Deal Set to Help Sprint Overhaul Its Network

DEAL GIVES SPRINT A MAJORITY STAKE IN CLEARWIRE  |  DealBook's Michael J. de la Merced reports: “Sprint Nextel has secured control of Clearwire, the wireless network operator that holds valuable spectrum, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday. The filing shows that Sprint agreed on Wednesday to acquire the interests in Clearwire held by Craig O. McCaw's Eagle River Holdings. The transfer of Class A shares and Class B interests gives Sprint a majority stake of 50.8 percent of Clearwire.”

 

A DEAL FOR TNK-BP?  |  BP is poised to exit its joint venture in Russia. DealBook reports: “The Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft is near a deal to buy a 50 percent stake in TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil company, from the British energy giant BP, a person with dir ect knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.” The cash-and-stock deal could be worth up to $28 billion, according to DealBook. The growing sway of Rosneft may be inevitable, writes The Wall Street Journal's Heard on the Street column: “BP can put a brave face on the situation. But in Russia, there's usually only one winner.”

 

MORGAN STANLEY SHOWS STRENGTH  |  Morgan Stanley announced solid results on Thursday, reporting adjusted third-quarter earnings of $561 million. The firm's adjusted per share profit of 28 cents a share was 4 cents ahead of what analysts were expecting. Before adjustments, Morgan Stanley lost $1.01 billion, or 55 cents a share, in the quarter. (The conference call to discuss the results is at 10 a.m. Dial 1-877-895-9527 to listen in the United States, with the passcode 75875470.)

 

CITIGRO UP'S HANDS-ON CHAIRMAN  |  Michael E. O'Neill is shaking up what it means to be a chairman on Wall Street. At Citigroup, he does not have an executive role, putting him in a minority. That helped him take a critical look at the bank and fueled tension with Vikram S. Pandit, ultimately leading the board to ask for the chief executive's resignation, Susanne Craig and Jessica Silver-Greenberg write in DealBook. “There is a difference between assessing and running a place,” Mr. O'Neill said. “If you spot an issue you bring it up. What you don't do is effect the change. You simply advise.”

The bank's new chief executive, Michael L. Corbat, is facing pressure to prove himself. Mr. Corbat tried to reassure Citigroup's senior bankers in a conference call on Wednesday, saying, according to The Financial Times, “I know that yesterday's news came as a surprise probably to many of you. Successions are not easy. But I know we can hand le this.” Mr. Corbat also sent a memorandum to managing directors, naming the interim successor for his previous job. But one unidentified senior banker told The Financial Times: “The sense of calamity has yet again returned to Citi.”

There was buzz about Citi's new leader at an industry event on Tuesday, the 10th-annual Most Powerful Women in Banking gala, which Michael Corbat had been invited to attend. “He would have been here,” said Deborah McWhinney, Citigroup's chief operating officer of global enterprise payments who had invited Mr. Corbat as her guest. Another honoree at Tuesday's gala, Kelly Mathieson, a managing director at JPMorgan Chase, said her “jaw literally dropped” when she read the Citigroup news that morning.

 

ON THE AGENDA  |  Several big companies are reporting earnings on Thursday, but DealBook will be paying particularly close attenti on to the evening announcement from Chipotle Mexican Grill, which David Einhorn recently singled out as his latest short. Companies reporting before the opening bell include the Blackstone Group, Verizon and Southwest Air. After the market closes, Capital One, Google and Microsoft are set to announce results. Jacob A. Frenkel, chairman of JPMorgan Chase International and a former governor of the Bank of Israel, is on Bloomberg TV at 8 a.m. Gus Sauter, chief investment officer at the Vanguard Group, is on CNBC at 12:30 p.m. Martin Sorrell, chief of the advertising giant WPP, is on CNBC at 12:45 p.m. The Philadelphia Fed is releasing its business outlook survey at 10 a.m.

 

STAR TRADER CALLS IT QUITS  |  Greg Coffey, a hedge fund manager at Moore Capital, was once thought to be the heir apparent to take over the firm. But he has now decided to leave the industry to spend more tim e with his family. DealBook's Azam Ahmed writes that the move highlighted “the unattractive nature of markets these days to those who can afford to walk away.” Mr. Coffey also “joins a long line of investors who have given up managing hedge funds in the last few years, including George Soros, Carl Icahn, Stanley Druckenmiller, John Arnold of Centaurus and Mark Rokos of Brevan Howard.”

 

 

 

Mergers & Acquisitions '

Haier's Increased Offer Wins Fisher & Paykel  |  The Chinese consumer appliance maker Haier won support on Thursday from shareholders and directors of Fisher & Paykel of New Zealand with an improved offer worth $762 million. DealBook '

 

ING Said to Be Near Agre ement for Asian Units  |  The Dutch firm is close to an agreement to sell insurance units in Hong Kong and Thailand for about $2.2 billion to the mogul Richard Li, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS

 

CME to Acquire Wheat Exchange  |  The CME Group, owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange, said on Wednesday that it had agreed to buy the Kansas City Board of Trade, the leading futures market for hard red winter wheat, for $126 million in cash. DealBook '

 

I.B.M. Said to Be in Talks to Buy Israeli Mobile Software Company  | 
REUTERS

 

INVESTMENT BANKING '

Crumbling Deal Exposes Clash of Wealthy Family Dynasties  |  A powerful family in Indonesia appears to have outmaneuvered the British financier Nathaniel Rothschild in a battle for control of the coal mining giant Bumi. DealBook '

 

With Flat Profit, Greenhill Misses Earnings Estimates  |  The continued doldrums in the world of mergers and acquisitions weighed on the investment bank Greenhill & Company's third quarter, as its profit missed analysts' earnings estimates. DealBook '

 

American Express Posts Slight Rise in Profit  |  The company was affected by slowing growth in credit card spending. BLOOMBERG NEWS

 

Wealthy Families Increase Direct Investments  |  Some family offices are turning away from outside managers who “charge high fees and may have conflicts of interest,” according to a new study by the Wharton Global Family Alliance, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS

 

PRIVATE EQUITY '

K.K.R. and Sealy Directors Sued by Investors  |  The lawsuit charges that K.K.R. and Sealy shortchanged investors in a deal with a rival mattress maker, Tempur-Pedic, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS

 

Buyout Firms in Europe Look at Opportunities They Once Shunned  | 
REUTERS

 

Long Road Ahead for Apollo and Oaktree in Nine Entertainment  | 
BLOOMBERG NEWS

 

A New Sovereign Wealth Fund in Africa  |  The government of Angola announced the creation of a new fund, with start-up capital of $5 billion, that would invest oil revenue in businesses, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES

 

HEDGE FUNDS '

Customer Outflows Swell at Man Group  |  Clients continue to pull money out of the Man Group, the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund, as outflows rose almost 60 percent, to $2.2 billion, in the third quarter. DealBook '

 

London Hedge Fund Falls on Hard Times  |  Edoma Partners, a firm founded by a former Goldman Sachs trader, Pierre-Henri Flamand, has lost about half of its assets over the past year, according to Bloomberg News. Now, two partners are said to be leaving. BLOOMBERG NEWS

 

Och-Ziff Looking to Exit Housing Bets  |  Reuters reports: “One of the first big hedge funds to try to profit from a rebound in the U.S. housing market by investing in foreclosed homes is looking to cash out, even as other institutional investors are still getting in.” REUTERS

 

S.E.C. Accuses Hedge Fund of Lying About Performance  |  The agency said that Yorkville Advisors, a fund based in New Jersey, lied to its investors about its performance and asset values in order to earn higher fees. DealBook '

 

I.P.O./OFFERINGS '

In London, Tech I.P.O.'s Hindered by Limited Time  |  When technology companies pitch their I.P.O.'s, “investors in London are often forced to make a decision after just an hour or two with bankers and analysts, industry observers say,” The Financial Times writes. That limitation, the newspaper says, “has been a major factor in the drop-off in tech listings in London.” FINANCIAL TIMES

 

Hudson's Bay, Owner of Lord & Taylor, F iles for I.P.O.  | 
WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

Yelp Steps Up Policing of Its Reviews System  |  Yelp “set up a sting operation” to catch companies that tried to buy favorable reviews, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES

 

VENTURE CAPITAL '

An Australian Firm Is Active in American Start-Ups  |  The Australian private equity firm QIC has a venture capital arm that, according to the firm, has exposure to Workday and other young companies, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

Manager of Google Ventures Talks Shop  |  Bill Maris, who runs Google's venture capital arm, told The Wall Street Journal that the sagging stock prices of newly public companies like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga were “interesting to observe, but it doesn't affect our business at all.” WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

LEGAL/REGULATORY '

Push for Leniency as a Former Goldman Director Faces Sentencing  |  Rajat K. Gupta's lawyer asks that he be sent to Rwanda to work on humanitarian causes. India Ink '

 

S.E.C. Names Leader for New York Office  |  The Securities and Exchange Commission appointed Andrew M. Calamari to lead its New York office, a hub for many of the agency's biggest Wal l Street enforcement cases. DealBook '

 

Regulators Propose Capital Rules for Derivatives Trading  |  Firms like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase would have to bolster their capital cushion and post additional collateral for certain derivatives trades under the new plan proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. DealBook '

 

Testifying in Britain, Volcker Questions Bank Innovation  |  A parliamentary commission investigating recent banking scandals in Britain heard testimony from Paul A. Volcker, who pu shed for tighter banking rules. DealBook '

 

The Right Way to Increase Taxes  |  Broadening the tax base is a better way to address inequality than increasing marginal tax rates, writes Victor Fleischer in the Standard Deduction column. DealBook '

 

Why the F.D.I.C.'s Approach to Financial Failures Makes Sense  |  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's “single receivership” approach offers a better way to avoid an uncoordinated and destabilizing series of insolvencies for systemically important financial institutions, writes Michael H. Krimminger, a partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and a former general counsel of the F.D.I.C. DealBook '