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After Long Pursuit, Hertz to Buy Dollar Thrifty for $2.3 Billion  |  Two giants of the rental car industry agreed to merge late on Sunday, as Hertz Global Holdings announced a deal valued at $2.3 billion for the Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group.

The agreement caps a multiyear pursuit by Hertz, one that survived a rival bid by the Avis Budget Group and a rejection by Dollar Thrifty shareholders of an earlier, lower offer.

Under the terms of the transaction, Hertz will pay $87.50 a share in cash through a tender offer for Dollar Thrifty stock. That represents an 8 percent premium to Dollar Thrifty's closing price on Friday.

In an important component of the deal, Hertz said it would sell its Advantage Rent a Car discount unit to Franchise Services of North America, a car rental franchiser, and Macquarie Capital.
DealBook '

DEAL NOTES

Tax Credits Offer Clues to Romney's Finances  |  While Mitt Romney has refused to disclose more than his most recent two years of tax returns, some tax experts are focusing on a foreign tax credit he claimed in 2010. The return for that year suggests the candidate paid at least some federal tax every year going back to 2000, writes James B. Stewart in his Common Sense column.
NEW YORK TIMES

For Monied Interests, a Parallel Political Convention  |  This year's Republican National Convention, in Tampa, Fla., will include lobbyists, corporate executives and donors like Paul Singer, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Elliott Management, who is holding events w ith figures like Karl Rove and Condoleezza Rice.
NEW YORK TIMES

Plenty Blame to Go Around in Europe's Crisis  |  Despite a popular perception in Germany, it wasn't just the Greeks who caused the crisis in Europe. The New York Times reports: “The circle of perpetrators could also include the fickle bond investors who underpriced the risk of Greek debt before 2010 and whose volatile reaction to even minor events has lately been wreaking havoc with Spanish and Italian borrowing costs and, by extension, those countries' economies.”
NEW YORK TIMES

Mergers & Acquisitions '

Times Agrees to Sell About for $300 Million  |  The New York Times Company has reached a dea l with Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp to sell the About Group, which includes About.com, for about $300 million in cash, the company said on Sunday.
NEW YORK TIMES MEDIA DECODER

H.P.'s Tough Choices Ahead  |  As soon as Oct. 3, when Hewlett-Packard will hold its industry analyst day in San Francisco, the company could face pressure to do something radical, like take a big write down or sell off some pieces, the Bits blog writes.
NEW YORK TIMES BITS

Sundance Resources Agrees to $1.4 Billion Sale  |  The Australian mining company Sundance Resources accepted a lowered takeover offer of $1.42 billion from the Hanlong Group of China, with iron ore prices near a three-year low, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Samsung to Buy Stake in ASML Holding  |  Samsung Electronics is paying 500 million euros ($625 million) for a 3 percent stake in ASML Holding, which supplies equipment to computer chip makers, The Associated Press reports.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PTT of Thailand Offers to Take Over Sakari Resources  |  The Thai energy firm PTT is looking to expand into coal mining with a $960 million offer for the 55 percent of Sakari resources it does not already own, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Trimble Navigation to Buy Software Maker for $335 Million  |  Trimble, which makes equipment for marine navigation, is paying cash for the en terprise software company TMW Systems, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

INVESTMENT BANKING '

Spain Expects to Use $75 Billion of Bank Rescue Financing  |  The Spanish economy minister said the government expected to use about 60 billion euros, or $75 billion, of the 100 billion euros of bank rescue financing offered by European finance ministers, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Deutsche Bank Introduces Rules to Take Back Pay  |  The Financial Times reports: “Deutsche Bank has become the first global bank to introduce rules allowing it to strip staff of bonuses they earned at previous employers in the latest crackdown on pay.”
FINANCIAL TIMES

Nomura Said to Outline a Plan for Cuts  |  As part of an overhaul of its strategy, Nomura is finalizing plans to cut hundreds of jobs, mainly in equities and investment banking, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the planning.
REUTERS

Morgan Stanley Taps Small Investors to Buy Distressed Assets  |  Morgan Stanley is raising a fund to buy distressed mortgage assets from financial institutions, including the banks in Europe, and is looking to retail investors for the money, The Financial Times reports.
FINANCIAL TIMES

For Goldman, a Final Proprietary Trade  |  Goldman Sachs's thir d-quarter results are likely to show a profit on the purchase and subsequent sale of Knight Capital's stock portfolio, Reuters writes.
REUTERS

Goldman's Evans Said to Buy $27 Million Apartment  |  J. Michael Evans, a Goldman Sachs executive who is rumored to be a candidate for the top job, and his wife, Lise, have bought a 8,360-square-foot condo at 995 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan, The New York Post reports.
NEW YORK POST

British Bankers Enjoy Working in Singapore  |  In a survey, investment bankers in Britain said Singapore offered relatively lower taxes and higher wage growth than New York or London, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

PRIVATE EQUITY '

Blackstone Said to Groom Executives for Top Job  |  Joe Baratta, a 41-year-old deal maker at the Blackstone Group, who was named the new global head of private equity last month, is one of six senior Blackstone executives being groomed to one day take the reins from Stephen A. Schwarzman, Reuters reports, citing unidentified Blackstone insiders.
REUTERS

Company Owned by Bain to File for Bankruptcy  |  One of the portfolio companies of Bain Capital, Contec Holdings, a cable box repair company, is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection this week, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

TPG Begins Due Diligence on Billabong  |  The Australian surf wear company Billabong reported an annual loss on Monday and said it had opened its books to the private equity firm TPG, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Private Equity Investing on a Smaller Scale  |  The big firms may get all the attention, but a class of individual private equity investors is gaining ground. Paul Sullivan, writing in his Wealth Matters column, calls them the “do-it-yourself Romneys.”
NEW YORK TIMES

Buyout Firms Vie for Indonesian Health Care Stake  |  Blackstone, Bain Capital, K.K.R. and Abraaj Capital of Dubai are the bidders in the second phase of an auction for a fifth stake of Siloam, a private Indonesian healthcare operator, that could be worth as much as $300 million, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people.
REUTERS

HEDGE FUNDS '

For Hedge Funds, a Guide to New Regulation  |  Doug Schwenk, a former hedge fund executive, founded a company called Advise Technlologies that has carved out a business in guiding hedge funds and other investment firms through the process of filling out paperwork mandated by Dodd-Frank, reports Kevin Roose in New York magazine.
NEW YORK

Citadel's Co-Head of Equities to Depart  |  Jeff Runnfeldt, co-head of the global equities group at Citadel, is retiring this month after a decade a t the hedge fund, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Noble Group Said to Hire Brevan Howard Executive  |  Mark Hansen of the hedge fund Brevan Howard is headed to Noble to run its global metals business from London, as the commodities house expands into base metals markets, Reuters reports, citing three unidentified people familiar with the matter.
REUTERS

CF Partners to Open Doors to External Investors  |  The London-based energy trading firm CF Partners is starting an equity fund focused on infrastructure and commodities that, for the first time, will allow outside investors to commit a minimum of $1 million, The Financial Times reports.
FINANCIAL TIMES

I.P.O./OFFERINGS '

Regulators Review I.P.O. ‘Quiet Period'  |  Mary L. Schapiro of the Securities and Exchange Commission has asked her staff to review the rules for what companies can say before an I.P.O., in light of changes in the stock market, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Japan Airlines I.P.O. Looks to Attract Retail Investors  |  As it prepares to sell $8.5 billion of shares to the public, the Japan Airlines Company has assembled a group of 26 local brokerages that are strong in retail sales, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Bankers Pin Hopes on an I.P.O. Revival in Fall  |  Though the I.P.O. calendar for the fall is looking bare, a backlog of companies that have filed to go public could sell shares before the end of the year, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

VENTURE CAPITAL '

Crowdfunding Merger Points to Ambitions in Latin America  |  The Argentine crowdfunding site Ideame has acquired the Brazilian company Movere in a deal that may prompt more consolidation in this sector in Latin America.
DealBook '

Largest Mobile V.C. Deals Are Outside the U.S.  |  In the first half of the year, the biggest deals to finance early-stage mobile phone companies were in China and India, Bloomberg Ne ws reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Founder of Box Operates on Fast-Forward  |  Box, a cloud storage start-up that has raised $200 million from notable investors and is one of Silicon Valley's fastest-growing companies, is infused with its founder's youthful energy, writes Nick Bilton on the Bits blog.
NEW YORK TIMES BITS

Silicon Valley Rediscovers Silicon  |  There are signs in tech circles that “hardware is becoming the new software,” The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

LEGAL/REGULATORY '

Investigators Zero In on HSBC's Money Transfers  |  The New York Times reports that prosecutors suspect HSBC of laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and moving cash for Saudi Arabian banks with ties to terrorists, according to federal authorities with direct knowledge of the investigations. The accusations could force the European bank to pay a settlement of at least $1 billion, the authorities said.
NEW YORK TIMES

Banking for the Mob  |  The journalist and author Roberto Saviano writes in an op-ed pieces in The New York Times: “Mutually beneficial relationships between bankers and gangsters aren't new, but what's remarkable is their reach at the highest levels of global finance.”
NEW YORK TIMES

Regulatory SWAT Team May Have to Move Slowly on Money Funds  | < /span> Does the Financial Stability Oversight Council have the resolve to go down untrodden paths and officially designate money funds as a risk, especially in the few months before the presidential election?
DealBook '

A Regulator Derails Effort to Overhaul Money Fund Rules  |  Luis A. Aguilar, one of five members of the Securities and Exchange Commission, opposed a proposal to improve the safety and soundness of money market mutual funds, putting him “in lock step with the powerful and aggressive mutual fund industry in which he worked as a lawyer from 1994 to 2002,” The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Investor Accuses Carlyle of Improper Marketing  |  A Kuwaiti company that is suing the Carlyle Group over a $25 million deal now says the private equity firm marketed the deal without a license, The Associated Press reports.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Europe Eyes September Announcement to Propose Bank Regulations  |  On Friday, the European Commission set a tentative date of Sept. 11 to announce proposals to overhaul the Continent's banking regulation, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Apple Wins Decisive Victory in Patent Fight With Samsung  |  A jury found that Samsung infringed on a series of Apple's patents on mobile devices, awarding Apple $1 billion in damages and essentially forcing Samsung and other smartphone makers to resdesign their products, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES < /span>