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Traders are betting Western Wind Energy Corp.’s executives will persuade suitors to top what’s already the most expensive valuation for an alternative-energy takeover on record. Shares of Western Wind, the Vancouver-based operator and developer of wind farms and solar projects that put itself up for sale in July, closed yesterday 11 percent above a C$2.50-a-share proposal from Brookfield [...]
Jefferies Group Inc. bankers have worked on more than 100 deals this year, a total that now includes the sale of their own firm. That puts Jefferies just one spot outside the top 20 financial advisers on mergers and acquisitions globally, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Leucadia National Corp., an investment firm and Jefferies’ biggest shareholder, agreed yesterday to acquire the 71.4 percent [...]
Dish Network Corp.’s stagnating growth is increasing the pressure on Chairman Charlie Ergen to combine with rival DirecTV, 10 years after a failed attempt. Ergen said this week that the two largest U.S. satellite-TV providers “have to consider” a deal, potentially joining a rush of consolidation in the telecommunications, cable and satellite-TV industries that has already topped [...]
KBW Inc. and Stifel Financial Corp. were advised by their own investment banking subsidiaries, as KBW agreed to be acquired by Stifel in a $575 million deal. The companies said the combination will form the financial sector’s top M&A adviser. KBW was advised by its Keefe Bruyette & Woods unit and by Bank of America Corp. Stifel was advised by Steifel Nicolaus & Co., and [...]
After failing to strike deals for companies from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. to Mentor Graphics Corp., Carl Icahn now must convince suitors that Netflix Inc. deserves one of the highest valuations in America. The billionaire investor disclosed this week that he took a 10 percent stake in Netflix, and said Amazon.com Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. could [...]
Morgan Stanley is the top financial adviser on BP Plc deals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The New Yorkbased bank is the energy company’s principal adviser on OAO Rosneft’s agreement to buy Russia’s TNK-BP for $54.8 billion from BP and a group of billionaires. Read more>>
The U.S. wireless industry is moving toward consolidation and specialization, says Erik Tavzel, a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Tavzel represented Crown Castle International Corp. on its $2.4 billion agreement to buy the rights to operate cellular towers from Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA. He also advised on the $1 billion takeover of NextG Networks Inc. completed in April. Tavzel spoke [...]
Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., the television home of Paula Deen’s mashed potatoes, is poised to lure bids even with the stock at a record high now that the controlling family trust has disbanded. The owner of the Travel Channel, HGTV and most of the Food Network has the secondfastest projected sales growth through 2015 among 13 U.S. [...]
Removing the bank embedded in H&R Block Inc. would turn the biggest U.S. tax preparer into a potential takeover target. H&R Block said last week that it hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to evaluate options for its six-year-old banking unit amid new Federal Reserve rules requiring savings and loans to hoard more capital. Jettisoning the bank would [...]
