DealBook: When Bankers Fail to Act

To view the latest DealBook headlines on your mobile device, go to: http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/dealbook

Edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES | Friday, February 22, 2008 M & A: Parliament Approves Legislation to Nationalize British Bank BANKING: Lehman Brothers to Cut 200 Jobs, Report Says PRIVATE EQUITY: A Post-Mortem of Dead Deals HEDGE FUNDS: A Harsh Winter for Hedge Funds OFFERINGS: Transoma Medical Pulls the Plug on I.P.O. VENTURE CAPITAL: Google Shoots for the Moon LEGAL: Bond Insurer MBIA Pulls Out of Trade Group TOP STORY When Bankers Fail to Act Where is the next J. P. Morgan? In past financial crises, it has fallen to someone -- regulators, investment banks or even a single banker -- to organize collective action and avert disaster, The New York Times's Floyd Norris wrote in his Friday column. In 1907, Morgan demanded that presidents of New York trust companies, then a type of second-class bank, act together to save one of their own, the Trust Company of America, from a bank run. But, Mr. Norris said, nothing like that is happening in the current crisis. Go to Article from The New York Times» Read More Add a comment ADVERTISEMENT Back to Top MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS The British Parliament passed legislation on Thursday allowing the government to nationalize the struggling lender Northern Rock, five months after the bank became a high-profile casualty of the global credit squeeze. Go to Article from Reuters via The New York Times» Read More Add a comment Chinese aluminum giant Chinalco, which this year led a $14 billion acquisition of 12 percent of Rio Tinto, said in remarks in an influential magazine that it will continue to seek acquisitions abroad. Go to Article from Reuters via The New York Times» Read More Add a comment Variety, Publishers Weekly and dozens of other trade publications are going up for sale as the publishing company Reed Elsevier looks to get out of the uncertain advertising market. Go to Article from The New York Times» Read More Add a comment The rise in U.S. investments by sovereign wealth funds has flown under the radar of most Americans, a recent survey found. But the same survey also suggested that Americans are inclined to view such deals negatively. Go to Item from DealBook» Read More Add a comment The merger of HLTH Corporation and WebMD Health could make the combined company a target for larger Internet companies such as Google, industry observers said Thursday. Go to Article from The Deal.com» Go to Article from The Associated Press via The Houston Chronicle» Read More Add a comment News Corporation has raised its stake in Premiere, Germany's largest pay-television operator, raising speculation that it could push for a full takeover of the company. Go to Article from The Financial Times» Go to Article from The Associated Press» Read More Add a comment Mikhail Shishkhanov, a nephew of billionaire Mikhail Gutseriyev, has agreed to sell top 50 Russian lender Binbank to businessman and senator Vadim Moshkovich, the bank said on Friday. Go to Article from Reuters via The New York Times» Read More Add a comment Marathon Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisition company that had faced a Feb. 25 deadline to make a deal, seems to have found a takeover target -- but it isn't saying what it is. Go to Item from DealBook» Read More Add a comment Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's recent deal with celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse offers a lesson in how the accounting for earnouts is about to change. Go to Article from CFO.com» Read More Add a comment Back to Top INVESTMENT BANKING Lehman Brothers is cutting 200 jobs, equivalent to 10 percent of its investment banking staff, CNBC television reported on Thursday. Go to Article from Reuters via The New York Times» Read More Add a comment Morgan Stanley appointed Kenneth M. deRegt, who left the firm in 2000 for Aetos Capital, to a new position overseeing risk at the securities firm. DealBook has the internal memorandum. Go to Item from DealBook» Read More Add a comment The surprise $2.85 billion write-down at Credit Suisse this week underscored the difficulty banks face in valuing complex investments. But the cause of the blunder may be simple: traders at the bank used old prices. Go to Article from The New York Times» Read More Add a comment UBS, which was forced to write down $18.4 billion on securities linked to the subprime market, has quietly sounded out some of Europe's top bankers to join its board of directors and eventually replace the troubled Swiss bank's long-serving chairman, Marcel Ospel, according to The Financial Times. Go to Article from The Financial Times» Read More Add a comment Sovereign Bancorp, the second-largest U.S. savings and loan, said on Thursday it fired Chief Financial Officer Mark McCollom and replaced him with Kirk Walters. Go to Article from Reuters» Read More Add a comment An obscure pressure point in the credit squeeze popped up this week when the Sanders Morris Harris Group, a boutique investment bank in Houston, held a "public auction" for dozens of the most arcane products in the financial world. Go to Article from The New York Times» Read More Add a comment Citigroup appointed two new co-heads of its North American power and utilities group in investment banking, the SparkSpread Web site reported Thursday. Go to Item from SparkSpread (Subscription Required)» Read More Add a comment Back to Top PRIVATE EQUITY Private equity firms have taken heat in recent months for walking away from buyouts. But Investment Dealers' Digest looks at the trail of dead deals and suggests that, despite the criticism, buyout firms deserve credit for being disciplined investors. Go to Article from Investment Dealers' Digest» Read More Add a comment Terra Firma, the private equity firm run by British financier Guy Hands, is in talks with French industrial group Suez to launch a 1.5 billion pound ($3 billion) counter-offer for Biffa, the waste management company, according to The Telegraph. Go to Article from The Telegraph» Read More Add a comment Bridgepoint Capital, a London private equity firm, is close to an agreement to buy Pret A Manger (Europe) in a deal that would include Goldman Sachs owning a minority stake in the sandwich chain, The Telegraph reported. Go to Article from The Telegraph» Go to Article from The Deal.com» Read More Add a comment Back to Top HEDGE FUNDS The year began on a brutal note for many of the world's hedge funds. The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index, which tracks the performance of 2,467 funds that invest globally, dropped 3.3 percent in January, based on preliminary figures, Bloomberg News reported. The decline was the worst since January 2000, when Eurekahedge began compiling the data. Go to Article from Bloomberg News» Read More Add a comment The hedge funds that hope to elect dissident directors to The New York Times Company board said Thursday that they had increased their stake in the company to at least 15.6 percent. The Washington Post offers a profile of Scott Galloway, who leads one of the funds and is no stranger to proxy fights. Go to Article from The New York Times» Go to Article from The Washington Post» Read More Add a comment New York hedge fund DB Zwirn is winding down its principal funds after investors -- rattled by lapses in internal controls, including the expense of a private jet used by the firm's founder -- said they would withdraw more than $2 billion, The Financial Times reported. Go to Article from The Financial Times» Read More Add a comment Back to Top I.P.O. / OFFERING Transoma Medical on Thursday withdrew its registration for an initial public offering, citing unfavorable market conditions. Go to Article from Minneapolis Star-Tribune» Read More Add a comment China Everbright Bank appointed China International Capital, China Jianyin Investment Securities and Shenyin & Wanguo Securities to underwrite its planned Shanghai initial public share offering. Go to Article from AFX News via Forbes» Read More Add a comment Back to Top VENTURE CAPITAL Disparate universities, open-source engineers and quixotic aerospace start-ups are planning to start their own robotic missions to the moon, as part of the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize. Go to Article from The New York Times» Read More Add a comment Dakim, a developer of software and systems to help seniors retain brainpower, raised $10.6 million in Series C funding led by Galen Partners to market its products to care facilities and to launch new ones for home use. Go to Article from The Deal.com» Read More Add a comment Miles Electric Vehicle, a maker of low-speed electric vehicles, plans on releasing a model that can reach highway speeds in late 2009 after raising $15 million in a new round of funding. Go to Article from VentureBeat» Read More Add a comment Back to Top LEGAL MBIA, the world's largest bond insurer, said Thursday that it was withdrawing from the Association of Financial Guaranty Insurers, citing disagreement on the future direction of the bond insurance industry. Go to Article from Reuters via The New York Times» Read More Add a comment Allianz moved to shore up the $19 billion structured investment vehicle K2 managed by its Dresdner Bank unit and said it was rolling back its business in complex finance products hit hard by global credit turmoil. Go to Article from Reuters via The New York Times» Read More Add a comment Get home delivery of The New York Times for as low as $3.15 a week.

SEARCH DEALBOOK SITE DealBook | E-mail Preferences Help | Advertising Opportunities Politics, Taxes and Hedge Funds Hillary Clinton is making the tax rates paid by hedge fund managers an issue on the campaign trail. (16 comments) More» A Savior for Chrysler? In a letter to investors about the state of Cerberus Capital's investments, the firm's founder, Stephen Feinberg, came off sounding at turns cavalier and ruthless. More» Revolving Door The latest hires, promotions and departures at Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Freescale and more. More» DealBook Talks Yahoo DealBook's Andrew Ross Sorkin discussed Microsoft's offer for the Internet giant on "Charlie Rose." Watch here. More» Microsoft's Yahoo Bid Full coverage of Microsoft's unsolicited $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo, what it means and how it might play out. More» DealBook for BlackBerry For readers who are BlackBerry addicts, we now offer DealBook for BlackBerry. With one-click access to DealBook -- formatted for your device -- it's easy to check the latest deal news throughout the day. You can install the DealBook shortcut by visiting mobile.nytimes.com/bbinstall directly from your BlackBerry or by sending the text message "bb install" to 698698. More information on DealBook for BlackBerry. The Deal Professor A blog-within-a-blog that looks at mergers, private equity and corporate governance through a legal lens, written by Steven M. Davidoff, a professor at Wayne State University Law School and a former lawyer at Shearman & Sterling. More» News By Industry Airlines / Autos Basic Industries Consumer Goods Energy / Utilities Financial Services Food & Beverage Healthcare Media Real Estate Retail / Leisure Technology Telecom Tools & Resources GET QUOTES Look Up Symbol RESEARCH SUITE Portfolio Company Research U.S. Markets International Markets Mutual Funds SEND A TIP OR FEEDBACK E-mail us at dealbook@nytimes.com Dealboard

About This E-mail DealBook is a joint production of The New York Times and NYTimes.com, published daily, Monday-Friday, except on U.S. Market holidays and during the last week of the year. Editorial staff: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Peter Edmonston, Michael de la Merced and Liza Klaussmann. You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's DealBook newsletter. As a member of the BBBOnline Privacy Program and the TRUSTe privacy program, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe| Change Your E-Mail | Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise | nytimes.com/dealbook

Copyright 2008 | The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy | 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018