Treasury to Cut A.I.G. Stake Below 50% Â |Â The Treasury Department said on Sunday that it was planning its biggest sale of shares in the American International Group to date, making the federal government a minority shareholder in the bailed-out insurer for the first time since it took control of the company four years ago.
With the sale of at least $18 billion worth of shares in A.I.G., a number that could grow to $20.7 billion if investors prove enthusiastic, the Treasury Department could reduce its holdings to as little as 15 percent from 53 percent.
Taking the government's stake in A.I.G. below 50 percent is the realization of a long-held goal by both the Obama administration and the company, helping to cut ties to one of the most controversial bailouts of the 2008 financial crisis. The Treasury Department expects to ear n a profit on its investment in A.I.G., though it is unclear how large.
DealBook '
BP to Sell Oil Assets in Gulf of Mexico for $5.6 Billion  | BP agreed on Monday to sell stakes in a group of Gulf of Mexico oil fields to the Plains Exploration and Production Company for $5.55 billion.
The announcement comes as Robert W. Dudley, chief executive of BP, is raising money to pay cleanup costs and potential fines resulting from a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
He is also trying to use the divestitures to slim down the company and focus more on what he thinks it does best: high-risk, high-return frontier exploration and production, including deepwater fields. The British company has said it is in talks to sell its 50 percent stake in its Russian affiliate TNK-BP. A sale of older, smaller assets in the Gulf of Mexico would be in keeping with this effort to sell mature fields.
DealBook 'Â |Â
European Plan Could Be Undone in Germany  | The European Central Bank stoked a market rally last week when it announced a plan to buy government bonds in unlimited amounts. But this Wednesday, the plan could face a serious setback if a constitutional court in Germany blocks the country's contribution to the rescue fund, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
Former Tennis Star Makes a Mark at Columbia Law School  | Had things worked out differently, Mario Ancic would have spent the past two weeks grinding it out at the United States Open. Instead, he has been holed up in the Columbia law library, poring over his contracts casebook.
DealBook '
A ‘Compassionate' Approach to Cutting the Deficit  | Christina D. Romer, an economics professor who formerly was the chairwoman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, writes in an op-ed piece in The New York Times that, in light of historically low interest rates, the government's efforts to reduce the deficit should happen gradually.
NEW YORK TIMES
A Visit to Lloyd Blankfein's Childhood Home  | New York magazine has a long feature on New York City's housing projects, including the development in East New York where Lloyd C. Blankfein, the head of Goldman Sachs, grew up. Mr. Blankfein “apparently retained affection for his childhood home†in the Linden Projects, the magazine writes.
NEW YORK
Glencore Says Higher Bid for Xstrata Is Final Offer  | Glencore International confirmed its increased all-share offer for Xstrata, but said on Monday that it would not raise its bid again.
DealBook '
Xstrata to Cut About 600 Jobs  | The mining company outlined a plan to restructure its Australian operations amid a slowdown in the country's coal industry.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Garda Security Gets $1.1 Billion Buyout Offer  | The foun der of Garda World Security, an armored car and security company based in Montreal, has joined with the private equity firm Apax Partners to make a $1.1 billion offer to take the company private.
DealBook '
Haier Considers Buying a New Zealand Rival  | The Chinese appliance giant Haier, which owns 20 percent of Fisher & Paykel, said on Monday it had approached three other shareholders about buying their stakes, as it considers taking over the New Zealand company, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Infosys to Buy Consulting Firm for $349 Million  | The Indian software company Infosys said it agreed to buy Lodestone Holding, a Swiss consulting firm, as it looks to diversify and derive more revenue from consulting, Bloomberg News re ports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
CLSA on the Hunt for Acquisitions  | The chief executive of CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, the brokerage firm that is being bought by Citic Securities, said on Bloomberg Television that the company was on the lookout for possible acquisitions.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Banks Said to Consider Overhauling Executive Pay  | Directors at JPMorgan Chase are considering lowering 2012 bonuses for the chief executive, Jamie Dimon, and other executives, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites unidentified people close to the discussions. The board of Citigroup, meanwhile, is expected to decide how to “fine-tune†executive compen sation, the newspaper reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Taking on the Lightning-Fast Traders  | Two stockbrokers at a small firm called Themis Trading have emerged as leading critics of high-frequency trading, arguing that these computerized stock transactions have helped make the market less safe for ordinary investors, The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Deutsche Bank to Announce Turnaround Plan  | The new co-chief executives of Deutsche Bank are expected this week to elaborate on a strategy to increase profit at the German lender, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Sizing Up Morgan Stanley's Brokerage Firm  | Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is set to be valued on Monday by Perella Weinberg Partners, after a dispute between its two owners, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. The New York Post, citing unidentified people, reports that the value is likely to be “about $15 billion.â€
NEW YORK POST
Goldman Reorganizes Junior Staff in Europe  | Goldman Sachs is changing the structure of its groups of analysts and associates in Europe, creating two larger teams focused on northern and southern Europe, Financial News reports.
FINANCIAL NEWS
Putting Bain Capital in Context  | The presidential race has cast Bain Capital in a less-than-flattering light, but New York magazine writes that in actuality, many of the private equity firm's employees “are Dockers-wearing number-crunchers, geeks rather than Gekkos. Several top executives are Obama megadonors.â€
NEW YORK
Portrait of a Changing Buyout Market  | The latest quarterly letter from the placement agent Triago discusses a “new normal†in the private equity industry. “Returns can no longer be driven just by leverage, and investment opportunities are cropping up in new geographies, specializations and structures,†writes Antoine Drean, Triago's founder and chairman.
TRIAGO
Traders Cast Doubt on a Chinese Buyout  | Judging by the options market, traders are skeptical that the Ca rlyle Group and other private equity firms will complete a $3.5 billion buyout of Focus Media Holding, a Chinese company that became a target of the short-seller Muddy Waters, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Proposal Would Put Australian TV Network Under Lenders' Control  | Goldman Sachs and CVC Capital Partners have proposed a deal for Nine, the struggling Australian TV company, that would wipe out its equity put it in the hands of Apollo Global Management, the Oaktree Capital Group and its other lenders, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Blackstone Names Adviser for Australia  | James Carnegie, a former partner at the Australian buyout firm Archer Capital, has been appointed a senior adviser for the Blackstone Group i n Australia, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Icahn Pushes for Changes to Navistar's Board  | Carl C. Icahn expressed frustration at Navistar International's decision to appoint a chairman and interim chief executive without consulting him or other large shareholders, and he said the company should immediately offer four board seats to shareholders, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Paulson Said to Trim Losses in August  | After double-digit losses last year, John A. Paulson appears to have overseen a rebound in August, when most of his funds reported increases, Bloomberg News reports, citing two unidentified people briefed on the returns. His gold fund was said to rise 11 percent in the month.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Paulson Bets on a Real Estate Recovery  | Investment firms are beginning to sell land that they bought cheaply after the housing crash, Reuters reports. One such firm, Paulson & Company, is playing a longer game. “We are coming out of the mother of all housing cycles, and residential land is the best way to play the ultimate recovery,†Michael Barr, a Paulson portfolio manager, said, according to Reuters.
REUTERS
Hedge Funds Logged Slight Gains in August  | Hedge funds were up 0.7 percent in August, trailing the broader stock market, according to the industry tracking firm eVestment|HFN, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
JAL Aims to Raise $8.5 Billion in I.P.O. Â |Â Japan Airlines has set the price of its initial public offering at a level that would make the listing the world's second-largest I.P.O this year after that of Facebook.
DealBook '
Dubai Conglomerate Looks to Raise $1.6 Billion  | Al Habtoor Group, a family-owned company that spans a range of industries, said it was looking to raise as much as $1.6 billion in an I.P.O. in Dubai next year, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Indian Phone Company Looks to Take Unit Public  | Bharti Airtel is aiming to raise $1 billion from an initial publ ic offering of its mobile tower unit, Bharti Infratel, in what could be one the of the year's biggest Indian I.P.O.'s, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing two unidentified people familiar with the matter.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Nexus Venture Partners Raises $270 Million Fund  | The venture capital firm Nexus, which has offices in Mumbai and Silicon Valley, said it raised its third fund in a “couple of months,†bringing its total assets under management to nearly $600 million, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Tech's Cutting Edge Focuses on Data  | The latest thing in computing is data-driven discovery, in which start-ups like VoltDB and Paradigm4 , which were co-founded by a pioneer in database research, find insights in vast amounts of data, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
Warby Parker Attracts $37 Million  | The eyeglasses maker Warby Parker raised $36.8 million in a financing round that appears to have been led by General Catalyst Partners, Fortune reports. “It's a large score by most any VC standard, and massive for a maker of consumer goods,†Fortune says.
FORTUNE
How an Entrepreneur Approaches Hiring  | Ben Lerer, co-founder and C.E.O. of the Thrillist Media Group, told The New York Times about building a team to work on a start-up: “I'm making very gut-driven decisions right now. It's actually the way that I invest at Lerer Ventures, th e fund I run with my father, as well. The point is, you're investing in a person.â€
NEW YORK TIMES
Lawmakers Push to Increase White House Oversight of Financial Regulators  | Under a bill that could curb the influence of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the White House would receive explicit authority to influence the rule-making process at independent agencies.
DealBook '
A Key Witness in Rajaratnam Trial Is Set to Be Sentenced  | Prosecutors say that Rajiv Goel, a former Intel executive whose testimony helped convict the hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam of insider trading crimes, deserves a lenient sentence.
DealBook '
Banks May Be Forced to Separate Trading Units in Europe  | A committee reviewing bank regulation in Europe is said to be supporting rules that would have banks “ring fence†trading divisions, putting those assets in separately capitalized entities, The Financial Times reports, citing unidentified people close to the project.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Sorting Out the Collapse of Reforms for Money Market Funds  | James B. Stewart of The New York Times examines why the Securities and Exchange Commission abandoned efforts to impose new regulations on money market funds intended to prevent another panic. “It's the mutual fund industry and its allies versus the American taxpayer,†a person involved in formulating the proposals tells Mr. Stewart.
DealBook '
Slowing Job Growth Adds Pressure on the Fed  | Amid news that the economy added 96,000 jobs in August, at a slower pace than expected, it seemed more likely the Federal Reserve would announce new action to stimulate the economy after meeting this week, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
Finding Clues in a Housing Market Puzzle  | A database stemming from an investment vehicle known as Triaxx “could help its managers and other investors identify bad mortgages and, perhaps, learn who snookered whom when questionable home loans were bundled into investments that later went bad,†Gretchen Morgenson writes in her column in The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES
