Inching Toward Completion

Inching Toward Completion  |  Several big transactions are getting a fair amount of scrutiny. Many of these deals, if completed, have the potential to change the landscape of their industries.

European politicians are taking a close look at a proposed merger between two aerospace giants, BAE and EADS, and the heads of France and Germany met over the weekend. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said at a news conference with President Francois Hollande of France that the pair discussed “what needs to be considered in connection” with the deal, but “no decision was taken.” The two aerospace companies are also planning concessions that could help them secure regulatory approval - like creating a “ring-fenced” American arm with just one British director and no board seats for French or German executives, The Sunday Times reports.

The mining company Xstrata got an extension from regulators on its deadline to respond to the sweetened offer from Glencore. Though Xstrata's board backed the previous offer from Glencore, it's being more cautious this time after shareholders complained the price had been too low.

Ryanair, the European low cost airline, submitted a new package of proposals to assuage regulators' concerns about its bid to take over the Irish carrier Aer Lingus.

On Monday, the French oil and gas services company CGGVeritas said it was buying the seismic data unit of the Dutch engineering company Fugro for about $1.5 billion, giving it more access to natural resources in Australia and Western Europe.

And BP has offered to acquire a bigger stake in the Russian state oil company Rosneft, as long as it can sell its interests in a private joint venture, TNK-BP. DealBook reports that the deal could become a payday for BP shareholders, who are growing impatient with the chief exe cutive's leadership in turning around the company after the Gulf of Mexico spill.

Test for Spanish Banks  |  It's not a happy time to be a Spanish banker, with deposits flowing out and the government mulling how to prop up the sector. The extent of the problem could become clearer on Friday, when results of stress tests are scheduled to be released.

But one Spanish lender, Banco Santander, will be in the spotlight this week when its Mexican subsidiary goes public. The deal is set to be one of the year's biggest I.P.O.'s, with a goal of raising as much as $4.2 billion, and it could be priced as soon as Tuesday. The I.P.O. was in demand as of Friday, with orders amounting to roughly 1.5 times the size of the planned offering, according to Bloomberg News, which cited two unidentified people familiar with the deal.

European leaders are still discussing the plan by the Continen t's central bank to support the bonds of countries like Spain. The Spanish government, which has hesitated to ask for help from Europe, is getting ready to announce a rescue plan, according to a Financial Times report on Friday. A meeting between Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank president, and Ms. Merkel of Germany is set for Tuesday.

A Myth of C.E.O. Pay  |  It's an argument that has become cliche - a chief executive, if not paid a lot of money, will defect for another company. But Gretchen Morgenson, in her column in The New York Times, points to a study that challenges the accepted wisdom:

“New research by Charles M. Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, and Craig K. Ferrere, one of its Edgar S. Woolard fellows, begins by attacking this conventional wisdom. Mr. Elson and Mr. Ferrere conclude, contrary to the prevailing line, that chief executives can't readily transfer their skills from one company to another. In other words, the argument that C.E.O.'s will leave if they aren't compensated well, perhaps even lavishly, is bogus. Using the peer-group benchmark only pushes pay up and up.”

On the Agenda  |  Goldman Sachs's president, Gary D. Cohn, is presiding over a gala for the New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases and Center for Musculoskeletal Care tonight at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Mr. Cohn once was treated at the hospital when he twisted his thumb while skiing, according to Bloomberg News. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman's chief executive, is a guest at the annual meeting this week of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, as are President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney. (On Sunday, the convention highlighted a Goldman initiative, 10 ,000 Women.) Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is testifying on Monday along with European officials at a European Parliament hearing on market manipulation and the scandal over manipulating Libor. Rajiv Goel, the witness whose testimony helped convict Raj Rajaratnam of insider trading, is scheduled to be sentenced today at 3:30 p.m. Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who just signed up to be a Wall Street lobbyist, is on CNBC at 8 a.m. The analyst Meredith Whitney is on CNBC at 3:10 p.m.

Steven Cohen to Sell Richter Painting  |  The painting by Gerhard Richter, “Prag 1883,” is being auctioned at Christie's on Nov. 14 by the hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen. The Washington Post reports that the artwork is expected to fetch about $15 million.

John Paulson Off the Cuff  |  John A. Paulson characterizes the disclosures required of him by the Securities and Exchange Commission as “a complete waste of time,” according to AR Magazine.

UBS Said to Have ‘Risk-Seeking' Culture  |  Kweku M. Adoboli, the former UBS trader facing charges of fraud and false accounting in connection with a $2.3 billion loss, worked in an environment where big risks were the norm, his American manager said in court on Friday. The manager, John DiBacco, said that the size of some of the positions on the London trading floor surprised him. “I think there was a lot of risk-taking happening in London that was of a proprietary nature,” Mr. DiBacco said he told investigators, DealBook reports.

Apple's Hype  |  The latest iPhone went on s ale last week, predictably causing mobs to form at Apple stores around the country. Some observers are saying that Apple, the world's most valuable public company with a market value of $656 billion as of Friday, could reach a milestone on April 9, 2015, at around 11 a.m., writes Nick Bilton on the Bits blog:

“That is, statisticians and investors I've spoken with say, a conservative estimate of when Apple could become the first company ever to be valued at $1 trillion. (Yes, you read that correctly: the number one, followed by 12 zeros.)”

But Apple has begun to behave like Microsoft once did, focusing more on preserving its dominance than on inventing new things, Joe Nocera says. And Apple's big rival in handsets, Samsung Electronics, may be more formidable than many believe, says James B. Stewart.

Meanwhile, Foxconn Technology, a major supplier to some of the world's electronics giants, including Apple, said it closed one of its large Chinese plants ea rly Monday after police were called in to break up a fight among factory employees.

Mergers & Acquisitions '

Qatar Holding Said to Be in Talks to Buy Stake in Gold Company  |  The sovereign wealth fund is looking to buy a 49 percent stake in AUX, the gold company controlled by the Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, for about $2 billion, Reuters reports, citing three unidentified “banking sources.”
REUTERS

Batista Said to Discuss Sale of Shipbuilding Business  |  The Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista is in talks to sell OSX to Sete Brasil Participacoes, Bloomberg News reports, citing two unidentified people with direct knowledge of the matter.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Yahoo C.E.O. to Talk Strategy  |  A date is set for Tuesday for Marissa Mayer to tell Yahoo employees what she plans to do with the company's search and advertising businesses, AllThingsD reports, citing an internal memo.
ALLTHINGSD

Owner of Village Voice to Break Up  |  A group of Village Voice Media Holdings executives are buying the newspaper chain, in a deal that separates the titles from the company's online classifieds unit, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

INVESTMENT BANKING '

Goldman Expands Hedge Fund Offerings  |  Goldman Sachs is giving cl ients access to some prominent hedge funds, like Brevan Howard and Jana Partners, through a new product that is similar to those at rival firms, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Whose Money Was at Stake in JPMorgan's Loss?  |  William D. Cohan writes in column in Bloomberg News: “JPMorgan Chase wants us to believe that it was shareholders' money that was lost, not depositors' money.”
BLOOMBERG NEWS

‘Free' Checking Comes With Even More Fees  | 
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Credit Suisse Said to Cut Jobs in Dubai  | 
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Credit Agricole Faces Higher Hurdle to Leave Greece  |  The French bank is likely to have to put an additional 600 million euros ($779 million) to 700 million euros into its Greek unit before it can be sold, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Time to Take a Break From Stocks?  |  Some money managers are considering taking their gains from stocks and sitting on the sidelines for a while, with possible risks looming, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

PRIVATE EQUITY '

Private Equity Bosses Have Romney on the Mind  |  At the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst conference last week, “the elephant in the room” was the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, The Wall Street Journal reports. Richard Friedman, the head of merchant banking at Goldman Sachs, said, “I'm glad Romney is from Bain Capital and not Goldman Sachs.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Japan Fund May Join a Bid for Chip Maker  |  A Japanese state-backed rescue fund may join big manufacturers in a bid to take over Renesas Electronics, which is also fielding an offer from K.K.R., Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

AXA Private Equity Raising Infrastructure Fund  |  The private equity arm of AXA, the French insurer, has raised more than $1.31 billion to invest in infrastructure projects, with plans to raise more, Reuters reports, c iting an unidentified person familiar with the fund-raising.
REUTERS

Robeco Draws Private Equity Interest  |  Financial News reports: “Private equity firms are battling to buy asset manager Robeco from parent Rabobank, which put it up for sale in May.”
FINANCIAL NEWS

HEDGE FUNDS '

Hedge Funds Look to Ride a Stock Rally  |  Many hedge funds “that have the lagged the stock market rally in 2012 are now buying riskier stocks and commodities - and using more borrowed money - in an effort to play catch-up,” Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Japanese Pension Fund to Invest in Alt ernatives  |  The Teachers' Mutual Aid Co-operative Society of Japan, with about $7.6 billion in assets, plans to start investing in hedge funds and real estate investment trusts, in an effort to diversify, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Paying Tribute to a British Architect  |  The hedge fund manager Christian Levett, of Clive Capital, was among the guests at a gala in London to celebrate John Soane, an architect who was active in the 19th century, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

I.P.O./OFFERINGS '

Japanese Company Backed by Carlyle Abandons I.P.O.  |  Tsubaki Nakashima, a maker of ball bearings that is backe d by the Carlyle Group, has canceled an I.P.O. of up to $555 million, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Orders Pour in for Talanx I.P.O.  |  Reuters, citing “three financial sources,” reports that the I.P.O. of Talanx, the German insurer, which is set for early October, is already fully subscribed.
REUTERS

Debating a New Standard in Internet Radio  |  A new Congressional bill would change the model that sites like Pandora use to set royalty rates, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

VENTURE CAPITAL '

The Wastefulness of Data Centers  |  A New York Times investigation found that data centers, the physical machines that power the information industry, “consume vast amounts of energy in an incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid, The Times found.”
NEW YORK TIMES  |  NEW YORK TIMES

LEGAL/REGULATORY '

Paul Volcker Says ‘Ring-Fencing' Is Not Enough  |  A plan to force British banks to separate traditional banking from riskier divisions may not be “terribly effective,” Paul Volcker told The Telegraph. “It only works in fair-weath er. But doesn't work in foul weather. They have already run into problems and they are bound to run into more.”
TELEGRAPH

Standard Chartered Signs Pact With New York Regulator  |  The British bank, accused of illegally funneling money for Iranian banks and corporations, signed a settlement on Friday with New York State's top banking regulator.
DealBook '

How to Make Britain's Banks Behave  |  The British political establishment is trying various strategies to “analyze, understand and ultimately change the culture of the country's crisis-prone banks,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Lawmaker Found Not to H ave Broken Ethics Rules  |  A special investigator found that Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, did not violate House ethics rules during the financial crisis when she set up a Treasury Department meeting with a bank her husband owns stock in, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Lehman Brothers Unit Found Liable for Investment Losses  |  Bloomberg News reports that the Australian unit of Lehman Brothers “is liable for losses three towns incurred from buying failed securities, a judge ruled. The lawsuit's sponsor said the case is the first of its kind to complete a trial.”
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Britain Pledges $1.6 Billion for a State-Backed Bank  | 
REUTERS