“Visitors to the New Jersey offices of Valeant, the ambitious pharmaceuticals company, are confronted with an unusual sight when they walk through the front door: a basketball court,†David Gelles writes in DealBook. “The building was previously home to a Y.M.C.A, which deemed it too run-down to host community activities. So when the Y.M.C.A. moved to a new building, Valeant moved in.â€
Rather than luxuriate in its $44 billion market capitalization and rising profile, Valeant â€" led by J. Michael Pearson, its chief executive, and Howard B. Schiller, its chief financial officer â€" prides itself on cutting costs. And, Mr. Gelles writes, “as Valeant pursues its unconventional $45 billion hostile takeover of the Botox maker Allergan with its newfound ally, the activist William A. Ackman, Valeant’s unusual corporate culture and iconoclastic leaders are coming into focus.â€
In assessing targets, Valeant’s executives eschew conventional Wall Street wisdom, Mr. Gelles writes. For one, they do not use investment bankers to find deals. The company is known to conduct due diligence on a target in a matter of days and bring acquired companies into the fold with similar speed. And even as Valeant, known as a serial acquirer, continues to grow, it remains frugal: The company’s employees have a $50 limit on dinner expenses and it holds its meetings at Courtyard Marriott or Sheraton hotels at airports.
AUTO LENDER SUED UNDER DODD-FRANK  | Benjamin M. Lawsky, New York State’s top financial regulator, is using a little-known weapon to enforce consumer protections: the Dodd-Frank law, Rachel Abrams writes in DealBook. On Wednesday, Mr. Lawsky’s office filed a lawsuit against the Condor Capital Corporation, a subprime auto lender based on Long Island, accusing it of violating certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul act.
“The move appears to make Mr. Lawsky the first state financial regulator and the second state regulator to take advantage of a weapon many of his peers may not have even known was in their arsenal,†Ms. Abrams writes. “And as officials across the country seek to appear tough on wrongdoers after the financial crisis, the action could encourage other state regulators to follow suit.†Dodd-Frank allows state regulators to enforce provisions that prohibit deceptive, abusive or unfair practices by financial companies and grants these regulators broader authority than they would have under state law.
Mr. Lawsky’s complaint contends that Condor siphoned millions of dollars away from the accounts of unsuspecting borrowers by shutting down their access to online accounts after a loan was repaid. This left the borrowers unable to see whether an insurance payoff, overpayment or other transaction had left excess money behind. Condor is also accused of having few or no standards for safeguarding its customers’ personal information.
LIVE-STREAMED SPINNING CLASSES  | Peloton’s spinning classes may at first seem no different from those at better-known outfits like SoulCycle or Flywheel. But a session last Friday revealed something different: video cameras recording the instructor for the benefit of customers following along at home on their Peloton bikes, Michael J. de la Merced writes in DealBook.
Peloton, a two-year-old start-up, is betting that the key to success lies in persuading customers to spend nearly $2,000 for a cycle plus an additional $39 a month to pedal along to live-streamed or recorded classes from one’s home. The cost may seem high, but a few prominent investors are betting that the business model can shake up the fitness industry. Peloton plans to announce a $10.5 million fund-raising round on Thursday, representing the latest milestones by the start-up in its quest to become the next big exercise lifestyle brand.
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â Durable goods orders are out at 8:30 a.m. Weekly jobless claims are also out at 8:30 a.m. General Motors and Time Warner Cable report earnings before the bell. Amazon and Microsoft report earnings after the markets close. Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, is on Fox Business Network at 10 a.m.
Â
TPG CAPITAL GOES GREEK Â |Â Chobani, a Greek yogurt maker based in upstate New York, said on Wednesday that it had secured a $750 million loan from the private equity firm TPG Capital, William Alden writes in DealBook. The fresh capital is intended to help the company add new products and expand overseas. Though the money is in the form of a loan, TPG is also receiving warrants that may allow it to obtain an equity stake in Chobani of as much as 35 percent.
Chobani recorded revenue last year of more than $1 billion and plans to introduce new products, including a dessert and a yogurt mixed with steel-cut oats. Six potential investors had expressed interest in doing a deal with Chobani, but TPG emerged as the leader in late March.
Â
G.E. Said to Weigh Bid for Alstom of France  | General Electric is said to be in talks to buy France’s Alstom, which makes power plants and trains, for more than $13 billion, Bloomberg News writes, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Etsy Buys Grand St., a Boutique Electronics Start-Up  | Etsy is poised to acquire a Brooklyn start-up called Grand St., an online boutique for electronics. The company did not disclose terms of the deal, which is still closing, the Bits blog reports. NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Philadelphia Is Comcast Country  | Philadelphia has become a company town where Comcast wields vast influence, Daniel Denvir, a senior staff writer at Philadelphia City Paper, writes in a New York Times Op-Ed. NEW YORK TIMES
Felix Salmon to Take On Web-Based Role at Fusion  | Felix Salmon, a prominent writer on finance who is leaving Reuters, will take up a web-based role at Fusion that runs across multiple media, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES
British Financial Regulator Adds 2 Senior Advisers  | The Financial Conduct Authority has appointed two senior advisers - David Saunders, a former head of Britain’s Competition Commission, and Gunner Burkhart, a former executive at Goldman Sachs. DealBook »
Home Sales Surge in the Hamptons  | Home sales in the Hamptons, known as a summer retreat for the moneyed elite, surged in the first quarter as stock market gains and Wall Street bonuses bolstered demand for luxury properties, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Deutsche Bank Under Pressure to Raise Capital  | Deutsche Bank is facing pressure from investors to raise capital amid fears that the bank is still not strong enough to deal with a tougher regulatory environment and a slump in the global debt markets, The Financial Times writes. FINANCIAL TIMES
Formula One Investment Haunts Norway Wealth Fund  | Norway’s $850 billion sovereign wealth fund is facing questions from lawmakers over its expansion into private equity after an investment in Formula One backfired, Bloomberg Businessweek writes. BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
Ares Offering to Make Co-Founder Rich  | Tony Ressler, who co-founded Ares Management in 1997, will have a net worth of about $1.5 billion if his company’s initial public offering prices at the midpoint of the range, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Ares plans to raise up to $419 million in its I.P.O. BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
Clearlake Capital Cleared to Buy Ashley Stewart  | A bankruptcy judge on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles, to acquire the women’s clothing retailer Ashley Stewart in a deal valued at up to $23 million, The Wall Street Journal writes. WALL STREET JOURNAL
In Allergan Bid, a Question of Insider Trading  | William A. Ackman is sitting on a paper profit of more than $1 billion, leaving some to wonder whether the windfall comes as result of what feels like insider trading, William D. Cohan writes in a news analysis in DealBook. DealBook »
Battle for the Boardroom  | “More hedge funds today are styling themselves as activists and they are notching up significant victories,†The Financial Times writes. “The legal, regulatory and intellectual skirmishes taking place behind the scenes are setting the new rules, which are shifting the odds in favor of the activists and away from the corporations.†FINANCIAL TIMES
Facebook Profit Tripled in First Quarter  | Facebook reported 1.28 billion monthly users, most on mobile devices, and easily exceeded analysts’ expectations for revenue and profit, The New York Times writes. Facebook also announced that its chief financial officer, David Ebersman, who helped lead it through its initial public offering and first two years as a public company, planned to step down on June 1. NEW YORK TIMES
Britain’s Saga Could Announce I.P.O. Next Week  | Saga, a British insurer for people older than 50, is set to announce its formal intention to sell shares next week in London in an offering that could value the company at about $5 billion, Reuters writes, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. REUTERS
Some Setbacks for the Sharing Economy  | San Francisco sued two landlords who it says evicted tenants to cater to tourists, and New York State is investigating Uber for price-gouging during storms, the Bits blog writes. NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Uber Starts Service in Beijing  | The car-ride service Uber now offers service in 100 cities, ReCode writes. RECODE
F.C.C., in ‘Net Neutrality’ Turnaround, Plans to Allow Fast Lane  | Planned new rules would allow an Internet provider to negotiate separately with content companies and charge them for priority service, The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
Anti-Corruption Group Finds Fault With European Union  | A report by Transparency International, calling for a more open approach to policy making, might provide fuel for the union’s critics, The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
