Wall Street’s Tortoise and the Hare

WALL STREET’S TORTOISE AND THE HARE  |  The most successful firms on Wall Street are often those that are fastest and most opaque. But the Royal Bank of Canada has risen up the ranks in stock trading in the United States by “embracing a rather Canadian restraint and prudence,” Nathaniel Popper writes in DealBook.

“At the center of the efforts by the bank’s New York trading desk is a technology that actually slows its customers’ orders so as to evade high frequency traders. And unlike nearly every other large bank in New York, it has elected not to open its own dark pool, where banks privately carry out customer trades away from the public exchanges,” Mr. Popper writes. “Over all, it has risen to become the ninth-largest broker for Americanstocks last year, up from the 18th-largest in 2010, according to the brokerage and research firm Abel/Noser.” On Tuesday, the bank’s executives in Canada announced plans to create a new exchange in Canada that aims to be less hospitable to high-speed traders than the Toronto Stock Exchange.

ITALY STUNG BY DERIVATIVES  |  According to a confidential report by the Treasury in Rome, Italy faces potentially billions of euros in losses on derivatives contracts it restructured at the height of Europe’s economic crisis, The Financial Times reports. The report, the newspaper says, describes the restructuring last year of eight derivatives contracts with foreign banks with a total notional value! of 31.7 billion euros, or about $41.3 billion. The report leaves out details and does not name the banks, but it appears that the restructuring allowed the Treasury “to stagger payments owed to foreign banks over a longer period but, in some cases, at more disadvantageous terms for Italy,” the newspaper reports. The government report also does not specify the potential losses the country faces, but “three independent experts” estimated a potential loss of roughly 8 billion euros, or $10.4 billion, according to the newspaper.

ON THE AGENDA  |  The hedge fund manager David Einhorn is in Las Vegas to play in the One Drop High Roller tournament of the World Series of Poker. HD Supply Holdings is expected to price its initial public offering this evening. Monsanto reports earnings this morning, and Bed, Bath & Beyond reports earnings after the market closes. Roger Altman, chairman of Evercore Partners, is on CNBC at 7 a.m. Robert Nardelli, senior adviser at Cerberus Capital Management, is on Bloomberg TV at 7 a.m.

RUBENSTEIN’S LATEST PURCHASE  |  David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chief executive of the Carlyle Group, has added another piece of Americana to his collection. The private equity tycoon bought a copy of the first newspaper printing of the Declaration of Independence for $632,500 on Tuesday, with plans to display it publicly, Reuters reports.

CHINESE IN U.S. PROPERTY DEALS  |  About a quarter century after Japanese investors came to the United States in pursuit of property, “another set o! f deep-po! cketed foreign buyers is pushing ever deeper into United States real estate: the Chinese,” Julie Creswell writes in The New York Times. “Undaunted by Japan’s real estate misadventures in the 1980s â€" some Japanese investors wildly overpaid for United States property, and Japan eventually suffered one of the biggest property market collapses in history â€" Chinese investors are fanning out in the United States.”

“What began with a few isolated purchases two years ago has become a hunt for trophy properties and billion-dollar deals. So far, the kind of fears that arose in the 1980s â€" unfounded talk that Japan was ‘buying up’ America â€" have not surfaced this time. To the contrary, the Chinese, or at least their money, are being welcomed, even celebrated.”

Mergers & Acquisitions »

Losing Ground on Nook, Barnes & Noble Ceases Its Manufacture of Color Versions  |  Barnes & Noble reported a bigger loss for the fiscal fourth quarter than analysts expected, and conceded that its Nook cannot compete with other color e-readers.
DealBook »

Clearwire Deal Is a Lesson in High-Stakes Bidding  |  As the battle between Sprint and Dish Network shows, takeovers are really about how well ! you can p! lay the bidders and the parties against each other and create leverage, Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column.
Deal Professor »

The Intricate Endgame for Dell  |  The battle for Dell has become a giant game of chicken between Carl Icahn and Michael Dell, one that is tilted against the company’s shareholders, Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column.
DealBook »

Sprint Shareholders Approve Sale to SoftBank  |  Shareholders of Sprint Nextel voted on Tuesday to approve the sale of a majority stake to SoftBank of Japan for $21.6 billion, eding months of tension about the fate of the company.
DealBook »

Men’s Wearhouse Details Differences With Founder  |  The clothing retailer said that George Zimmer was let go in part because he wanted to take the company private by selling it to an investment firm, while the board did not want to take on the debt, reports Stephanie Clifford for The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES

Dole Food Names Special Committee  |  Dole Food has organized a special committee of directors to review the $12-a-share buyout offer made by its chief executive, ! David H. ! Murdock.
DealBook »

ANA and AirAsia End Partnership on Budget Carrier  |  The New York Times reports: “Malaysia’s AirAsia and All Nippon Airways of Japan announced the dissolution of their joint ownership of the struggling Japanese budget carrier Tuesday, attributing the split to fundamental differences over cost control and customer service.”
NEW YORK TIMES

INVESTMENT BANKING »

Marc Rich, Oil Trading Pioneer, Has Died  |  Marc Rich, the founder of the company that became Glencore Xstrata, died at 78, according to news reports. “Many of the biggest players in oil and metals trading trace their roots back to Rich, whose triumph in the 1960s and ’70s was to create a spot market for oil, wresting business away from the world’s big oil companies,” Reuters writes.
REUTERS

Greek Bank Executives May Benefit From Bailout  |  “The plan developed by the Greek government and its international creditors to recapitalize the country’s banks involves an unusual twist as stock offerings go: the new shares in the banks will give investors free and potentially lucrative warrants that will entitle them to buy many more shares in the future at a predetermined price,” The New Yo! rk Times ! writes.
NEW YORK TIMES

From Leucadia, a Final Letter to Shareholders  |  In their last letter to shareholders, Ian M. Cumming and Joseph S. Steinberg, the founders of the Leucadia National Corporation, offer some insight, a little humor and fond remembrances.
DealBook »

King of Bonds Falters  |  Pimco’s William H. Gross, who is often called the “bond king,” has suffered a 3.65 percent loss in his Total Return Bond Fund in June, according to The Wall Street Journal.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Money Boo Boo  |  A financial double feature from “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”: John Oliver, the guest host, tackles credit rating agencies, and Jason Jones provides some lessons for the “regulation-loving” Canadian bankers.
DealBook »

Housing Market Withstands a Rise in Mortgage Rates  |  The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index showed a 12 percent increase in prices in 20 cities in April, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

PRIVATE EQUITY »

An Investment Firm in the Cannabis Business  |  Privateer Holdings, founded by Brendan Kennedy and Michael Blue, “is the first private-equity firm to openly risk capital in the world of weed,” The New York Times Magazine reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Private Equity Finding Exits Easier Than Buyouts  |  The Blackstone Group’s sale of Vanguard Health Systems to a rival hospital chain, Tenet Healthcare, s the latest example of a successful cash-out, Robert Cyran of Reuters Breakingviews writes.
REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

HEDGE FUNDS »

Hedge Funds Stumble Amid a Sell-Off in Bonds  |  The flagship fund of Metacapital Management, which gained 41 percent last year, was down 5.66 percent this year through June 14, suffering losses on mortgage bonds, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Glenview Seeks to Replace Board of Hospital Group  |Â!   Glenview Capital Management, a hedge fund that owns a 14.6 percent stake in Health Management Associates, the for-profit hospital system, proposed on Tuesday to replace the company’s board with a new slate of candidates.
DealBook »

I.P.O./OFFERINGS »

Markit Said to Hire Goldman for I.P.O.  |  The Markit Group, a financial information services company, has hired Goldman Sachs to lead an initial public offering, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Advertising Technology Firs Court Investors  |  Reuters writes: “A slew of advertising technology businesses are preparing for their toughest pitch yet: persuading investors to buy their stock in initial public offerings later this year.”
REUTERS

VENTURE CAPITAL »

Square Moves Into Online Payments  |  Known for its physical credit card readers, Square is expanding into online payments, putting it in competition with PayPal, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

LEGAL/REGULATORY »

New York Suit Against Greenberg Allowed to Proceed  |  The decision by the Court of Appeals will let Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman move forward with an eight-year-old case first brought by Eliot L. Spitzer and then by Andrew M. Cuomo.
DealBook »

China’s Market Stress: Pay Attention to the Politics  |  Is the credit tightening in th interbank market nearly over and the party about to resume? Don’t bet on it, Bill Bishop writes in the China Insider column.
DealBook »

China’s Central Bank Tries to Allay Concern on Tight Credit  | 
NEW YORK TIMES

Senators Confirm Pritzker as Commerce Secretary  | 
NEW YORK TIMES

The ! Fed, Grasping for a ‘Clue’  |  “The Fed has no clue what will happen when it starts selling assets,” said Olivier Blanchard, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, according to Reuters. “So it cannot make any commitments in term of quantities.”
REUTERS