Garda Security Gets $1.1 Billion Buyout Offer

QUEBEC CITY _ The founder, chairman and chief executive of Garda World Security, an armored car and security company based in Montreal, joined forces with a private equity fund to make a $1.1 billion offer to take the company private on Friday.

In league with the chief executive, Stéphan Crétier, is Apax Partners, the London-based private equity. The consortium's $12-a-share offer includes the assumption of $625 million in debt.

Garda was founded in 1995 by Mr. Crétier with an investment of $25,000. The company went on a largely debt financed shopping spree during the 2000s, which made it the second largest cash handling company in the United States after Brink's. But the financial crisis in 2008 and problems with its acquisition of ATI Systems International caused to the company to violate the terms of some loan agreements. And its stock price plummeted.

The company eventually refinanced its debt and its operations have recovered along with the fin ancial services sector. But the company's relatively high debt had depressed its share price.

The consortium's offer is 30 percent higher than Thursday's closing share price on the Toronto stock exchange. Following the recommendation of a committee of independent directors, Garda's board has unanimously endorsed the offer. Mr. Crétier abstained from that process.

In a statement, Mr. Crétier suggested that Garda would be able to acquire additional companies more easily once it stops being publicly traded.

“We intend to continue to pursue our growth strategy both organically and through acquisitions, which we can more efficiently accomplish as a private company,” Mr. Crétier said.

The company separately announced on Friday that it had earned $4.9 million in its second quarter, up from $3.8 million during the same period last year. Revenue rose 13.7 percent, to $337 million during the quarter.

A Key Witness in Rajaratnam Trial Is Set to Be Sentenced

A disgraced former Intel executives whose testimony helped convict the hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam of insider trading crimes deserves a lenient sentence because of his cooperation with the government, federal prosecutors said on Friday.

In a letter to Judge Barbara Jones, the United States attorney's office in Manhattan praised the cooperation of Rajiv Goel, the former Intel executive.

“Goel substantially helped the Government secure a conviction in one the most significant and high-profile insider trading trials in history,” the letter said. “From the first day of Goel's cooperation through the present, Goel has been a very important, straightforward, and extraordinarily helpful cooperating witness.”

Mr. Goel, 54, is set to be sentenced on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. He was one of three main government witnesses who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Mr. Rajaratnam in a far-reaching insider trading conspiracy and th en testified against him during his trial.

The other two witnesses have already been sentenced and were spared prison time. Anil Kumar, a former McKinsey executive, and Adam Smith, a former trader at Mr. Rajaratnam's hedge fund Galleon Group, were both given probationary sentences because of their extensive cooperation.

Mr. Goel met Mr. Rajaratnam while the two were business-school students at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Rajaratnam lured Mr. Goel into his insider trading conspiracy by bestowing favors upon his old friend, including executing profitable - and illegal - trades in Mr. Goel's Charles Schwab brokerage account. Eventually, Mr. Goel gave Mr. Rajaratnam advance word of Intel's quarterly earnings results.

“He knew that it was wrong for him to do so and regrets the decision that he made at the time, not only because of the negative consequences that he has justifiably suffered as a result of that decision, but also be cause of his betrayal of Intel, a company that had vested so much trust in him over the years,” wrote David Zornow, a lawyer for Mr. Goel, in his letter to Judge Jones.

At trial, Mr. Goel proved an effective witness, walking the jury through secretly recorded telephone calls during which he and Mr. Rajaratnam exchanged confidential information about Intel.

“During his testimony, Goel was contrite, truthful, and direct about his criminal conduct,” the government's letter said.

The government's letter to Judge Jones indicates that Mr. Goel has continued to help the government since Mr. Rajaratnam's conviction in May 2011. It says that as recently as July 30, 2012, Mr. Goel spoke with prosecutors to provide information about certain trades in the Galleon case that continue to be investigated.

Mr. Zornow, the lawyer for Mr. Goel, asked Judge Jones to spare his client a prison term and sentence him to probation.

“Mr. Goel has already paid a hefty price for his involvement with Mr. Rajaratnam, in terms of his career prospects and his personal finances, not to mention the toll that the case has exacted on his family,” said Mr. Zornow. “Any sentence of incarceration would delay Mr. Goel's efforts to rebuild his career, and would limit his ability to support those people who depend on him.”

Separately, an appeal of Mr. Rajaratnam's conviction has been scheduled to be heard by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Oct. 25.

Week in Review: Off to the Principal\'s Office

WEEK IN VERSE “I know, it's off to the principal's office I go,” Young M.C. sang. “Yo, you think this is bad? Just wait till I get my report card.”

A company tries to win over investors for a huge merger in the natural resources business. We visited multinationals staking a claim in venture capital. And Andrew Ross Sorkin pointed to the man behind Facebook's initial public offering debacle.

A look back on our reporting of the past week's highs and lows in finance.

Glencore Increases Offer in Bid to Secure Deal | The world's biggest commodities-trading company tries to save its merger with the mining company Xstrata by sweetening the terms of the all-share deal as it seeks to gain shareholder support, William MacNamara reported. Glencore International is trying to win over investors, including Qatar Holding, Xstrata's second-largest shareholder, which had threatened to block the deal. DealBook '

A banker who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly says:

“This is all about face-saving,” the banker said. The higher offer “was always there as a possibility,” he added. But Qatar and Glencore's hardening public opposition had blocked all lines of communication and potential compromise.

JPMorgan Names Investment Executive | As it works to move past a multibillion-dollar trading loss tied to a complex credit bet, the bank has been reshuffling its management ranks - focusing specifically on the chief investment office, the powerful unit at the center of the soured trade, Jessica Silver-Greenberg reported. Craig Delany is taking the helm of the chief investment office, joining a stable of younger executives, including Matthew E. Zames. DealBook '

The promotion of Mr. Delany, who will report to Mr. Zames, has already spawned speculation about who may succeed Mr. Dimon one day. People close to the bank say that Mr. Dimon, who is 56, does not plan to hand over the reins for at least five years.

Nomura Seeks to Save $1 Billion by Scaling Back Mainly in Europe | The scandal-hit Japanese investment bank outlined a broad reorganization plan that would pare back its business to a shadow of what it held after acquiring parts of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Hiroko Tabuchi reported. Koji Nagai, Nomura's new chief, told analysts that the cuts were driven by a grim outlook for the global economy. DealBook '

Under Mr. Nagai, the bank is narrowing its global aspirations and will focus closer to home in Asia, where it can better leverage its dominant position in Japan, senior executives said.

The Trade: Pruning Hedge Fund Regulation Without Cultivating Better Rules | The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rules to lift advertising restrictions, but Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica says that the way this looks on paper and the way it will play out in the real world are a tad different. DealBook '

If Groucho Marx were alive today, he'd say that he would never want to invest in a hedge fund that would have him as a limited partner. One doesn't see Le Bernardin and Château Lafite filling the airwaves during N.F.L. games. The ban on law firms advertising was lifted in the 1970s. Today, Jacoby & Meyers advertises on television; Sullivan & Cromwell does not. Drug ads have wrought a parade of patients demanding new (high-margin) medicines from their doctors that often offer few benefits over the old (off-patent) ones.

Deal Professor: With Lax Regulation, a Risky Industry Flourishes Offshore | Steven M. Davidoff says that reinsurance, already something of a murky business, may become even more complicated as hedge funds rush to open their own firms in Bermuda. DealBook '

Yet the concern is not that so much of the business is offshore, but that the growing role of hedge funds may push the main reinsurers to be more aggressive with their own investing. The result would be to push the reinsurance market into becoming a giant hedge fund industry.

DealBook Column: The Man Behind Facebook's I.P.O. Debacle | Andrew Ross Sorkin says that if there is one single individual more responsible than any other for the staggering mispricing, it is David Ebersman, Facebook's chief financial officer. DealBook '

At a time when investors are looking for some semblance of accountability on Wall Street and in corporate America, it is remarkable that nobody - no bankers, no one at Nasdaq, no one at Facebook - has been fired for botching the offering.

Mr. Zuckerberg reportedly told his employees after the I.P.O., “So, you've heard we're firing David?” But it was only a joke.

Multinationals Stake a Claim in Venture Capital | Huge companies like American Express and G.M. have opened offices in Silicon Valley to invest in innovation, Evelyn M. Rusli reported.DealBook '

“We invest with the idea that we're a potential customer for a company,” Jon Lauckner, G.M.'s chief technology officer said. “We're not looking to make several $5 million investments and make $10 million on each. That would be nice, but it's not important.”

A Decade-Old Insider Trading Case Is Revived | A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Nelson J. Obus, a New York hedge fund manager, Peter Lattman reported. DealBook '

For more than 10 years, Mr. Obus has refused to settle the lawsuit as a matter of principle, according to his lawyer. His battle with the S.E.C. is a rare one. Most insider trading defendants settle lawsuits brought by regulators, agreeing to forfeit ill-gotten gains and pay a fine, without admitting or deny ing wrongdoing.

Visas-for-Dollars Program a Boon to Hotel Developers | “A government program, which grants so-called EB-5 visas to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in an American business, is now a popular source of financing for new Marriott hotels,” Janet Morrissey reported. DealBook '

“Foreigners are buying visas and are much less concerned about the rate of return they earn on their investment,” said David Loeb, a senior analyst at Robert W. Baird.

Citi Hid Dewey's Finances, Ex-Partner at Firm Says | In a recent court filing, Steven P. Otillar says Citibank conspired with Dewey's management to hide the law firm's true financial condition in the months before its collapse, Mr. Lattman reported. DealBook '

Sorting Out the Collapse of Reforms for Money Market Funds

Four years after the fall of Lehman Brothers, and with a presidential campaign in full swing, everyone can surely agree on one thing: we shouldn't risk another financial crisis.

But after four years of studies, hearings and round tables, the late last month abandoned efforts to impose new regulations on money market funds intended to prevent another panic like the one that occurred in 2008 and eliminate the need for a taxpayer bailout of the multitrillion-dollar funds.

The S.E.C.'s proposed reforms had the backing of the White House, Treasury officials, the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, a council of academic experts, The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial page, the former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. - just about every disinterested party who weighed in on the issue.

So it's no wonder many S.E.C. staff members were shocked when three of the five S.E.C. commissioners - two Republicans and one Democrat - indicated they wouldn't support the proposals. It was a rare case of a Democratic commissioner breaking ranks with the agency's chairwoman, , an Obama appointee who is a political independent.

“I'm not the crusading type,” a frustrated Ms. Schapiro told me. “This isn't based on conjecture. We know what can go wrong. We saw what happened with the Reserve Fund in 2008. There was a broad run on money market funds; credit markets froze. People didn't have access to their money, which was extraordinary. We're trying to prevent that. And if you're opposed to government bailouts, you have to support these reforms.”

So what accounts for the collapse?

Though Republicans in Congress have generally sided with the industry, and the reforms emerged from a Democratic administration, several people I spoke to said it was a mistake to view the outcome through the prism of partisan politics. “It's not Republicans versus Democrats,” a person involved in formulating the proposals told me. “It's the mutual fund industry and its allies versus the American taxpayer.”

For many in the mutual fund industry, 2008 seems both a distant memory and the equivalent of a 100-year flood, something unlikely to be repeated. But just four years ago, on Sept. 16, 2008, shortly after Lehman Brothers collapsed, the Reserve Fund, the nation's oldest money market fund, “broke the buck” and set off a run on the global money fund industry.

Money market funds - convenient, higher-yielding and supposedly ultrasafe alternatives to deposits at banks - are a mainstay of the mutual fund industry, offered by all the major fund families. They typically invest in short-term, low-risk assets (like United States Treasuries and highly rated ), and with the blessing of regulators, each day they report a stable net asset value of $1 a share. That's convenient for tax purposes (there are never any reportable gains or losses), and it promotes the idea that these funds are risk-free because the reported value never fluctuates.

In reality, this has always been an illusion, or what Ms. Schapiro calls a “fiction.” Even short-term assets may fluctuate as interest rates change, even if the moves are very small. And they can also fluctuate because of credit risks. That's what happened to the Reserve Fund: it owned $785 million in Lehman Brothers' commercial paper. When the value of Lehman Brothers debt collapsed, there was no way the Reserve Fund could claim that its shares were worth $1, even using generous rounding and averaging tactics to mask shifts in value. When the Reserve Fund admitted its shares weren't worth $1, investors panicked and began a run on the fund. Reserve froze its assets and no one could get their money out, even though the actual net asset value was only a few cents less than $1.

The run quickly spread to other money market funds. Funds were frantically trying to unload commercial paper and other assets to raise cash. Major corporations that rely on commercial paper to cover day-to-day operations found themselves unable to issue new securities as the market teetered on collapse. Secretary Paulson fielded phone calls from chief executives alarmed that they might be unable to meet their payrolls. The run on the Reserve Fund and other money market funds took the financial crisis straight from Wall Street to Main Street.

I remember that week vividly because I relied on a money market fund for cash. When I needed some, I went to an A.T.M. and tapped in my access code. I didn't even have a conventional bank account and prided myself on my modern approach - until I woke up the morning after the Reserve announcement to face the prospect that I might not have access to any of my money. In the many years I'd been relying on my money market account, such a calamity had never crossed my mind. Those old-fashioned government-insured bank accounts suddenly looked appealing.

Former Tennis Star Makes a Mark at Columbia Law School

Every fall, Columbia Law School admits a couple hundred students to its prestigious master's program. This year's crop includes a civil rights activist from Armenia, a terrorism-finance expert from Bangladesh and a Croatian lawyer with a win over Roger Federer.

Had things worked out differently, Mario Ancic, the Croatian lawyer, would have spent the past two weeks grinding it out on the hardcourts at the United States Open. Instead, he has been holed up in the Columbia law library, poring over his contracts casebook.

“I'm trying to be prepared for every class,” Ancic said. “The professors here use the Socratic method of teaching, so they can call on you at any time.”

Not long ago, Ancic, 28, had different concerns. He was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2004. The next year, he became a hero in Croatia after helping the nation win the Davis Cup. With his 6-foot-5 frame and booming serve, Ancic achieved a peak ranking of No. 7 after reaching the qua rterfinals of Wimbledon and the French Open in 2006.

“The future of tennis has arrived - and his name is Mario Ancic,” Boris Becker, the German champion, once said.

Born in the Mediterranean city Split, Ancic (pronounced An-CHITCH) was the world's top-ranked junior at 16. He burst onto the pro tour two years later, defeating Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2002.

“This wasn't the Roger Federer that we know today,” said Ancic, reluctantly discussing his famous victory. (Federer went on to win Wimbledon the next five times in a row and seven in all.)

But almost from the outset of his career, Ancic had to battle more than just his opponents. There were persistent shoulder problems and chronic back pain. A glandular fever sidelined him for the better part of two years. Doctors eventually diagnosed a severe strain of mononucleosis. The endless string of ailments forced Ancic to hang up his racket at 26.

“I had to retire early and tha t's life,” he said. “You try to deal with it and fight through it, but at some point you need to turn the page and move on to something else.”

That something else was law. Raised in a family that emphasized education, Ancic enrolled at the University of Split while recovering from his injuries. After earning a doctorate in law and passing the local bar exam, he was hired as a junior lawyer at Savoric & Partners, one of Croatia's top law firms.

He decided to pursue a master's degree in the United States after spending a few months on a research project at Harvard Law School. He was supervised by Peter A. Carfagna , an adjunct Harvard professor who was once the top lawyer at IMG, the sports management firm that represented Ancic. He presented a paper on the legal ramifications of doping in professional tennis that Carfagna said was of publishable quality.

“This might sound clichéd, but the way Mario approached his training as a professional tennis p layer is how he's approaching his legal career,” Carfagna said. “He's like a sponge, indefatigable, and intensely committed to be the best lawyer he can be.”

Ancic, who once resided in Monte Carlo, a European tax haven, now lives with a roommate in a small two-bedroom apartment on 127th Street. After completing the one-year Master of Laws program, he said, he might stay in New York and try to find a job at a big corporate firm before returning to Croatia. Sports law excites Ancic; he also has considered politics or becoming a judge.

He remains passionate about tennis and wants to stay connected to the sport. At Columbia, that will not be a problem: the university's tennis team has already sniffed him out.

A few weeks ago, Katarina Kovacevic, a player on the women's squad, was strolling through campus when she spotted a shirtless Ancic sitting on a bench. Kovacevic, who is the daughter of Serbian immigrants and grew up in Queens, introduced herself in Serbo-Croatian and explained that she had once been a ball girl for one of his United States Open matches. She encouraged him to come out to the Columbia courts. Ancic met Haig Schneiderman, the men's team captain last year, who is trying to make it as a pro, and the two have hit together a few times.

Howard Endelman, a former Columbia tennis star who is the associate men's coach, said his players were salivating over Ancic's surprise arrival on campus.

“Law school can be brutal,” said Endelman, a former lawyer himself. “That said, the prospect of Mario working out with our guys is very exciting.”

Ancic found it amusing that the U.S. Open was getting under way just as he arrived in New York. Last weekend, between study sessions, he went to Flushing Meadows to support his countryman Marin Cilic. He also stopped by the stadium to watch his old rival Federer.

“There are a bunch of guys like Roger who are older than me and still playing at a ch ampionship level,” Ancic said. “But everyone has their own story, and I'm really happy with mine.”

Quirky Gets Backing From Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins

Social media has transformed many areas, including real estate and online communications. Now, venture capitalists are betting the sector can even tackle product manufacturing.

Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are the latest venture capitalist firms backing Quirky, a company that uses social media to develop products that are then sold via major retail outlets like Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target and Amazon.com.

Norwest Venture Partners and RRE Venture Capital, two previous investors, are also participating in the round, which has raised $68 million. The investment brings Quirky's total capital raised to $97 million.

Bringing new products to market can be expensive and risky even for corporate giants. But by harnessing its 260,000 online community members via social media, Quirky can generate ideas and refine, name and price new products, said Ben Kaufman, the company's chief executive.

In exchange, the participants are paid a per centage of sales according to their level of influence. For example, the inventor of Pivot Power, a flexible power strip, is likely to net $500,000 this year, Mr. Kaufman said, while the creator of the product's tagline (“Flex Your Power”) will earn more than $50,000.

“We'll pay out $2 million this year in royalties,” Mr. Kaufman said. The company had revenue of $6.7 million last year; Mr. Kaufman is projecting $20 million to $25 million this year.

Some firms like Kickstarter help inventors finance their ideas and others like Edison Nation serve as middlemen for inventors and large companies, but Quirky says it is social product development company that actually makes products.

“From inception to storefront or online presence, their time to market is up to 75 percent less than it is for the average product, and it's already gone through a serious vetting process with a lot of engaged consumers,” said Mary Meeker, a partner at Kleiner Perkins.< /p>

And that process, she said, is what gives Quirky the potential to be a consumer products powerhouse.

The company receives approximately 1,500 new product ideas every week, but most are rejected. Quirky develops only one or two of them, but Mr. Kaufman said he planned to use Quirky's latest investment to increase that to 10 to 15.

The products - like docking stations and toilet brushes - are designed and developed in Quirky's downtown Manhattan offices, where tooling machinery and 3-D printers churn out prototypes. Most of Quirky's manufacturing is done in Asia, although Mr. Kaufman's long-term goal is to bring as much production as possible back to the United States.

Mr. Kaufman said Quirky planned to use the new financing to expand operations. It also plans to add new invention categories like accessories for pets, sports, kitchen, travel and Apple products.

“To scale, he has to add more people and continue to expand distribution globally,† Ms. Meeker said. “There's no reason why they can't go up and down the food chain a lot more, gathering the best instincts of the best talent and rewarding them financially.”

Business Day Live: Hiring Slows in August, Adding to Pressure on Fed and Obama

What the job figures mean for the economy. | Competing for the attention of would-be space tourists.

Carlyle Buys Power Plants From Goldman Sachs

The Carlyle Group said Friday that it had bought Cogentrix Energy's North American power plants from Goldman Sachs, as the private equity firm seeks to build up a presence in the energy business.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. But as part of the deal, Carlyle said it would gain “significant ownership stakes” in five coal and solar power plants scattered across the country. The plants are based in cities including Jacksonville, Fla.; Portsmouth, Va.; and Daggett, Calif.

Goldman, which will keep a minority stake in the Jacksonville project, bought Cogentrix in 2003 in a $2.4 billion deal. The bank paid $115 million and took on $2.3 billion in debt.

Carlyle's takeover, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012, was financed through Carlyle Infrastructure Partners, a $1.14 billion fund.

Carlyle has also made recent investments in Plainfield Renewable Energy, a power plant in Connecticut, Core Minerals Operating Company in E vansville, Ind., and a deal with energy transportation and distribution company Sunoco Inc.

“Carlyle has long been committed to investing in energy and expanding its dedicated capabilities in this important segment of the global economy,” Daniel A. D'Aniello, Carlyle's chairman and co-founder, said in a statement. “We are delighted to have the Cogentrix development team as a key resource in the build-out of our long-term energy and power investment strategy.”

Vinson & Elkins was the legal counsel to Carlyle.

Trulia Plans to Raise Up to $100 Million in I.P.O.

Trulia, the real estate search site, said it could raise nearly $100 million in an initial public offering.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, the San Francisco-based company said it planned to price its offering of 6 million shares at $14 to $16 a share. Trulia will sell 5 million shares, while the company's stockholders will sell the rest. At the top end of the range, the stock offering would yield $96 million.

When Trulia filed to go public in July, the company said it planned to raise $75 million in the I.P.O., although that was a preliminary figure used to calculate the registration fee.

The initial filing was kept confidential under a provision of the JOBS Act, a law passed last spring. The law allows companies with annual gross revenue of less than $1 billion to file registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission that do not have to be publicly disclosed until 21 days before the company's roadshow.

Trulia's prospectus beca me public in August.

Trulia, an online site backed by investors like Accel and Sequoia Capital, offers free and subscription services on real estate listings and housing market information. The company, whose main competitor is Zillow, said last month that it had 22 million monthly unique visitors as of June 30.

Trulia says it plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “TRLA.” JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets, Needham & Company and William Blair are underwriting the I.P.O.

Trulia Plans to Raise Up to $100 Million in I.P.O.

Trulia, the real estate search site, said it could raise nearly $100 million in an initial public offering.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, the San Francisco-based company said it planned to price its offering of 6 million shares at $14 to $16 a share. Trulia will sell 5 million shares, while the company's stockholders will sell the rest. At the top end of the range, the stock offering would yield $96 million.

When Trulia filed to go public in July, the company said it planned to raise $75 million in the I.P.O., although that was a preliminary figure used to calculate the registration fee.

The initial filing was kept confidential under a provision of the JOBS Act, a law passed last spring. The law allows companies with annual gross revenue of less than $1 billion to file registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission that do not have to be publicly disclosed until 21 days before the company's roadshow.

Trulia's prospectus beca me public in August.

Trulia, an online site backed by investors like Accel and Sequoia Capital, offers free and subscription services on real estate listings and housing market information. The company, whose main competitor is Zillow, said last month that it had 22 million monthly unique visitors as of June 30.

Trulia says it plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “TRLA.” JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets, Needham & Company and William Blair are underwriting the I.P.O.

Former Pimco Executive Joins Man Group

LONDON â€" Sudi Mariappa, the former global head of portfolio management at Pimco, the world's largest bond fund manager, has joined the Man Group, the embattled London-based hedge fund that is looking to expand its bond investments.

Mr. Mariappa will oversee a series of bond funds in the Man Group's GLG unit. The hedge fund bought GLG Partners for $1.6 billion in 2010 in an effort to diversify its range of investment funds, though investors have continued to pull money out of the firm.

“We look forward to building our business in an asset class which has many attractions for investors in today's volatile market environment,” Manny Roman, the Man Group's chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Mr. Mariappa, who worked at Pimco for 10 years until 2010, joins the Man Group at a difficult time. The firm, one of the world's largest publicly traded hedge funds, has been trying to bolster its operations amid global volatility in the financial markets . In July, the Man Group said it would find an additional $100 million of cost savings by the end of 2013.

Morning Take-Out

Glencore Increases Offer in Bid to Secure Deal  |  Glencore, the world's biggest commodities-trading company, has potentially saved its mega-merger with the mining company Xstrata by sweetening the terms of the all-share deal at the last minute as it seeks to gain shareholder support.

The commodities trader is trying to win over investors, including Qatar Holding, Xstrata's second-largest shareholder, which had threatened to block the deal.

Under the terms of the revised deal, Glencore has proposed to increase its offer to 3.05 shares for every Xstrata share. The commodities trader had initially offered 2.8 of its own shares for every Xstrata share.

For months, Qatar Holding had held out for a ratio closer to 3.25. Qatar, which owns 12 percent of Xstrata shares, was poised to vote against the deal at a shareholder vote on Friday. Within minutes of the vote, Glencore increased its offer in return for Ivan Glasenberg, the chief executive of Glencore becoming the chief executive of the merged company.
DealBook '

DEAL NOTES

Huge Step Taken by Europe's Bank to Abate Crisis  |  The European Central Bank has taken its most ambitious step yet toward easing the euro zone crisis, throwing its unlimited financial clout behind an effort to protect Spain and Italy from financial collapse. The move may relieve investor pressure on troubled countries, but also effectively spreads responsibility for repaying national debts to the euro zone countries as a group, Jack Ewing and Steven Erlanger report in The New York Times.
DealBook '

Markets Soa r on European Announcement  |  The benchmark American stock index rose to a four-year high after the European Central Bank announced a plan to support the euro zone by buying bonds. Such rallies have been fleeting in the past, but investors suggested that this enthusiasm may last, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Europe's Crisis Touches Germany  |  After long avoiding the worst of the Continent's crisis, Germany is now expected to fall into recession in the second half of this year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
NEW YORK TIMES

Defunct Law Firm Keeps Its Troubles Off the Softball Field  |  The softball team of Dewey & LeBoeuf, the b ehemoth firm that went bankrupt this year, is 10-1 and is defending its league championship from last season, Elizabeth A. Harris reported for The New York Times.
DealBook '

Mergers & Acquisitions '

News Corp. Nears a $2 Billion Deal in Australia  |  Consolidated Media Holdings, the television business of the Australian billionaire James Packer, agreed to back a revised takeover offer from the News Corporation, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Facebook Officially Owns Instagram  |  Facebook has closed its acquisition of Instagram, The New York Times Bits blog reports. When the deal was announced, it was worth $1 billion, but at Facebook's midday trading price on Thursday of $18.97 a share, the deal would be worth $736 million.
DealBook '

2 Real Estate Firms Strike $2.9 Billion Deal  |  The Realty Income Corporation agreed to acquire American Realty Capital Trust on Thursday, a $2.9 billion deal involving hundreds of retail and commercial properties.
DealBook '

A.I.G. Raises $2 Billion in Share Sale  |  A.I.G. priced its offering of A.I.A. Group shares at a premium, raising $2.02 billion to finance a buyback of its own shares from the United States government, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Canada Says It Will Scrutinize Cnooc's Bid for Nexen  |  Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada said the government would take a close look at Cnooc's $15.1 billion deal to take over Nexen, to determine whether the tie-up would benefit Canada, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

MasterCard Bolsters Consumer Offers With Truaxis Deal  |  MasterCard on Thursday agreed to buy Truaxis, a Silicon Valley-based company that provides targeted offers to consumers, in an effort to expand its customer loyalty products, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

INVESTMENT BANKING '

JPMorgan Names New Head of Chief Inve stment Office  |  Craig Delany, 41, who was most recently the chief operating office of JPMorgan's mortgage banking unit, will take over the reins of the chief investment office, which was at the center of a multibillion-dollar trading loss.
DealBook '

Goldman and Morgan Stanley Reach Out to Bond Investors  |  For the first time this summer, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley held conference calls with bond investors as the firms seek new buyers for their debt, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Investors Expect a Replacement for Libor  |  Bloomberg News reports: “A key interest rate for more than $500 trillion of securities worldwide will be replaced by a benchmark subject to greater government control, according to a plurality of global investors.”
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Nomura Looks to Buy an Asian Firm  |  Nomura's chief executive, Koji Nagai, said his firm was considering buying an Asian investment bank or brokerage, as it increases its focus on Asia, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Investment Banks Prepare to Cut Jobs in Europe  |  Firms including Nomura, Credit Suisse and UBS are preparing job cuts in Europe that industry experts say are “shaping up as the deepest since the start of the financial crisis after a disappointing summer dashed hopes of a business revival,” The Financial Times reports.
FINANCIAL TIMES

Bankers in Charlotte Take Cover Behind Fences  |  Bloomberg News reports: “Bankers in Charlotte, North Carolina, had prepared for the worst, bracing themselves for attacks from the Democratic Party's convention stage and fencing in the entrances to guard their high-rise office towers against protests. What they got was mostly muted complaints from the Time Warner Cable Arena's podium and sparsely attended weekend demonstrations.”
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Morgan Stanley Traders to Join Merchant Firm  |  Three gasoline traders at Morgan Stanley are leaving the firm to join Mercuria, a Swiss commodity trading house, Reuters reports, citing an unidentified person.
REUTERS

PRIVATE E QUITY '

Carlyle to Acquire Power Plant Developer From Goldman  |  The Carlyle Group agreed to buy Cogentrix Energy from Goldman Sachs, gaining five power plants in a deal whose terms were not disclosed, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Buyouts Focus on an Energy Industry Niche  |  Private equity firms have committed at least $5.1 billion this summer to midstream energy companies, which do business in the gathering, distribution and processing of oil and gas, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Pension Funds Take a Hard Look at Private Equity Investments  |  A new report by a consultant to a California p ension fund raises doubts about investing with private equity, showing that returns from the biggest buyout firms are falling short of many pensions' internal benchmarks, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Blackstone Appoints Head of European Buyouts  |  Lionel Assant is becoming the leader of the Blackstone Group's European private equity operations, a move that comes on the heels of Joseph Baratta's promotion to head of global private equity, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Buyout Deals Become Smaller in Britain  |  Smaller deals constitute a growing share of buyouts in Britain, in part because smaller transactions have performed relatively well, The Financial Times writes.
FIN ANCIAL TIMES

Select-Service Hotels Draw Private Equity Interest  |  Firms like the Starwood Capital Group and Clearview Capital have helped push up the prices of select-service hotels this year, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

HEDGE FUNDS '

Man Group Hires a Former Pimco Executive  |  Sudi Mariappa, who worked with Bill Gross at Pimco as its global head of portfolio management, is headed to the Man Group, the British hedge fund giant contending with disappointing returns, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Bell Point Hedge Fund to Shutter  |   Bell Point Capital Management, a credit hedge fund founded by a former Citadel executive, is closing up shop by year's end, Bloomberg News reports, citing two unidentified people familiar with the matter.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Study Finds Hedge Funds Strengthening Risk Management  |  The industry is focusing more on risk management and communicating more with investors, according to a study by the Managed Funds Association, BNY Mellon and HedgeMark.
HEDGE WEEK

LightSquared Lenders Oppose Extending Hedge Fund Manager's Control  |  A group of lenders to LightSquared, the bankrupt wireless company, objected to a request to extend for 150 days the control of Philip A. Falcone, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

I.P.O./OFFERINGS '

Trulia Aims to Raise Up to $100 Million in I.P.O.  |  The real estate Web site is offering 6 million shares at an expected price range of between $14 and $16 a share, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Banks in Asia Fight Over Shrinking Pool of Fees  |  Reuters Breakingviews writes that a drought of I.P.O.'s in Asia “has prompted an unseemly scramble to work for the few companies still coming to market.”
REUTERS

Pandora Gets a Challenger in Apple  |  After rising to dominate digital music through its iTunes store, Apple is now developing an Internet radio service that would compete with Pandora Media, three people briefed on the plans told The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES

Zynga Expands Its Stable of Games  |  The social games company announced four new games on its own Web site, Zynga.com, a platform it has been building in addition to its presence on Facebook.
INSIDE SOCIAL GAMES

VENTURE CAPITAL '

Andreessen Horowitz Invests in Consumer Products Company  |  The venture capital firm led a $68 million financing round in Quirky, a start-up that uses an online community to refine ideas that are then turned into consumer products, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company is v alued at more than $150 million in the deal, according to the newspaper.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Venture Capitalist Explains a Focus on India  |  Naren Gupta, a co-founder of the Mumbai-based Nexus Venture Partners, predicted India would develop billion-dollar start-ups within a few years, but he said young companies in India “need more hand-holding than they need in the U.S.,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Russian Travel Site Raises $9 Million  |  OneTwoTrip, a Moscow-based air travel booking company, attracted $9 million from Phenomen Ventures, TechCrunch reports.
TECHCRUNCH

LEGAL/REGULATOR Y '

Visas-for-Dollars Program a Boon to Hotel Developers  |  A federal program that grants so-called EB-5 visas to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in an American business has become a popular source of cheap financing for hotel companies.
DealBook '

Appeals Court Revives Insider Trading Case Against Obus  |  A Federal Appeals Court has revived a decade-old insider-trading case brought against Nelson Obus, a New York hedge fund manager, by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DealBook '

Senate Panel Said to Seek Testimony From JPMorgan Staff  |  The Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations is stepping up its investigation in to JPMorgan's multibillion-dollar trading loss, Bloomberg News reports, citing three unidentified people briefed on the inquiry.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

UBS Sued Over Sale of Mortgage-Backed Securities  |  A United States regulator, the National Credit Union Administration, has accused the Swiss bank of violating federal and state laws in how it represented mortgage-backed securities it sold to two credit unions, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Former UBS Trader to Begin Trial  |  Kweku Adoboli, who was accused of rogue trades that lost UBS $2.3 billion, faces charges of fraud and false accounting when he goes on trial next week.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Judge Approves Settlement Over E-Book Pricing  |  A judge signed off on a deal between the Justice Department and three publishers that were accused of conspiring with Apple to raise e-book prices, Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Rhode Island City to Emerge From Bankruptcy  |  A judge on Thursday approved a plan for Central Falls, R.I., to leave bankruptcy, making sure that the city repays bondholders largely by raising taxes and cutting from pensions and other employee benefits, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Glencore Postpones Meeting in Bid to Secure Deal

LONDON - A last-minute phone call may have pulled the mega-merger of Glencore and Xstrata back from the brink of collapse, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore's chief executive, reopened talks with Qatar Holding, the Persian Gulf country's sovereign wealth fund, on Thursday night, the person said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Qatar, which owns 12 percent of Xstrata shares, had threatened to block the deal at a shareholder vote on Friday morning. For three months it has held out for a better offer from Glencore, which in February agreed to exchange 2.8 of its shares for every share in Xstrata.

Qatar's opposition galvanized other Xstrata shareholders, who also were disgruntled about the deal terms. Together, they were on the verge of blocking a merger that would combine Glencore, the world's biggest trader of commodities from wheat to aluminum, with Xstrata, one of the world's biggest miners of copper and coal.

Simon Murray, Glencore's chairman, adjourned the Glencore shareholder meeting shortly before it was due to begin on Friday morning in Zug, Switzerland.

Developments have “happened very recently overnight,” Mr. Murray told shareholders and journalists who had gathered for the vote.

Glencore is “considering its options and will update the market in due course,'” the company said in a statement on Friday morning.

A banker to one of the two companies, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Glencore had reentered negotiations with Qatar, which has held out for a ratio of 3.25 Glencore shares for every Xstrata share.

The banker declined to specify Glencore's latest proposal. But if Glencore “bumps” to a merger ratio higher than 2.8, the company will “still want something in return,” the banker said, adding that “this is all about face-saving.”

Glencor e requested the London stock exchange to halt the trading of its shares on Friday pending a market update. But one hour after the request, shares were still trading.

Glencore already owns 34 percent of Xstrata, one of the world's biggest multinational mining companies. Glencore's initial public offering last year, which was the biggest stock market listing by value in the history of the London exchange, paved the way for an Xstrata merger.

The companies have considered a merger several times over the past five years, most recently in the months leading up to the flotation, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Mr. Glasenberg said last month it was “no big deal” if Qatar's opposition quashed the Glencore-Xstrata merger. Until last night, he had held firm in public that no change of terms was forthcoming.

Defunct Law Firm Keeps Its Troubles Off the Softball Field

On a field of bright green turf, a group of men and women trotted about on Wednesday evening, catching and throwing, hitting, spitting and sliding. They were ballplayers, but in a sense, they were also ghosts, casualties of an immense corporate collapse, with the name of their defunct former employer emblazoned on their torsos: Dewey.

The softball team of Dewey & LeBoeuf, the behemoth law firm that went bankrupt this year, had come to play. And the curiosity of the situation was not lost on the opposing team.

“Guess they didn't lose the jerseys in the liquidation,” Dustin Mansoor said as he prepared to bat against the bygone firm.

In May, Dewey & LeBoeuf, which had been forged in one of the largest law firm mergers in history, went spectacularly out of business. The former chairman, Steven H. Davis, is being investigated by the Manhattan district attorney's office for possible financial improprieties; the firm's creditors are owed more than $300 million; and in recent weeks, about half of its former partners agreed to hand over some $70 million in past compensation.

Dewey's partners, associates and staff members have scattered; many have found new homes at other firms, while others are still looking for work. The same goes for members of its softball team, and yet, out they come about once a week. And with a regular season record of 10 and 1, the reigning champions of the Lawyers Coed Softball League are actually quite good - at least for a bunch of lawyers. “We've had a lot of fun talking about whether to get T-shirts made: The Bankruptcy State of Dewey LeBoeuf,” said Chuck Burger, a 72-year-old LeBoeuf alumnus, now retired, who has been on some incarnation of the team for 49 seasons.

There have been technical difficulties of playing for a dissolving firm during the hurried exodus from the sinking ship: the team's equipment bag was temporarily misplaced, leaving the players with neither bases nor bats. But Mr. Burger said the season's travails had given the team a competitive edge.

“I think a lot of them loaded a lot of their frustrations onto this softball team,” he said.

Things began to come apart at Dewey just as the softball season got under way this spring. The day before their first scheduled softball game, Michael Didriksen, one of the team's co-captains, sent an e-mail to his players informing them that Dewey had declined to pay the team's $1,600 league dues. The team chipped in to cover the fee themselves.

When Mr. Didriksen left Dewey for his new home as a partner at Baker Botts, he sneaked the 2011 championship trophy out of the office with him.

(Before the 2007 merger between Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, both firms had strong team traditions. Even though some players still wear jerseys from before the merger, several of them said the softball team might have been the only firm entity that ever successfully jelled.)

Though the firm is not coming back, many of Dewey's players would like to keep the team together next season. And like good lawyers, they have begun to strategize, looking for loopholes that might allow them to play.

Richard I. Alvarez, a lawyer in private practice and the league commissioner, said he was unlikely to stand in their way if the team wanted to stick together, although, he added, “I suppose at some point it becomes a bit silly.”

On Wednesday's playoff game night, the team had an extra jolt of intensity. One of its stars, Jared Kanover, a Dewey alumnus who is now general counsel at a hedge fund, badly injured his left foot while rounding the bases (“It's broken,” he said with a smile after spending a few moments writhing on the ground), but he hobbled right back to the plate and hit a grand slam.

“The foot will heal, but I don't know if the team will be around next season,” Mr. Kanover said.

But it was Mr. Didriksen, the man who spearheaded efforts to keep them playing, who got to be the hero. In the bottom of the seventh and final inning, Mr. Didriksen batted with the bases loaded and his team a run behind. He drove a double into left field. Dewey won the game, 14-13.

On Thursday, however, the story came to a close. They lost to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, 6-4. After a long, hard year, Dewey & LeBoeuf went home.

Huge Step Taken by Europe\'s Bank to Abate a Crisis

The European Central Bank has taken its most ambitious step yet toward easing the euro zone crisis, throwing its unlimited financial clout behind an effort to protect Spain and Italy from financial collapse. The move may relieve investor pressure on troubled countries, but also effectively spreads responsibility for repaying national debts to the euro zone countries as a group, Jack Ewing and Steven Erlanger report in The New York Times. Read more »