BlackBerry Co-Founder Is Said to Consider Bid for Company

Mike Lazaridis, the co-founder of BlackBerry who stepped down as co-chief executive in 2011, has reached out to private equity firms about a possible bid for the troubled company.

Mr. Lazaridis has separately approached the Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group about making an offer, according to people familiar with the matter. These people cautioned, however, that the talks were preliminary and might not lead to any bids.

The potential of any effort to take BlackBerry private was muddied further on Friday, as shares in the company tanked after the company announced quarterly revenue far below analyst expectations. BlackBerry shares listed in the United States plunged 17.1 percent to $8.73.

Mr. Lazaridis could not be reached for comment. Blackstone and Carlyle declined to comment.

The Wall Street Journal reported news of the talks late on Friday.

Private equity firms have been considering a bid for BlackBerry for more than a year, people familiar with the matter said. But as late as 18 months ago, buyout specialists evaluating the company saw few viable options for turning the slumping company around.

Mr. Lazaridis, who co-founded BlackBerry with a friend in 1985, remains one of the company’s largest individual shareholders, and his stake would be helpful in any effort to take the company private.

Last year, Mr. Lazaridis and his partner, Jim Balsillie, stepped down as co-chief executives, ceding control to Thorsten Heins. The two men, who had run the company for decades, had come under pressure from disgruntled shareholders as BlackBerry continued to lose market share to rivals including the iPhone and phones using Google’s Android software.

Speaking at the time of his departure last year, Mr. Lazaridis said, “In every successful company that’s developed by founders, there comes a time when it enters a new phase of growth and it’s time for the founders to pass the baton to new management.”

Weekend Reading: For JPMorgan, Trouble Still Looms

Even after approving $1 billion in fines and an admission of wrongdoing, the board of JPMorgan Chase is confronting more regulatory problems.

According to people briefed on the bank’s board meeting held this week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is bolstering its investigation into JPMorgan’s debt collection. The board also learned new details about the bank’s practice of hiring the children of Chinese officials. And lawyers briefed the board about investigations into JPMorgan’s ties with foreign banks vulnerable to money laundering. “The bank is now facing scrutiny from at least seven federal agencies, several state regulators and two foreign nations,” report Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess.

One bright spot for the bank is that the board is now discussing these regulatory problems. In the so-called London Whale trading loss, the Securities and Exchange Commission cited “severe breakdowns” with JPMorgan’s senior management who kept the board and regulators in the dark about the risky bets. If the board wants to prevent future “London Whale” surprises it will have to take on the culture of secrecy that authorities say has spread throughout the bank.

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

FRIDAY, SEPT. 20

THURSDAY, SEPT. 19

As Inquiries Persist, JPMorgan Loses Favor | Even as regulators announced a settlement over the “London Whale” trading loss, weariness expressed at a board meeting underscored the bank’s stunning fall from favor. DealBook »

Once Again, Punishing the Bank but Not Its Top Executives | Not only did regulators fail to take action against any of JPMorgan’s senior executives, they did not even identify them. DealBook »

Scratching Their Heads, Investors Start Revising Expectations for the Fed | “Now the moral of the story is, ‘Don’t look at what we’re saying,’” said Ken Taubes, the chief investment officer at Pioneer Investments. DealBook »

In Trial Program, Six Foreign Hedge Funds to Gain Foothold in China | Regulators in the city of Shanghai have agreed to let a group of American and British hedge funds raise $50 million each from Chinese institutions to invest around the world. DealBook »

Computer Flaws Get Wry Smile From Humans Displaced | The technology that virtually eliminated the job of stock market specialist has been the source of expensive, disruptive errors, including the “flash crash” of 2010. DealBook »

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18

Fed, Delaying End to Stimulus, Surprises Markets Prepared for Retreat | Several on Wall Street pointed an accusing finger at Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, and the central bank’s communication strategy. For his part, Mr. Bernanke appeared to put some of the blame on Wall Street. DealBook »

S.E.C. Proposes Greater Disclosure on Pay for C.E.O.’s | The gap in pay between chief executives and rank-and-file employees has been growing steadily, and now regulators want companies to tell investors just how wide it is. DealBook »

Threatening Letters to 140 MF Global Vendors | James W. Giddens, the court-appointed trustee liquidating the bankrupt firm, told vendors they had until Friday to defend payments they had received. DealBook »

TUESDAY, SEPT. 17

S.&.P. Bond Deals Are on the Rise Since It Relaxed Rating Criteria | As banks began reviving the market for bonds tied to home loans, S.& P.’s tough stance was hurting the bottom line. DealBook »

Deadline Approaching, U.S. Is Weighing More Charges in Madoff Case | Among those still under scrutiny for the Ponzi scheme are Shana Madoff Swanson, Mr. Madoff’s niece, and Paul J. Konigsberg, an accountant. DealBook »

Wielding Broader Powers, S.E.C. Examines Hedge Funds in London | The Securities and Exchange Commission is expanding its influence in Britain, but the scrutiny is causing consternation among London money managers. DealBook »

Firms to Pay $14 Million to Settle | Of the 23 firms accused of improprieties around short-selling before I.P.O.s, only one has chosen to fight the charges. DealBook »

Inspired by Professor, Investor Makes Big Gift for Black Studies | Glenn Hutchins is giving more than $15 million to create the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research at Harvard. DealBook »

Deal Professor: Dole Food’s Buyout in 2013 Looks a Lot Like One in 2003 | In the latest buyout, many of the same people are involved and the regulatory filings have been nearly identical, says Steven M. Davidoff. DealBook »

MONDAY, SEPT. 16

Bank Is Said to Admit Fault in Settlement of Trade Loss | Even so, it seems unlikely that the bank will be able to close the chapter on the case known as the London Whale just yet. DealBook »

Like Father, Like Daughter | A dispute between Ronald O. Perelman and his former in-laws has moved into the next generation as his daughter argues her uncle blocked her inheritance. DealBook »

DealBook Column: Two-Name Race Drops to One, but Guessing Continues | Janet Yellen has emerged as the leading candidate to take over the Fed, but Andrew Ross Sorkin says some are speculating that the president may still choose someone else: Donald L. Kohn. DealBook »

Complying With U.S. Tax Evasion Law Is Vexing Foreign Banks | Concerns have been raised about the cost and effort required to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, among other issues. DealBook »

Britain Puts a Sliver of Its Stake in Lloyds Up for Sale | Britain’s investment arm put 6 percent of Lloyds’s stock, valued at about $5 billion, on the market. The government will still own 33 percent of Lloyds after the sale. DealBook »

SUNDAY, SEPT. 15

Looking to Twitter to Reignite Tech I.P.O.’s | Now investors and deal makers hope that Twitter’s stock sale will help the once-soaring tech sector take flight again. DealBook »

SATURDAY, SEPT. 14

On Wall St., a Throwback Marches On | The investment bank Sandler O’Neill, one of the last major private partnerships on Wall Street, also takes fewer risks than others in the industry. DealBook »

WEEK IN VERSE

STARVING IN THE BELLY OF A WHALE “Don’t go scheming,” sang Tom Waits.

BRASS BONANZA Long after the London Whale is forgotten, we’ll still be cheering for Pucky the Whale.

Judge Opens Lid on Deal Companies Would Prefer Stay Shut

Vivendi and Activision Blizzard have been tripped up on their new deal by their old one, creating a possible “wreck,” as one participant representing Activision put it.

Earlier this week, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of Delaware Chancery Court ruled that the two could not complete a sale by Vivendi of most of its stake in Activision Blizzard. Under the current sale plan, Activision would buy back 429 million Activision shares from Vivendi for $5.83 billion. A company owned in part by Activision’s chief executive, Robert Kotick, and its co-chairman, Brian Kelly, would purchase the rest of the stake being sold for $2.34 billion. Upon the completion of the transaction, the management investor group would own 24.9 percent of Activision and Vivendi would still hold about 21 percent.

The judge halted the sale because he found that it violated a provision in Activision’s certificate of incorporation. This provision states that any “merger, business combination or similar transaction” involving Vivendi and its affiliates requires “the affirmative vote of a majority in interest of the stockholders” of Activision other than Vivendi.

A shareholder sued in Delaware court contending that this provision required Activision Blizzard’s shareholders to vote on the transaction. Not only that, but the provision required that the transaction be approved by a majority of the minority shareholders, that is a majority of stockholders who were not affiliated with Vivendi.

Activision and the other defendants argued that this provision was not applicable. It was negotiated by Activision and Vivendi when Vivendi first acquired its stake in 2008. The provision was put in to protect minority shareholders if Vivendi tried to squeeze them out. The defendants argued that under this reading, the language was inapplicable. Activision contended that a “business combination” was a transaction “wherein two businesses come together (i.e., combine) to form a new single operation.” But this was nothing of the sort, instead it was “akin to two companies divorcing each other â€" which no case law, or common sense, suggests is a ‘business combination’ or something ‘similar.’”

In his ruling, the vice chancellor disagreed.

He examined this provision focusing on what a “business combination” means and found that the sale of stock here could be a business combination or something “similar.” The primary reason was that this provision was intended to pick up a case where “you’re worried about potentially value-transferring business transactions.” But he also found that this transaction was similar to the 2008 one and that the language in at least one previous Delaware case that considered the meaning of “business combination” contemplated that the term business combination could potentially include a stock purchase.

To be honest, the defendants were probably not helped by the unusual structure of the transaction. Vivendi held its Activision shares in a shell subsidiary, the Amber Holding Subsidiary Company. Importantly, Amber also holds about $676 million in net operating losses that Activision can use to offset future profits. In the transaction, Activision is buying the Amber subsidiary, not the shares directly, likely to also allow it to transfer the losses. But the combination of two companies rather than a direct share purchase arguably looks more like a business combination.

So where does this leave the parties?

The word “wreck,” which was the comment made by one of Activision’s lawyers at the hearing on this matter, was probably apt.

The transaction was scheduled to close this week, but now the parties will have to delay closing for several months to hold a shareholder vote. Alternatively, Activision can also appeal, something that will likely take several weeks.

At the hearing, the lawyers for Activision and the other defendants seemed to be focused on making an appeal. But this is an uncertain venture. The Delaware Supreme Court, the court that would review this case, does sometimes overrule the Chancery Court on significant issues involving policy. But the court prefers to leave intact individual cases with less impact. This is probably one of those cases. I’ve been wrong about this court before, particularly in the Airgas decision, but this is a situation where you are likely south of a 50 percent chance of winning on appeal.

That would leave Activision holding a shareholder vote. Given the fact that Activision’s market value went up by a billion dollars on the announcement of the deal and did not fall in the wake of the transaction, shareholder approval seems a certainty. In fact, the defendants could probably get institutions to provide affidavits attesting to this.

The real question, though, is whether the deal blows up if the parties try to renegotiate it to include a stockholder vote.

The reason is that $1 billion increase in value and Activision’s new share price. Vivendi agreed to sell for $13.60 a share. But Activision’s shares are now trading above $17. If this $8 billion deal is renegotiated over the shareholder vote, then all of the other terms are also up for renegotiation. Vivendi may now try to recut the deal and capture some of that value. Not only that, but if the deal is delayed for a shareholder vote, the financing will have to be redone, creating risk that costs will increase substantially if interest rates move.

Regardless of whether the ruling is right or not, its effect may be to blow up this transaction. Or perhaps something even worse for shareholders: they end up having to pay more to buy back Vivendi’s stake. And if the deal blows up completely, Vivendi may decide just to flood the market and sell its shares. All of these events are not certainties, and there is clearly a will on all parties to reach a deal, but the situation is at best in flux.

In this light, it may very well be that Activision appeals rather than risk a renegotiation with Vivendi. The fact that an appeal hasn’t been filed yet or a quick shareholder vote already announced is evidence of the difficult conversation and hypotheticals being played out now by the parties.

It’s an $8 billion drama better than any video game, at least for deal junkies.

Vodafone Wins Approval for Takeover of German Cable Operator

LONDON â€" The British telecommunications giant Vodafone received approval on Friday from European antitrust authorities for its proposed 7.7 billion euros ($10.4 billion) takeover for the German cable company Kabel Deutschland.

The approval from the competition authorities was the final hurdle for Vodafone, which recently sold its stake in Verizon Wireless to its American partner Verizon Communications for $130 billion, to acquire Germany’s largest cable operator.

Vodafone had to wait until the final minute for Kabel’s shareholders to give their backing for the deal, which will help to expand Vodafone’s cable offerings in Europe’s largest economy.

The takeover, first announced in June, is now expected to be completed by the middle of October.

Rocket Fuel and FireEye More Than Double in Market Debut

Shares of Rocket Fuel and FireEye hewed close to their names on the first day of trading, taking off to atmospheric heights in their initial public offerings.

Rocket Fuel, an advertising technology company that relies on artificial intelligence, opened at $59.95 in their first day of trading on Friday, more than double their initial public offering price, and then jumped as high as $62.50.

Minutes later, shares in FireEye, a cybersecurity services provider, opened at $40.30, doubling their I.P.O. price of $20.

Both companies priced either at the top of an already-increased price range, as in Rocket Fuel’s case, or well above a heightened range, as FireEye has done.

Investors and deal makers are betting on a resurgence of technology I.P.O.’s by year end, after the sector stayed abnormally quiet for much of the year. As of last week, technology offerings comprised just 17 percent of all new stock sales, a five-year low.

Rocket Fuel trades on the Nasdaq market under the ticker symbol “FUEL.” FireEye is trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “FEYE.”

New York Life Suspends Chief Executive of Its Lending Unit

Madison Capital Funding, a lending unit of the insurance giant New York Life, has been on a roll. It attracted a new business partner in the private equity giant Apollo Global Management. The trade publication Mergers & Acquisitions named it the 2012 lender of the year.

Yet this week, New York Life suspended Madison Capital’s chief executive, Trevor J. Clark, and another one of its senior executives, Christopher G. Williams, over violations in company policies, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The two have been suspended with pay, these people said, for failing to disclose to New York Life certain personal investments and business interests that they were doing outside the company.These people asked to remain anonymous to discuss personnel issues.

Mr. Clark and Mr. Williams did not return telephone calls and e-mails. A spokesman for New York Life, William H. Werfelman, said the company was not in a position to comment at this time.

Madison Capital, which is based in Chicago, is a leader in the lucrative but little known business called middle-market lending, providing financing to medium-size companies that are, in many cases, owned by private equity firms. The company has about $6 billion in assets under management, the majority of which is from New York Life.

Other major players in the middle-market lending business include GE Capital, Golub Capital and Ares Capital.

Last April, Apollo Investment Corporation, a publicly traded lender, announced that it had become the anchor investor in a loan vehicle management by Madison. Apollo Global Management, a separate public company run by the billionaire financier Leon Black, also announced a new business relationship with the lender.

“We are very pleased that we are working with Madison Capital, which is a highly respected and leading middle market loan originator with an outstanding track record,” said Marc Rowan, a senior managing director at Apollo.

A Night for Swiss Pride, Minus Tax Talk

Absinthe, chocolate and raclette cheese are helping Switzerland to banish its private-banking blues.

At the Swiss Embassy on Wednesday night in Washington, a moonlit soiree featuring Davidoff cigars and a humanoid robot aimed to lift the spirits of officials and dignitaries, barely three weeks after a sobering settlement with the Justice Department over offshore tax evasion services sold to wealthy Americans through Swiss private banks.

While the sponsors of the invitation-only party included Credit Suisse, the large Swiss bank still under criminal investigation for its offshore banking services, few words were spoken about the settlement â€" or its blow to the Swiss psyche.

Instead, the pinstripe-suited ambassador, Manuel Sager, toasted two Swiss pilots who made headlines last May with record-long flights in a Swiss-made, solar-powered airplane, the Solar Impulse.

“This was not just an idea that was conceived in Switzerland â€" it’s also a lot of technology,” Mr. Sager told the crowd, standing beside a large Swiss cowbell under an outdoor tent lit with red and white lights, the country’s traditional colors.

When not sipping Kübler absinthe, Holzfass beer in flip-top bottles or 2012 vintage Apologia du Valais aoc Grand Metal red wine, more than 1,300 guests feasted on smoked steelhead trout, veal ragout, green beans with boiled eggs and vanilla ice cream drenched in espresso. Late-night partygoers ambled under a full moon through the embassy’s sprawling grounds, crowding around the swimming pool to listen to Eliane Amherd, a Swiss pop-jazz singer. Nobody fell in.

Other guests, including Swiss majors-general and commanders in full military dress, puffed on Davidoff cigars and feasted at stations serving a Swiss specialty of boiled potatoes, gherkin pickles, pearl onions and pungent melted raclette cheese.

Some guests took turns competing to see who could turn a hand-crank wheel on a mechanical replica of the Cabrio cable car, a high-tech open-top gondola overlooking Mount Stanserhorn near Lucerne. Others observed “Roboy,” a state-of-the art robot developed at the University of Zurich’s artifical intelligence laboratory.

But those specialties and inventions pale in comparison to Switzerland’s reputation for banking secrecy and client confidentiality. It has been home to an estimated $2 trillion in cross-border assets, more than any other country. But crackdowns by American and European authorities on global tax evasion are forcing the European country to change tack.

Under the settlement with the United States authorities last month, Swiss banks will pay up to billions of dollars in fines and disclose to the Internal Revenue Service information about tax-evading American clients. The settlement does not cover 14 Swiss and Swiss-style banks, including Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, that are still under criminal investigation.

Asked about the settlement, Joseph Renggli, the head of economic and financial affairs at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, called it “a legacy issue that had to be resolved.”

Mr. Sager’s American-born wife, Christine, jokingly cautioned guests to “watch out” because Bertrand Piccard, one of the two Solar Impulse pilots, was also a trained hypnotist. “It really does work,” said Mr. Piccard, dressed in skinny black pants and a black pilot-style shirt with patches.

“Maybe,” one guest whispered drily to a reporter, “he can hypnotize Swiss bankers.”

Hedge Fund Drops Opposition to Smithfield Deal

Starboard Value, the activist hedge fund that was seeking to block Smithfield Foods’, dropped its fight on Friday, saying that it could not formalize an alternative takeover bid.

The concession by Starboard removes the last obstacle to the current deal. The meat processor cleared its most daunting hurdle earlier this month when a government panel declared that the sale to Shuanghui International â€" the biggest takeover of an American company by a Chinese counterpart â€" posed no national security issues, despite concerns raised by lawmakers.

But investors by and large did not expect the hedge fund, which owns about 1.3 percent of Smithfield’s stock, to win. Preliminary tallies of a shareholder vote on the Shuanghui transaction, which is scheduled for Sept. 24, showed relatively little opposition to the deal, people briefed on the matter have said.

Starboard said in a regulatory filing reiterated that it had garnered nonbinding “indications of interest” from potential buyers for Smithfield. While it’s unclear whom the hedge fund had been courting, at least one of the company’s rivals, the Brazilian meat processor JBS, had been considered unlikely to bid, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Starboard said in its statement that it was confident any takeover bid it assembled would have fetched more than the $34 a share that Shuanghui will pay. Still, the firm added that it was unable to overcome numerous hurdles, including restrictions embedded in Smithfield’s existing sale agreement.

“At this time, unless another proposal emerges, we plan on voting in favor of the proposed merger,” the hedge fund said its regulatory filing.

A Regulatory Punching Bag

JPMORGAN LOSES FAVOR  |  The board members of JPMorgan Chase had a pressing question earlier this week when they met to approve $1 billion in fines: are we done yet? The answer, in short, was no, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess report in DealBook. The fines, announced on Thursday, resolve investigations into the bank’s big trading loss in London as well as an inquiry into its credit card products.

But more problems loom for the bank. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission wanted a $100 million fine as well as an acknowledgment that JPMorgan’s trading in London manipulated a corner of the derivatives market â€" an accusation that the bank disputes and is fighting tooth and nail, people briefed on the matter said. Though JPMorgan emerged from the financial crisis healthier than its rivals, it is now facing scrutiny from at least seven federal agencies, several state regulators and two foreign nations, DealBook reports.

Senior JPMorgan executives who seemed to play a role in the bank’s missteps are not being singled out for individual punishment, DealBook’s Peter Eavis writes. And yet, government agencies that settled with the bank went to considerable lengths to explain how they thought senior executives had slipped up. “JPMorgan failed to keep watch over its traders as they overvalued a very complex portfolio to hide massive losses,” George S. Canellos, co-director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s division of enforcement, said in a statement.

Though JPMorgan made an admission of wrongdoing when settling with the S.E.C., it was unwilling to make such an admission in dealing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That’s because the settlement was carefully structured to limit its potential fallout, Peter J. Henning writes in the White Collar Watch column. An admission in violating the commodities laws “could open the bank up to substantial additional liability.”

COMPUTER FLAWS GET WRY SMILE FROM HUMANS DISPLACED  |  After a technological breakdown froze the Nasdaq stock market for three hours last month, investors across Wall Street wrung their hands. But Thomas H. Shafer allowed himself a bitter laugh. After all, he had forged a career as a stock exchange specialist â€" buying and selling shares to help the market function properly â€" only to have his profession sharply diminished by technology.

Now that technology was proving yet again to be a source of error. With the rise of computer-driven trading, a number of problems have led investors and regulators to demand tighter safeguards. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission asked the nation’s stock exchanges to introduce “kill switches” and other technological changes. The mishaps have also led longtime former specialists like Mr. Shafer to reflect on the days before machines took over the market.

2 TECH I.P.O.’S SET TO BEGIN TRADING  |  Two technology companies priced their initial public offerings Thursday evening, reflecting strong investor demand for a sector that is trying to revive. FireEye, a provider of cybersecurity software, priced its initial public offering on Thursday at $20 a share, beating expectations, DealBook’s Michael J. de la Merced reports. This week, the company raised its price range to $15 to $17 a share. The company also increased the number of shares that it sold in the offering by 8 percent, to 15.18 million. All told, the deal raised $303.6 million, valuing the software maker at $2.3 billion.

Rocket Fuel, an advertising technology company that relies on artificial intelligence, priced its initial public offering at the top of its expected range, raising $116 million, Mr. de la Merced reports. The company sold four million shares at $29 each, valuing the company at $942.5 million.

ON THE AGENDA  |  James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is on Bloomberg TV at 7 a.m., discussing the Fed’s surprise move. George John, the chief executive of Rocket Fuel, is on CNBC at 9 a.m. David DeWalt, FireEye’s chief executive, is on CNBC at 10 a.m. The I.P.O.’s of both companies are expected to begin trading today.

INVESTORS STILL PUZZLING OVER FED’S MOVE  |  After the Federal Reserve on Wednesday dashed the widespread assumption that it would begin slowing down its bond-buying program, Wall Street is now furiously revising expectations about the role the central bank will play in the economy in the months ahead, Nathaniel Popper reports in DealBook. Many said that in the future, they would pay less attention to public statements and reconsider the barometers they were using to predict Fed decisions.

“From May forward, the body English suggested that they were ready to taper,” said Ken Taubes, the chief investment officer at Pioneer Investments. “Now the moral of the story is, ‘Don’t look at what we’re saying.’”

Mergers & Acquisitions »

New York Times Company to Pay a Dividend of 4 Cents  |  The New York Times Company said it would pay a quarterly dividend to its shareholders for the first time in five years.
NEW YORK TIMES

Huge Payday for Chief Executive Who Is Leaving Nokia  |  Nokia disclosed that Stephen Elop is expected to collect about 18.8 million euros as he prepares to leave the company in the wake of Microsoft’s takeover of its handset business.
DealBook »

Lessons for H.P. From Its Offspring  |  Agilent Technologies was considered the producer of nerdy scientific equipment when it was spun off from Hewlett-Packard in 1999, while H.P. was expanding. But Agilent has outperformed H.P. and is now splitting to create yet more value, Robert Cyran writes in Reuters Breakingviews.
REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

Activision Blizzard’s Big Stake Buyback Halted by Delaware Court  |  A court injunction said the company would have to win an appeal or hold a shareholder vote before it could buy back most of Vivendi’s stake in itself.
DealBook »

Editors of AllThingsD to Leave Dow Jones  |  Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, the co-editors of AllThingsD, are parting ways with Dow Jones at the end of the year when their contracts expire. A spokeswoman for Dow Jones said no decision had been made about who would retain the rights to the brand and the archived content.
NEW YORK TIMES

INVESTMENT BANKING »

Error by New York Fed Affects Goldman  |  The Financial Times reports: “Goldman Sachs suffered a loss when a clerical error by the New York Federal Reserve left the bank without any of the three-month Treasury bills it had ordered at a government debt auction, people familiar with the matter said.”
FINANCIAL TIMES

Goldman to Expand Program for Small Businesses  |  Dina Powell, Goldman Sachs’s head of corporate engagement, said on Thursday that the firm was expanding 10,000 Small Businesses, its program to assist entrepreneurs.
NEW YORK TIMES YOU’RE THE BOSS

Twitter May Add Banks to I.P.O.  |  Reuters reports: “Twitter is in talks to add additional banks to its underwriting syndicate for its upcoming initial public offering and in the process of finalizing the fee structure, according to three people familiar with the matter.”
REUTERS

Money Funds Circle the Wagons on Rules  |  “This week the comment period closed on proposed money market rules set forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission,” Floyd Norris writes in the High & Low Finance column in The New York Times. “The rules are pitifully weak and inadequate. They could even make the system more vulnerable in a crisis, as the presidents of all 12 Federal Reserve banks pointed out in a letter to the S.E.C.”
NEW YORK TIMES

Veteran UBS Banker to Depart  |  Simon Warshaw, 47, who led the UBS team advising Vodafone, the British telecommunications company, to sell its stake in Verizon Wireless to its longtime partner Verizon Communications is leaving the bank after 27 years.
DealBook »

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Executive Said to Depart  |  Reuters reports: “The managing director and complex manager for some of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s most profitable offices in New York has left after more than 20 years at the company, people familiar with the matter said.”
REUTERS

PRIVATE EQUITY »

Univision Said to Be in Talks Over I.P.O. in 2014  |  The Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications, which was bought by a group of private equity firms in 2007, “has in recent weeks held discussions with banks about an initial public offering, according to three people familiar with the matter,” Reuters reports.
REUTERS

Big Buyout Firms Explore Lending in Spain  |  K.K.R. and Apollo Global Management are looking to get a piece of the lending market in Spain as banks become more cautious, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS

HEDGE FUNDS »

Hedge Funds Gain Foothold in China  |  In the next few months, six hedge funds will each be able to raise $50 million from institutions in China to invest around the world as part of a pilot program in Shanghai.
DealBook »

Goldman Sachs Said to Be Starting Hedge Fund in Asia  |  Bloomberg News reports: “Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, set up to allow clients to invest with some of the bank’s top proprietary traders, is raising capital for a new Asian fund, said two people with knowledge of the matter.”
BLOOMBERG NEWS

I.P.O./OFFERINGS »

I.P.O. in New Zealand Would Be a Record  |  The government’s plan to sell 49 percent of Meridian Energy, New Zealand’s biggest electricity producer, would raise $1.6 billion or more.
DealBook »

Empire State Realty Aims to Raise $1 Billion in I.P.O.  | 
FINANCIAL TIMES

VENTURE CAPITAL »

U.S. Revives Loan Guarantee Program for Clean Energy  |  A controversial program â€" which remains under Congressional scrutiny after losing taxpayer money on investments in failed green energy start-ups like Solyndra â€" is now set to devote as much as $8 billion to helping industries like coal and oil make cleaner energy, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Pinterest to Start Showing Ads  | 
TECHCRUNCH

LEGAL/REGULATORY »

Hurdles Still High for Fed’s New Front-Runner  |  The first hurdle facing Janet L. Yellen if she is chosen by President Obama to lead the Federal Reserve would be to win confirmation from the Senate â€" an obstacle that doomed the previous front-runner for the job, Lawrence H. Summers. The second challenge would be to manage the central bank’s retreat from its unprecedented efforts to stimulate the economy, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES

Buffett Wants to Keep Bernanke Atop Fed  |  Asked about Janet Yellen, President Obama’s expected choice to lead the Federal Reserve, Warren Buffett said that he didn’t know her at all.
DealBook »

Goldman Settles Lawsuit Over eToys I.P.O.  |  Goldman is poised to leave behind a long-running lawsuit over the 1999 initial public offering of eToys â€" an online toy retailer whose rise and fall became a symbol of the dotcom boom and bust â€" by paying $7.5 million to eToys creditors.
DealBook »

Prudential Financial Deemed ‘Too Big to Fail’  |  Prudential Financial said on Thursday that United States regulators had determined that the company was a systemically important financial institution.
DealBook »

Canada to Set Up New Securities Regulator  |  Thwarted by a court ruling blocking it from unilaterally establishing a national securities regulator, the government of Canada joined with two provinces to form a “cooperative” agency on Thursday.
DealBook »

New Zealand to Launch Record I.P.O.

HONG KONG-The government of New Zealand said on Friday that the partial privatization of Meridian Energy, the country’s biggest electricity company, could raise close to $2 billion.

In what would be the nation’s largest initial public offering to date, the government said it would seek to sell a 49 percent stake in Meridian in a price range of 1.50 New Zealand dollars to 1.80 dollars apiece.

Meridian is a generator and distributor of electricity that relies entirely on hyrdopower and wind farms. It accounts for about 30 percent of New Zealand’s electricity production and distributes power to around 270,000 customers. Overseas, Meridian owns two wind farms in Australia, one of which is still under construction, and has also carried out renewable energy projects in Antarctica, Tonga and the United States.

At face value, the listing would represent total gross proceeds of 1.9 billion New Zealand dollars ($1.6 billion) to 2.3 billion dollars ($1.9 billion). But any shares bought by New Zealand individual investors are subject to a price cap of 1.60 dollars apiece, provided they are not sold within 18 months of the I.P.O. â€" so the total funds to be raised will depend on how many shares are bought by locals (New Zealand institutional investors and foreigners do not benefit from the price cap).

‘‘The price cap gives New Zealand retail applicants greater certainty around how much they will pay for Meridian shares,’’ the country’s finance minister, Bill English, said in a statement. ‘‘The government remains committed to putting New Zealanders at the front of the queue for shares.’’

After the I.P.O., Meridian will be New Zealand’s biggest company by market value, and the government will keep a 51 percent controlling stake. The I.P.O. is the second major deal to take place under New Zealand’s plan to raise funds by unloading minority stakes in state businesses. In May, Mighty River Power raised 1.7 billion dollars when the government sold a 49 percent stake in a public offering.

If local retail demand for the Meridian offering echoes that of the Mighty River I.P.O., the deal could see foreigners getting only a small slice of the shares. In May, about 440,000 New Zealanders, or almost 10 percent of the population, had registered their interest in buying shares in Mighty River. On completion of the I.P.O., individual investors acquired a 26.9 percent stake in the company, New Zealand institutions acquired 8.6 percent and overseas investors got 13.5 percent (the government retained a 51 percent stake). As of Friday, shares in Mighty River were trading 10 percent below their May I.P.O. price.

Meridian is set to take share orders from local retail investors from Sept. 30 until Oct. 18. The offer will open to institutional investors from Oct. 21 to 23. Final pricing is scheduled to be set on Oct. 23, and trading to begin on Oct. 29.

The I.P.O. is being led by the underwriters Goldman Sachs, Macquarie, and a joint venture between Craigs Investment Partners and Deutsche Bank. The retail portion of the deal is being handled by Craigs, JBWere and Macquarie.