Millionaires Duke It Out Over Child Support

MILLIONAIRES DUKE IT OUT OVER CHILD SUPPORT  |  The financier Warren G. Lichtenstein, head of the hedge fund Steel Partners, is accustomed to courtroom battles. But this one has a different flavor. Mr. Lichtenstein, who has a 5-year-old child with his former lover Annabelle Bond, a British socialite, is accusing Ms. Bond’s current boyfriend, Andrew Cader, a former Goldman Sachs executive and part-owner of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, of conspiring with her to hide her financial condition in order to secure more than $50,000 a month in child support payments, DealBook’s Peter Lattman reports.

According to the lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Ms. Bond deviously obtained the outsize child support from a Hong Kong court to “improve upon her already extraordinary life of luxury, privilege and modest fame.” That Ms. Bond â€" an accomplished mountaineer who has climbed Mount Everest, and who is the daughter of Sir John R.H. Bond, the former chairman of the global banking giant HSBC â€" lives a life of privilege is not in dispute. But Mr. Lichtenstein claims that in order to help Ms. Bond hide her economic condition, Mr. Cader disguised as loans millions of dollars in cash gifts he had given her.

“The case was brought to prevent an injustice and reflects Warren’s deep concern for the welfare of his child,” said Stanley Arkin, the lawyer for Mr. Lichtenstein. Mr. Cader and Ms. Bond did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

SOROS BUYS INTO J.C. PENNEY  | 
J. C. Penney doesn’t have many fans on Wall Street. But a big one emerged on Thursday: George Soros. Mr. Soros, the hedge fund billionaire, disclosed a 7.9 percent stake in Penney, with 17.4 million shares, according to a securities filing. The stake is passive, meaning Mr. Soros will not try to exert influence on the embattled retailer. Penney’s shares rose nearly 7 percent in after-hours trading. The stock, which has taken a beating this year, ended regular trading up 5 cents at $15.24, before the stake was disclosed.

Mr. Soros, 82, is at least the second prominent hedge fund manager to take a shine to Penney, whose chief executive, Ron Johnson, was pushed out two weeks ago after 17 months on the job. William A. Ackman, the head of Pershing Square Capital Management, has a 17.8 percent stake. Penney’s shares fell more than 50 percent during the tenure of Mr. Johnson, a former Apple executive Mr. Ackman supported.

It was not immediately clear what had prompted Mr. Soros’s interest in the retailer. But if Myron E. Ullman III, the company’s new chief executive, wants to visit two of his largest shareholders, he won’t have far to travel. Mr. Soros and Mr. Ackman share an office building in New York.

SIMPLIFYING BANK REGULATION  |  You can think of Senators Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, and David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, who introduced a new piece of bank legislation on Wednesday, as “punk rockers reacting against the sophisticated progressive rock scene in the 1970s,” DealBook’s Peter Eavis explains. “Sick of an ornate status quo, they have come out swinging with an uncluttered approach that many will find invigorating.”

The bill, intended to toughen and simplify the overhaul of the financial system, does not stipulate a maximum size for banks. And it takes no big steps to force Wall Street out of the Federal Reserve’s safety net. “Even so, the bill will of course face enormous resistance, and not just from the bank lobbyists who seem reflexively to oppose any measure to overhaul their industry,” Mr. Eavis writes. “There are analysts who want to do more to rein in the banks, but who think the senators are naïve, or intellectually lacking, to think that today’s complex financial system can be made safer with their seemingly simple fixes. They have a point.”

ON THE AGENDA  | 
An estimate of gross domestic product in the first quarter is out at 8:30 a.m. Burger King and Chevron report earnings before the market opens. Ralph Schlosstein, chief executive of Evercore Partners, is on CNBC starting at 7 a.m. Kenneth G. Langone, the Home Depot co-founder, is on Bloomberg TV at 10 a.m.

FEEDING TWITTER, SLOWLY  |  Now that the Securities and Exchange Commission has clarified rules on disclosures over social media, some companies are encouraging investors to check out their Facebook and Twitter pages. Still, “uncertainty over what exactly the commission will allow has meant that many companies, and their legal teams, are playing it safe this earnings season,” Michelle Leder and Michael J. de la Merced write in DealBook. “Right now it’s like the Wild West,” said Broc Romanek, editor of TheCorporateCounsel.net, a Web site that focuses on S.E.C. rules and regulations. “The S.E.C.’s guidance is definitely going to need to be further refined.”

Mergers & Acquisitions »

A.D.M. in $3.1 Billion Australian Takeover  |  After its third attempt, Archer Daniels Midland on Friday finally won the support of the board of Australia’s GrainCorp with a sweetened buyout bid that includes cash and an additional dividend payout.
DealBook »

A $30 Billion Disagreement Over Verizon Wireless  |  Any transaction between Verizon Communications and the Vodafone Group would have to resolve the question of how much Verizon Wireless is worth. “The Verizon camp starts at a valuation around $100 billion; for Vodafone, the stake is worth about $130 billion, people familiar with the matter said,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Facebook Said to Buy Mobile Start-Up for $85 Million  |  Facebook has agreed to a cash-and-stock deal for Parse, which “helps companies build mobile applications across different operating systems,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Yahoo Chairman to Step Down  |  Alfred J. Amoroso, the chairman of Yahoo, plans to leave the board on June 25 at the company’s annual meeting, becoming the eighth director to leave since early last year.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Yahoo C.E.O. Joins Board of Jawbone  |  Marissa Mayer has officially joined the board of the wireless gadget maker Jawbone, AllThingsD reports.
ALLTHINGSD

INVESTMENT BANKING »

A New Chapter in Tourre’s Fight With the S.E.C.  |  Fabrice Tourre, a former Goldman Sachs employee who has settled into academic life since being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, has an important day on Friday, when “U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest is due to hear arguments on several motions that could alter the course of the three-year proceeding,” The Wall Street Journal writes.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Market Delay in Chicago Points Again to Technology  |  The Chicago Board Options Exchange opened after a delay of several hours Thursday because of a system failure.
DealBook »

Chief of Unit Overseeing Britain’s Bailout Investments Resigns  |  Jim O’Neil, who as chief of United Kingdom Financial Investments has been in charge of the British government’s stakes in two bailed-out banks, will rejoin Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
DealBook »

Sallie Mae Cancels Bond Deal Amid Weak Demand  | 
WALL STREET JOURNAL

PRIVATE EQUITY »

Boutique Vintners Turn to Private Equity for Help  |  Bacchus Capital Management, co-founded by Sam Bronfman II, is providing financing and expertise to small winemakers.
DealBook »

K.K.R. Earnings Beat Expectations as Fee Profits Rise  |  Kohlberg Kravis Roberts posted after-tax economic net income of $647.7 million for the first quarter, surpassing analysts’ expectations, amid a relatively strong environment for the private equity industry.
DealBook »

In Sale of Carestream Health, 2 Bidders Remain  | 
REUTERS

HEDGE FUNDS »

Prague Looks to Attract Hedge Funds in Need of a New Home  |  Bloomberg News reports: “Prague is joining Frankfurt and London in a race to attract fund managers seeking European Union offices in an industry dominated by Luxembourg.”
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Veteran of Viking Global Prepares to Start New Fund  | 
ABSOLUTE RETURN

I.P.O./OFFERINGS »

Brazil Insurer Prices Biggest I.P.O. of the Year  |  BB Seguridade, the biggest insurance company in Latin America, raised $5.74 billion late Thursday in the largest initial public offering in the world so far this year.
DealBook »

Private Equity Firms Sell Stake in Ziggo for $1.1 Billion  |  Cinven and Warburg Pincus are selling their remaining stakes in the Dutch cable company Ziggo for up to a combined 880 million euros, or $1.1 billion.
DealBook »

Why Alibaba Could Be China’s Next $100 Billion I.P.O.  |  John Foley of Reuters Breakingviews does a back-of-the-envelope exercise in valuing the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant should it seek to go public.
REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

VENTURE CAPITAL »

Path, Social Networking App, Grows in Popularity  |  The company, run by Dave Morin, is adding a million registered users a week since introducing its most version, The Wall Street Journal says.
WALL STREET JOURNAL

LEGAL/REGULATORY »

New York Seeks to Press Trial of A.I.G.’s Ex-Chief  |  The New York attorney general’s office is taking an unusual step to try to help expedite a trial of the American International Group’s former chief, Maurice R. Greenberg.
DealBook »

Harvard Economists Respond to Critics  |  Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff write in an essay in The New York Times: “The politically charged discussion, especially sharp in the past week or so, has falsely equated our finding of a negative association between debt and growth with an unambiguous call for austerity.”
NEW YORK TIMES

Banks Urged to Put Limits on Payday-Style Loans  |  Federal regulators urged some of the nation’s largest banks to restrict payday-style loans tied to customers’ checking accounts.
DealBook »

Fed Insists on Greater Restrictions on Foreign Banks in U.S.  |  “Despite a lot of talk about the need for international cooperation in regulation, it now appears that American regulators intend to ensure that foreign banks operating in the United States have adequate capitalization,” Floyd Norris, a columnist for The New York Times, writes.
NEW YORK TIMES

Google’s Rivals Are Asked to Review Proposed Antitrust Settlement  |  The New York Times reports: “European Union regulators took another step on Thursday toward reaching an antitrust settlement with Google, asking the company’s competitors to review changes proposed by Google to resolve concerns with its Internet search and advertising business.”
NEW YORK TIMES