BLACKSTONE SAID TO DROP OUT OF DELL BIDDING  | The Blackstone Group has walked away from the bidding for Dell, after discovering that the computer maker’s business was deteriorating faster than it previously understood, DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin and Jeffrey Cane report, citing people involved in the negotiations.
Blackstone, the private equity giant, had been inspecting Dell’s books before deciding whether to make a formal bid to rival the $13.65-a-share take-private offer from the company’s founder, Michael S. Dell, and the private equity firm Silver Lake. The withdrawal of Blackstone leaves only Carl C. Icahn, the activist investor, as a potential rival to the $24.4 billion buyout proposal from Mr. Dell’s group. On Thursday, Blackstone notified the special committee of Dell’s board that it would no longer pursue a bid, the people involved in the negotiations said.
SEAWORLD PRICES I.P.O. AT TOP OF RANGE Â |Â To many Americans, SeaWorld offers family fun amid penguins and killer whales. To the Blackstone Group, it offers the potential for lucrative returns. On Friday, SeaWorld Entertainment is making its debut as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange in one of the biggest offerings of a private-equity-backed company in recent months. SeaWorld, which will trade under the ticker symbol SEAS, has become a signature investment for Blackstone, which recently played host to a pair of penguins in its Park Avenue offices.
The initial public offering had a promising start Thursday evening, with SeaWorld pricing shares at $27 each, at the top of an expected range, according to a person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. At that price, the deal raised $702 million and valued the company at $2.5 billion. Blackstone, which paid about $2.3 billion for SeaWorld in 2009, is selling shares in the public offering but will retain control of the company.
RISK REDUX ON WALL ST.  | The structured financial products that played a starring role in the financial crisis are being created again. “Once more, arcane-sounding financial products like collateralized debt obligations are being minted on Wall Street,†The New York Times’s Nathaniel Popper writes. “At a time when the Federal Reserve has pushed interest rates close to zero, the safest of these new investments offer interest rates almost double that paid by ultrasafe United States Treasury securities, according to RBS Securities, which was involved in such instruments in the past.†Still, the revival underscores how the investments “have largely escaped new regulations that were supposed to prevent a repeat of the last financial crisis.â€
MUNGER’S $110 MILLION GIFT  | Charles T. Munger, the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and a longtime business partner of Warren E. Buffett’s, has pledged $110 million to the University of Michigan, the largest donation in the school’s history, the university said in a statement Thursday. The stock gift will pay for a graduate student residence on the school’s Ann Arbor campus, and will include $10 million for fellowships for students. Mr. Munger, 89, earned his undergraduate degree at the university, DealBook’s Peter Lattman notes.
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â General Electric and State Street report earnings before the market opens. Alan Greenspan is on Bloomberg TV at 7 a.m. Jim Atchison, the chief executive of SeaWorld, is on CNBC at 9:50 a.m., and on Bloomberg TV at 10:05 a.m.
CATCHING UP WITH BLANKFEIN  | Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive and chairman of Goldman Sachs, revealed his fashion secrets in an interview with Vanity Fair. “I open up my closet, and there’s a dozen absolutely identical suits,†Mr. Blankfein told the magazine’s blog VF Daily. The comments were at a cocktail party supporting Americans for Marriage Equality, held at a Calvin Klein boutique in Manhattan, where Mr. Blankfein gave a brief speech. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Goldman chief offered his thoughts on Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker who is running for mayor of New York. “I always liked her. I think if she were mayor, it wouldn’t be bad. I’d be happ,†Mr. Blankfein said. But he added, “You think this is my first rodeo? I don’t know who all the alternatives are yet. I haven’t made up my mind, but I think she’d be a good mayor.â€â€
For Apple, a Bruising Fall  | “Wall Street has turned viciously on its one-time iDarling,†The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
In Arguing for Sprint Proposal, Dish Invokes National Security  | Dish cited national security reasons in a filing making its case for its $25.5 billion offer for Sprint Nextel.
REUTERS
What’s at Stake in the Fight Over a REIT  | The problem is not Maryland corporate law, but that CommonWealth has a bylaw provision that requires that all shareholder disputes be arbitrated, Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column.
DealBook »
Lenovo Says It Is in Talks Over an Acquisition  | Without identifying the target, the Lenovo Group said it was in preliminary talks about a potential acquisition.
REUTERS
The Rewards of Indiscretion  | Loose lips coincide with much higher premiums. Some bankers will always fancy that mix of risk and reward, Jeffrey Goldfarb of Reuters Breakingviews writes.
REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
DealBook » | DealBook: Rising Bank Profits Tempt a Push for Tougher Rules
Gold, Seen by Some as Money, Doesn’t Act That Way  | “What do you get when you combine evangelical fervor with leverage and rising speculation?†Floyd Norris, a columnist for The New York Times, writes. “The gold market, circa 2013.â€
NEW YORK TIMES
Capital One Profit Beats Expectations  | Capital One’s net income fell 24 percent from a year earlier but exceeded analysts’ expectations, according to Bloomberg News.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Wells Fargo Headquarters in Charlotte Is Sold to Investor Group  |Â
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Silver Lake Raises $10.3 Billion Fund  | Silver Lake’s latest private equity fund is “the largest of its kind to focus on technology,†according to Reuters.
REUTERS
Blackstone’s Profit Jumps 28%  | The alternative investment giant Blackstone Group said on Thursday that first-quarter profit rose 28 percent, to $628 million, as the firm reported growth in total assets under management.
DealBook »
CVC to Buy the Rest of German Energy-Metering Company  | The private equity firm CVC is buying a 76 percent stake in Ista, valuing the German company at about $4.1 billion, according to Reuters, which cites two unidentified people familiar with the transaction.
REUTERS
K.K.R. to Invest in French Fashion Group  | K.K.R. is buying a majority stake in the SMCP Group of Paris.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Einhorn Used Derivatives to Increase Marvell Technology Stake  | David Einhorn’s hedge fund, Greenlight Capital, “increased its economic stake in Marvell to 12.4 percent from 9.7 percent by entering into total return swaps in January on about 12 million company shares, according to a regulatory filing last week,†Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Paulson’s Advantage Fund Slips in April  | John A. Paulson’s well-known Advantage fund “is down 2.4 percent in April, largely due to the sharp selloff in gold, a source familiar with the numbers said on Thursday,†Reuters reports.
REUTERS
For Private Equity Firms, I.P.O.’s Regain Appeal  | The Financial Times reports: “More than a dozen offerings this year have rekindled private equity groups’ hopes to list some of their largest assets bought during the bubble. The initial public offering of Intelsat on Thursday shows that it is feasible, but can also be painful.â€
FINANCIAL TIMES
I.P.O. Investors Are More Sanguine on Debt  | “Debt is no longer a four-letter word among investors in initial public offerings,†The Wall Street Journal writes.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
A Tech Investor’s Vision for San Francisco  | The influential technology investor Ron Conway “has become, in two short years, one of San Francisco’s power brokers, using his wealth and network to pursue his vision of a business-friendly, tech-driven city with single-minded clarity,†The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Bill Would Tie Municipal Borrowing to Public Pension Disclosure  | The New York Times reports: “Representatives from California and two other states introduced a bill in Congress on Thursday that would strip states and cities of their right to issue tax-exempt bonds unless they first disclosed the true cost of their pension plans and whether they could pay it.â€
NEW YORK TIMES
How Banks’ Profit Tempts Rules  | Wall Street’s rising profits are giving some lawmakers ideas that a deeper overhaul might be in order. On Twitter, DealBook’s Peter Eavis and Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica discuss the potential outcomes.
DealBook »
KPMG to Conduct Review Amid Insider Trading Case  | The accounting firm KPMG plans to take a hard look at its internal safeguards.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
