Leucadia to Acquire Jefferies

The Leucadia National Corporation said on Monday that it would buy the Jefferies Group in a deal worth about $3.6 billion. Shareholders of Jefferies will receive 0.81 of a Leucadia share for each of their shares, the announcement said. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013.

 

A COMING SHOWDOWN OVER TAXES  |  The debate over taxes is set to become more heated in the coming months. President Obama said on Friday that he would insist on tax increases for the wealthy as part of an agreement to avoid a fiscal crisis at the end of the year, putting him on track for a showdown with Congressional Republicans, The New York Times reports. “On Tuesday night, we found out that the majority of Americans agree with my approach,” Mr. Obama said.

A behind-the-scenes effort by business leaders “could play a crucial role in shaping decisions on tax policy,” Nelson D. Schwartz and David Kocieniewski write in The New York Times. The chief executives are also involved in two separate advertising blitzes set to begin on Monday and Tuesday, which take their cue from ads by prominent companies like Nike and Dunkin' Donuts and feature slogans like “Just Fix It” and “Time to Fix the Debt.”

On Wednesday, the president is scheduled to meet with corporate executives at the White House to build support for his plan. “Though many of them backed Mitt Romney, scores have formed a coalition to push for a budget compromise similar to the one the president seeks,” Jackie Calmes writes in The New York Times. Timothy F. Geithner will be on hand to help negotiate a deal, the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, said on Friday. Though the Treasury secretary plans to step down eventually, he will stay in his job at least through the president's inauguration in January.

Jami e Dimon of JPMorgan Chase is building bridges. He said on CNBC that he had a “fine relationship” with Elizabeth Warren, who won a Senate seat after being fiercely challenged by Wall Street and its allies in Congress. “I called her up to congratulate her for winning the election,” Mr. Dimon said.

The prospect of higher taxes is not sitting well with some supporters of Mitt Romney. Two nights after the election, a hedge fund partner joined other financial types in a bar, according to The New Yorker. “Nobody cares about the difference between thirty-six and thirty-nine per cent, if that extra three per cent goes to the right things,” said the unidentified partner, who is said to be a former Lehman Brothers executive. “But we've spent six trillion dollars and don't have one building to show for it that you can hang anyone's name on.”

 

GREECE APPROVES AUSTERITY BUDGET  |  The Greek government approved a 2013 budget on Monday, moving a step closer to getting aid from its foreign creditors. But European officials are unlikely to sign off on the next tranche of aid until they receive a report on Greece's progress in meeting its fiscal goals, James Kanter reports in The New York Times.

The Greek government is going after possible tax dodgers in its search for cash. Tax experts are working through a list of about 15,000 Greeks, “lawyers, bankers, doctors, merchants and even farmers who for decades now have made up the cream of Greece's tax-avoiding crop,” Landon Thomas Jr. writes in The New York Times. These Greeks have sent a total of about $5 billion abroad in the last three years, government officials say.

 

ON THE AGENDA  |  The bond market is closed for Veterans Day. David M. Rubenstein, the Carlyle Group co-founder, is on Bloomberg TV at 10 a.m. Jack Dorsey, an entrepreneur behind Twitter and Square, is on CNBC at 4:30 p.m. A new documentary, “Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream,” directed by Alex Gibney, is scheduled to air on PBS at 10 p.m.

 

A JUDGE IS REBUKED  |  One of the most colorful judges in the corporate world was reined in last week. Delaware's highest court issued a rebuke of Leo E. Strine Jr., the chief judge of the Delaware Court of Chancery, “criticizing him for what it said was an improper digression in an opinion,” DealBook's Peter Lattman writes. Judge Strine is known for his offbeat and sometimes hilarious musings. “I'm only surprised it took this long” for him to be called out, a corporate litigator from New York told DealBook.

 

 

 

Mergers & Acquisitions '

Precision Castparts to Buy Titanium Metals for $2.9 Billion  |  Precision Castparts agreed on Friday to buy the Titanium Metals Corporation, an industrial parts maker whose majority owner is the Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, for about $2.9 billion. DealBook '

 

AT&T's Biggest Problems Aren't Emboldened Rivals, Chief Says  |  AT&T's chief executive said his biggest problem was not renewed competition from the likes of Sprint Nextel. Instead, he is focused on the need to improve the company's network and the uncertainty over the country's fiscal future. DealBook '

 

Best Buy Said to Tap New Finance Chief  |  Sharon McCollam, Williams-Sonoma's former chief financial officer, “is coming out of retirement to be finance chief at Best Buy” at year's end, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing an unidentified person close to the company. WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

Rosneft Seeks Investors in TNK-BP Deal  | 
NEW YORK TIMES

 

INVESTMENT BANKING '

Julius Baer to Buy Stake in Italian Money Manager  |  The Swiss bank Julius Baer has agreed to buy a 19.9 percent stake in Kairos Investment Management of Italy for an undisclosed amount. DealBook '

 

Citigroup Awards Pandit $6.65 Million < span class="divider"> |  The board of Citigroup has awarded $6.65 million to Vikram S. Pandit after unexpectedly ousting the chief executive last month. DealBook '

 

Despite a Regulatory Black Mark, Trader Landed at Morgan Stanley  |  After being let go by Goldman Sachs, Matthew Marshall Taylor was hired by Morgan Stanley. On Thursday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed an enforcement action against the trader. DealBook '

 

China's Banking Leaders Address Loan Quality  |  The New York Times reports: “China's top banking regulators and the chairmen of the four largest banks tried to allay concerns on Sunday that the country was allowing its banking system to grow at a reckless pace as a way to sustain short-term economic growth.” NEW YORK TIMES

 

Nomura Looks to Replicate Private Equity Returns With New Index  |  The Japanese firm Nomura is looking to “match the returns of private equity funds” by starting a new index focused on “publicly traded companies in sectors that are attracting attention from buyout groups,” The Financial Times reports. FINANCIAL TIMES

 

How Hurricane Sandy Hurt Municipal Bond Issuers  |  After Hurricane Sandy, “small towns could find it hard to bounce back because their tax rolls may be permanently reduced by the storm,” Gretchen Morgenson writes in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES

 

Goldman Sachs's Chairman for Southeast Asia to Retire  | 
WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

A Goldman Trading Executive in Australia Departs  | 
WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

PRIVATE EQUITY '

K.K.R. Opens Funds for Individual Investors  |  The private equity firm K.K.R. “is launching two investment funds to be distributed to individuals by Charles Schwab,” as it develops into more of an asset management firm, The Financial Times reports. FINANCIAL TIMES

 

In Australia, Accusations of Bid-Rigging in a Buyout Deal  |  Reuters reports: “A private equity deal involving a Canadian mining services company that was bought and sold on the same day has come under scrutiny in an Australian court.” REUTERS

 

HEDGE FUNDS '

Europe Offers Lessons for Navigating Fiscal Cliff  |  Reuters writes: “Battle-weary investors heading into another intense and market-sensitive period of political brinkmanship in Washington may do well to consult their European campaign maps.” REUTERS

 

Judge Insists Argentina Must Pay Creditors  |  The parties seeking to collect on Argentine debt include an affiliate of Elliott Management. REUTERS

 

I.P.O./OFFERINGS '

A Run on Groupon's Shares as Growth Slows Again  |  Shares of Groupon tumbled 28 percent by midday on Friday, to a low of $2.82, after the company posted yet another set of disappointing quarterly results. DealBook '

 

N.Y.S.E. Gains Ground on Nasdaq in Tech Listings  | 
WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

GrubHub Said to Plan I.P.O. Next Year  |  GrubHub, which allows customers to order food online, has chosen Citigroup to lead an I.P.O., Reuters reports, citing three unidentified people familiar with the matter. REUTERS

 

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VENTURE CAPITAL '

Social Media Manager to the Stars  |  A start-up called theAudience, which helps celebrities cultivate their online network of fans, recently got $20 million in financing from firms including the Founders Fund, Sean Parker's investment company, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES

 

Google Ventures Gets $1.5 Billion for Investments  |  Google is giving its venture capital arm “extra gunpowder to fuel growth in existing portfolio companies and scout for new, later stage deals,” The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

LEGAL/REGULATORY '

Reg ulator Faces Another Lawsuit Over Dodd-Frank  |  The CME Group, the giant Chicago exchange, sued its regulator on Thursday over a new rule that aims to shed light on the derivatives market in the latest legal assault on the Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul. DealBook '

 

No Charges for Individuals in JPMorgan Mortgage Case?  |  Under a proposed plan, the Securities and Exchange Commission would not charge any individuals in its case against JPMorgan Chase over the sale of mortgage bonds, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people close to the investigation. WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

Regulators Postpone Some Basel Rules  |  United States regulators said on Friday that the y were postponing a significant part of the financial regulatory overhaul after banks said they would not be ready for the new rules. DealBook '

 

Is Martha Stewart in Need of Oversight?  |  James B. Stewart writes in his column in The New York Times that Martha Stewart's “net worth is inextricably tied to the value of the shares” of her company. “That would seem obvious to everyone except, perhaps, Ms. Stewart herself.” NEW YORK TIMES

 

Morgan Stanley Sues Former FrontPoint Manager  |  Reuters reports that Morgan Stanley “is suing a former employee who was convicted of insider trading in order to recover $33 million it said it paid U.S. regulators to settle civil claims relating to the crimes, court papers showed.” REUTERS

 

Apple Ends Patent Battle with HTC  |  “But a wider truce in the patent battles engulfing the mobile industry is most likely still a long way off,” The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES

 

Former UBS Trader Called Scapegoat for Bank's Woes  |  A lawyer for Kweku M. Adoboli, a former UBS trader in London, said the allegations against his client represented a “character assassination” that failed to highlight the role of UBS's management in condoning his trading activity. DealBook '

 

A Need for Clearer Disclosure Rules after Cyberattacks  |  Regulators need t o provide clearer guidance on cyberattack disclosure to help companies address the often competing obligations to law enforcement and their investors, Craig A. Newman and Daniel L. Stein write in a column for DealBook. DealBook '