was the latest, saying it was in advanced discussions to sell its 99.1 percent stake in Geniki Ban k, one of Greece's biggest financial institutions.
DealBook '
Johnson & Johnson to Acquire a Stake in Genmab  | The Danish biotechnology company Genmab has struck a deal with Johnson & Johnson that could be worth more than $1.1 billion, Reuters reports. The pact, centering on the rights to a cancer agent, involves a transaction that would give Johnson & Johnson a 10.7 percent equity stake in the Danish company.
REUTERS
Daikin Shares Drop After Goodman Deal Is Announced  | Daikin Industries may have finally gotten its wish by buying Goodman Global from the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, but its shareholders do not seem as enthusiastic.
DealBook '
S.&P.'s Onetime Credit Chief Departs  | Mark Adelson, who was the chief credit officer at Standard & Poor's before he was demoted late last year, has left the company, Reuters reports. He had been a public critic of credit rating companies before he was given the chief credit officer role in May 2008, as S.&P. was looking to improve its rating methods during the financial crisis.
REUTERS
Bond Trading Firm Said to Court a Buyer  | The bond trading company Gleacher is looking to sell itself and has approached at least one rival firm, Bloomberg News reports, citing two unidentified people with knowledge of the matter. Gleacher's top investor, the private equity firm MatlinPatterson Global Advisers, is said to be applying pressure for a sale.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
I.C.B.C. Reports Slower Growth in Profit  | The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China said its income climbed 11 percent in the second quarter, the slowest quarterly earnings growth in three years, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Blackstone Shifts Business Away From Knight  | The Blackstone Group, one of the investors involved in the deal to rescue Knight Capital, moved certain securities away from the brokerage firm, in line with rules to prevent conflicts of interest, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
A Bet on Wells Fargo Pays Off for Berkshire Hathaway  | Berkshire Hathaway's investment in Wells Fargo has been a source of growth for its stock portfolio, as other investments, like International Business Machines, have faltered, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Mitt Romney, Debt Creator? Â |Â In a Rolling Stone article, Matt Taibbi takes aim at Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital, comparing that work to the candidate's rhetoric in the presidential election. Mr. Taibbi writes: âRomney has piled more debt onto more unsuspecting companies, written more gigantic checks that other people have to cover, than perhaps all but a handful of people on planet Earth.â
ROLLING STONE
Chinese Companies Give Priv ate Equity a Second Look  | Chinese companies appear to be warming to the prospect of private equity deals, as it becomes more difficult for them to raise money through the stock market, The Wall Street Journal writes.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Renesas Shares Leap on Reports of a Pending K.K.R. Investment  | Reports that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts may ride in to help bolster the Japanese chip maker Renesas Electronics have given its shares a big boost.
DealBook '
Wisconsin Pension Exits Private Equity Investments  | Wisconsin's pension board has sold $1 billion worth of its holdings, including positions managed by the Blackstone Group, K.K.R. and the Carlyle Group, Reuters reports.
Federal Contractors Attract Buyout Firms  | Firms like CM Equity, the Carlyle Group and Cerberus Capital have been finding success investing in companies that sell services to the federal government, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Hedge Fund Proposal Would Allow Secretive Enclave to Open Up  | A new proposal outlined on Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission would remove a longtime restriction barring hedge funds from marketing themselves in public.
DealBook '
Romney Turned Down an Offer to Lead a Hedge Fund  | The New York Times reports: âNot long after Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race in early 2008, a titan of New York finance, Julian H. Robertson, flew to Utah to deliver an eye-popping offer. He asked Mr. Romney to become chief executive of his hedge fund, Tiger Management, for an annual salary of about $30 million, plus investment profits, according to two people told of the discussions.â
NEW YORK TIMES
City Officials to Discuss Bridgewater's Building Plans  | Officials in Stamford, Conn., are set to meet on Thursday with the developer overseeing the construction of the new headquarters of Bridgewater Associates, the giant hedge fund, The New York Post reports. The project has stirred up controversy for interfering with a historic boat yard.
NEW YORK POST
Yelp Surges After Lockup Expires  | Shares rose 22.51 percent, its largest one-day gain since the company went public in March.
DealBook '
Facebook Co-Founder Sells More Shares  | Dustin Moskovitz, one of the founders of Facebook who left to work on another start-up, has been steadily selling his Facebook position since the lockup expired. This week, he sold a total of 450,000 Class A shares, according to Reuters.
REUTERS
Japan Airlines Sets a Pri ce Range for Offering  | At the high end of the range, the Japanese airline would raise $8.4 billion, making its offering the year's second biggest share sale after Facebook's, The Associated Press reports.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Food Company Aims to Raise $100 Million in U.S. Â |Â Amira Nature Foods, a Dubai-based company that sells packaged Indian rice, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that UBS Investment Bank and Deutsche Bank Securities would underwrite its I.P.O., Reuters reports.
REUTERS