PLEA DEAL COULD END SAC’S ADVISORY BUSINESS  | The hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors is moving closer to a plea deal with prosecutors that would force it to wind down its business of managing money for outside investors, Ben Protess and Peter Lattman report in DealBook. An agreement to stop operating as an investment adviser is one feature of a larger deal SAC is negotiating over insider trading charges, according to people briefed on the case, who said the plea deal would also require SAC to plead guilty to criminal misconduct and pay more than $1 billion in penalties.
Such a move could be a symbolic one for the hedge fund, which has already returned billions of dollars to investors. It will probably continue to operate as a so-called family office, allowing its owner, Steven A. Cohen, to manage his personal fortune. But under the proposed terms of the tentative deal with the government, Mr. Cohen will be prohibited from managing outside money for a period, DealBook reports.
Still, the people briefed on the matter cautioned that the deal could still fall apart and an agreement was not imminent. A spokesman for SAC declined to comment, though he previously said that “SAC has never encouraged, promoted or tolerated insider trading.†Representatives for the government also declined to comment.
GOLDMAN’S FALL IN REVENUE RAISES CONCERNS  | Goldman Sachs had a strong beginning to the year, with its profit doubling in the second quarter over the levels a year earlier. But hopes that 2013 would be a good bonus year were all but dashed on Thursday when the firm announced that revenue in its powerful fixed-income, currency and commodities division dropped 44 percent from a year earlier â€" the worst quarterly result in fixed income since 2008, Susanne Craig and Peter Eavis report in DealBook.
The poor performance forced Goldman to cut its way to a decent profit, slashing the amount of money it sets aside for bonuses. “The weakness in this division has led to renewed concerns from analysts and investors about the headwinds that Goldman and other banks are facing in big money-producing areas like the trading of interest rate products and currencies,†DealBook writes. “There is some concern that the pull back is not short term and could be the new normal.â€
On an earnings call with analysts, Goldman’s chief financial officer, Harvey M. Schwartz, sounded frustrated at times. Analysts pushed, without much success, for more details on the drop in revenue for the unit. “It is a quarter,†Mr. Schwartz reiterated several times on the call.
BELGIAN BUYER FOR U.S. CRAFT BREWERY Â |Â The Duvel Moortgat Brewery of Belgium on Thursday announced a deal to buy the Boulevard Brewing Company, a craft brewery in Kansas City, Mo., as European interest in American craft beers begins to mirror the mania for them stateside, Stephanie Strom reports in The New York Times. The deal will give Duvel ownership of a large United States craft brewer that is well known in the Midwest and produces beers under its own name and others.
“I see here in Europe that consumers are getting more and more interested in American craft beers,†Michel Moortgat, one of three brothers who own Duvel, said in a telephone interview from Belgium. “In the future, with this partnership, we will be able to develop the taste for those beers more substantially here and in other countries like Japan and China.â€
ON THE AGENDA  | Morgan Stanley announces its third-quarter earnings, with a conference call at 10 a.m. General Electric also reports earnings before the market opens. The deal lawyer James C. Woolery is on Bloomberg TV at 10:15 a.m. Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs’s chief economist, is on CNBC at 11 a.m.
OWNING A STAKE IN A STAR ATHLETE  | If thousands of fans are willing to pay up for a star athlete’s memorabilia, wouldn’t they pay for a few shares of such a superstar? On Thursday, Fantex Holdings, a start-up company, announced that it would allow fans to do that by creating a trading exchange for investors to buy and sell interests in professional athletes.
The company has already signed up Arian Foster of the Houston Texans, and investors can register with the company and place orders for the initial public offering. “But if such an investment sounds speculative, that is because it is,†Peter Lattman and Steve Eder write in DealBook. The filing laid out 37 pages of risk factors, including a possible career-ending injury or a performance slump.
“You are potentially one hit away from losing your money,†said Bradley Shear, a sports management professor at George Washington University. “On any given Sunday, anything can happen to any player.â€
Lenovo Is Said to Consider Bid for BlackBerry  | The Chinese computer company Lenovo “is actively considering a bid for all of struggling Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry,†The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Activism in Oil Industry May Lead to More Deals  | “Activist investors may spur a return to deal making in the energy industry as shareholders seek to reap greater value from oil and natural gas reserves,†Bloomberg News writes.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
DealBook »
DealBook »
Money Market Funds in U.S. Have $43 Billion Outflow  | The one-week decline in money market fund assets was the largest since August 2011, as investors feared a possible United States default, according to data from Thomson Reuters’s Lipper service.
REUTERS
Bank of America Said to Consider Prohibiting Overdrafts  | The bank “is considering a plan to introduce a checking account that wouldn’t permit customers to overdraw their balances at an automated teller machine or when making an automatic bill payment, according to people familiar with the bank’s strategy,†The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
JPMorgan Agrees to Sell Manhattan Tower  | JPMorgan Chase is selling 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza to Fosun International, the investment unit of a major Chinese conglomerate, for $725 million, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
A Spanish Lender’s Face-Saving Move  | BBVA has attributed its sale of a 5 percent stake in China’s Citic Bank to the new Basel capital rules. But Basel may have provided a graceful way to reduce an underwhelming investment, Fiona Maharg-Bravo of Reuters Breakingviews writes.
REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
DealBook »
Blackstone’s Solar Unit Raises $540 Million in Financing  |Â
REUTERS
Eton Park Stung by Far-Flung Bets  | Eton Park Capital Management, the firm founded by Eric Mindich, experienced an 8.89 percent loss in its illiquid “special investments†this year, Absolute Return reports, citing a third-quarter letter to investors.
ABSOLUTE RETURN
Man Group Reports First Net Inflows in 2 Years  | The Man Group, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund, reported its first quarterly net inflows of money in two years, as clients became more confident about a global economic recovery.
DealBook »
Google Reports Slide in Prices of Ads  | “For more than a decade, Google’s search advertising business has seemed almost magical in its ability to mint money. But the magic is beginning to wear off as people spend more time on mobile devices, where the company makes less money on ads,†Claire Cain Miller reports in The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES
DealBook »
After Shutdown, Resupplying Economic Data  | After the shutdown prevented the government from releasing economic data, new figures will be available early next week, but delays could stretch into December. “What is more, the catch-up process could also help slow any decision by the Federal Reserve to ease back on its stimulus efforts,†Nelson D. Schwartz writes in The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES
Lingering Confusion Over Debt Ceiling’s Temporary Fix  | “At first glance, the ‘default prevention’ section of the bill seemed to imply that the president would have the authority in the future to increase the country’s debt unilaterally, and that Congress could stop him only by passing a bill forbidding it,†Annie Lowrey reports in The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES
Swiss Private Bank to Close Over Tax Dispute  | The Swiss bank Frey & Company said it was closing because of “unsustainable costs†from Switzerland’s dispute with the United States over tax evasion, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
HSBC Unit Fined $2.46 Billion in Subprime Case  | A judge ordered the lender Household International, which is now part of HSBC Holdings, to pay $2.46 billion to investors in a class-action lawsuit stemming from 2002.
REUTERS
