“A high-stakes negotiation is taking place in Silicon Valley among some of the biggest names in the industry â€" Apple and Google among them â€" over accusations that they were involved in a collusion to prevent their employees from being hired at rival companies,†Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the DealBook column. The employees have filed a class-action lawsuit contending that the illegal hiring practices cost them $9 billion in lost wages. The companies are hoping to settle the case in the next several weeks.
The evidence against the firms appears to be one-sided and includes emails from Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple at the time, and Google’s chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt. Some lawyers said that a company’s blanket ban on hiring as part of a systemic strategy would be anticompetitive. Others argued that as long as there was not a reciprocal stated arrangement, companies had wide latitude about their hiring practices. Regardless, the executives involved at the highest levels of the no-hiring scheme appear to have known it was illegal, or at least in a gray area.
GUY HANDS’S GREEN THUMB  | Guy Hands, who founded and runs the British private equity company Terra Firma, bought the music giant EMI in 2007. But he has had “much more success selling resin garden animals and bedroom slippers to retirees in garden centers across Britain,†Jenny Anderson writes in DealBook. Mr. Hands bought the Garden Centre Group in 2012 for 276 million pounds, or $459 million.
The purchase of the Garden Centre has shown that Mr. Hands has a green thumb, at least for gardening investments. The company’s earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization were up 50 percent last year, to £42.7 million, or $70.8 million. Mr. Hands said that the Garden Centre gets back to Terra Firma’s roots â€" buying asset-backed businesses in need of restructuring in essential industries.
Ms. Anderson writes: “But Mr. Hands will need more than the sweet scent of roses to make up for the mess left over from EMI, the music company he bought at the top of the market for £4 billion ($6.3 billion) in the largest private equity deal ever done in Britain. The company, facing crushing amounts of debt, was seized by its lenders in 2011, erasing two-thirds of Mr. Hands’s wealth and his reputation as one of Britain’s savviest investors.â€
SAC BECOMES POINT72  | “They’ve changed the sign. They’ve changed the email address. And presumably they will soon be giving out new fleece jackets at Point72 Asset Management, the new family office that will trade billions of dollars of Steven A. Cohen’s money and is the legal successor to his once-mighty SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund,†Matthew Goldstein writes in DealBook. The retirement of the SAC name happened quietly over the weekend.
The subdued changing of the guard to Point72 from SAC is probably a reflection of the fact that this is an important week for Mr. Cohen, as a federal judge will decide whether to accept or reject SAC’s guilty plea to insider trading charges. The hearing on Thursday before Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the United States District Court in Manhattan may move Mr. Cohen one step closer to putting the federal government’s nearly decade-long investigation of his firm behind him.
“But whether Point72 will be able to replicate the kind of trading success that SAC generated over its 22-year history will depend a lot on whether the investigation of Mr. Cohen and his firm has really come to an end. Another significant arrest of a top trader who once worked for SAC could make it impossible for the Wall Street banks that continue to lend money to Point72 to continue those relationships,†Mr. Goldstein writes.
ON THE AGENDA  | The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey comes out at 10 a.m. Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Minneapolis Fed, gives a speech at 1:30 p.m. Charles I. Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Fed, speaks on prudential regulation at 2:45 p.m. in Philadelphia. Charles L. Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, sits on a panel at 4 p.m. to discuss fiscal policy. The House Committee on Financial Services holds a hearing at 10 a.m. entitled “Who’s in Your Wallet: Examining How Washington Red Tape Impairs Economic Freedom.†The Senate Budget Committee holds a hearing at 10:30 a.m. to examine supporting broad-based economic growth and fiscal responsibility through a fairer tax code.
EQUITY FUND BUYS MATZO MAKER Â |Â The Manischewitz Company, whose matzo and gefilte fish are staples of Seder tables around the world, is expected to announce on Tuesday that it has been sold to Sankaty Advisors, an arm of the private equity giant Bain Capital, William Alden writes in DealBook. The deal comes just in time for Passover, which begins next week, and may help the 126-year-old company expand beyond the kosher aisle. The price of the deal has not been disclosed.
Manischewitz has bounced around various owners over the last two decades. Under its new owner, the company is expected to promote “kosher†as a quality-control designation, rather than simply a religious one. The company estimates that roughly 60 percent of its products are now sold in kosher aisles of supermarkets. But by introducing new products and relying on more mainstream foods like sardines and soup, it hopes to shift that balance. Manischewitz is also trying to capitalize on the craze for pure and healthy food, including by offering gluten-free items.
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Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals to Buy Questcor for $5.6 Billion  | Questcor Pharmaceuticals has been criticized for steadily raising the price of its most valuable product, but that aggressive pricing strategy appears to have paid off for the drug maker. DealBook »
Deal for Questcor May Create More Headaches for Acquirer  | Mallinckrodt’s deal to buy Questcor gives the company a tax advantage, but the company it is buying is barraged by regulatory inquiries, Robert Cyran of Reuters Breakingviews writes. DealBook »
Antitrust Hurdles Loom Large for Giant Cement Merger  | Holcim of Switzerland and Lafarge of France will need to persuade regulators in 15 jurisdictions that they are prepared to reduce overlap in regions where their combined market concentration reduces competition. DealBook »
China’s Dominance in Cement Has Little Effect on European Suppliers  | Cement is heavy to transport and relatively inexpensive to produce, so China’s dominance in the industry has little bearing on global supplies or prices. DEALBOOK
Laclede to Buy Alabama Gas Corp. in $1.6 Billion Deal  | With its purchase of the Alabama Gas Corporation, Laclede will own the biggest natural gas utility in the state and make its first big move outside its home state of Missouri. DealBook »
Drug Sale Shows Risk in Japan’s M.&A. Adventures  | Sun Pharmaceutical should have a better chance of getting a grip on Ranbaxy, though it is hardly getting a steal, Peter Thal Larsen of Reuters Breakingviews writes. DealBook »
Diamond Taps Barclays Executive to Head Atlas Mara  | Robert E. Diamond Jr., a former chief executive of Barclays, has appointed John Vitalo, the Barclays chief executive for the Middle East and North Africa since 2009, as group chief executive at Atlas Mara Co-Nvest, which is focused on investing in the African financial sector. DealBook »
JPMorgan to Shift Executives at Corporate and Investment Bank  | Daniel E. Pinto, who two weeks ago became sole chief executive of JPMorgan Chase’s corporate and investment bank, has announced a number of executive shifts within his division. DealBook »
Banks Take Annual Meetings Far From Home  | Many of the biggest American banks, which once held their annual meetings in New York or other metropolitan headquarters, are now moving to smaller venues, The Financial Times writes. FINANCIAL TIMES
Former Banker Turns to Progressive Politics  | Gus Christensen was an investment banker until four months ago. But the former JPMorgan Chase derivatives trader and Goldman Sachs banker is now running a campaign for New York State Assembly and wants to raise taxes on the rich, Max Abelson of Bloomberg News writes. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Warburg Pincus Takes Majority Stake in Aviation Technology Firm  | The private equity firm Warburg Pincus will acquire a stake in mercator, an information technology services provider to the airline industry, from a unit of the Emirates Group, which will retain a minority stake in the business. DealBook »
Amid Bids for Deoleo, Spain’s Government Seeks to Protect Olive Oil Sector  | At least three foreign bidders submitted offers last week for Deoleo, Spain’s biggest olive oil company, but the national government is warning any buyer against reducing focus on Spanish olive oil farming. DealBook »
Sheridan Healthcare Prepares for I.P.O. Â |Â Sheridan Healthcare, which is owned by the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, has hired Credit Suisse, Barclays and Goldman Sachs to lead its initial public offering, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The offering may raise $400 million to $500 million and could value the company at more than $2 billion. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Inflated Private Equity Fees Said to Have Been Found by S.E.C. Â |Â A majority of private equity firms inflate fees and expenses charged to companies in which they hold stakes, according to an internal review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg News reports, citing an unidentified person familiar with the situation. More than half of about 400 firms examined by the S.E.C. have charged unjustified fees and expenses without notifying investors. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Highbridge Capital Hires a Trader in London  | The hedge fund Highbridge Capital Management, which recently hired away two portfolio managers from Steven A. Cohen, has recruited a portfolio manager in London from Claren Road Asset Management, a division of the Carlyle Group. DealBook »
Paulson’s Advantage Plus Fund Said to Have Fallen 7.4% in March  | The Paulson Advantage Plus Fund is said to have dropped 7.4 percent in March, hurt in part by losses in the gold market, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. REUTERS
Rough First Day of Trading for Lands’ End, and Its Former Parent  | Shares in Lands’ End tumbled in their debut on Monday, falling 6.7 percent, and Sears Holdings’ shares also declined. DealBook »
I.P.O. Market Expects Busiest Week Since 2007 Â |Â A total of 14 initial public offerings listed in the United States are scheduled to price through Thursday night, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Marketing Software Company Yodle Selects Banks for I.P.O. Â |Â Yodle, a marketing software company, has selected Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank to lead the process for an initial public offering that is expected to come later this year, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The I.P.O. could raise $100 million. REUTERS
Floor & Decor’s Owners Planning I.P.O.  | The private equity firms Ares International and Freeman Spogli are planning an initial public offering of the home improvement retailer Floor & Decor for later this year, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. REUTERS
Fenway Summer Acquires Start-Up Mortgage Lender  | A firm started by Raj Date, a former official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, plans to start making home loans in the next few months. DealBook »
Silicon Valley Pours Funds Into Education Technology  | “Education technology start-ups attracted $1.25 billion in funding in 2013, according to analysis by CB Insights, and the boom has grown in 2014, with education technology companies attracting nearly half that amount ($559 million) during the first quarter alone,†John McDuling writes in Quartz. QUARTZ
The Cautionary Tale of Better Place  | The Israeli start-up Better Place had almost $1 billion in funding and ambitions to replace petroleum-based cars with a fleet of cheap electric vehicles, Max Chafkin writes in Fast Company. So why did the company fail? FAST COMPANY
Citigroup to Pay $1.13 Billion to Settle Securities Claims  | The pact reached with 18 institutional investors called for the bank to make a binding offer to the trustees of 68 trusts it sponsored that bundled some $59.4 billion in home loans. DealBook »
Puerto Rico Hires Bankruptcy Lawyers  | The move by the Government Development Bank, which oversees all of the commonwealth’s debt deals, raises the specter that Puerto Rico is preparing to revamp its finances. DealBook »
In Scrutiny of Comcast Merger, Internet Choice Will Be Crucial  | Comcast’s position that there will be no diminution of cable TV competition in its proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable may be beside the point, Edward Wyatt writes in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
Fed Gives Banks Extension for Part of Volcker Rule  | The Federal Reserve said on Monday that it would give banks two more years to ensure that their collateralized loan obligations do not fall under the Volcker Rule’s ban on speculative investments, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
‘Flash Boys’ Fuels More Calls for a Tax on Trading  | Michael Lewis’s new book “Flash Bots†has revived a fan club for new taxes, especially among economists and legal experts, Nelson D. Schwartz writes in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
High-Frequency Trading Falls in the Cracks of Criminal Law  | What the high-frequency trading firms are doing does not fit comfortably into any of the typical theories of securities fraud, Peter J. Henning writes in the White Collar Watch column. DealBook »
