Paineful Prospects

If you are a giant Swiss bank, the one business you are supposed to do better than just about anyone is private banking. So news that UBS is considering selling Paine Webber, the heart of its U.S. wealth management business, which it bought for $10 billion nearly eight years ago, hasn’t gone down well at all. The stock sank more than 4 percent on the news. Though the name of Paine Webber disappeared from Wall St, the operations have remained more-or-less intact, making it relatively easy to hive off, analysts say. Senior bankers say the business could be an attractive buy for Bank of America or Morgan Stanley.

France Telecom has pulled its long-odds, $40 billion bid for TeliaSonera. The French suitor was restricted by its financial targets and Sweden, a big TeliaSonera shareholder, would have held out for a better price. TeliaSonera shares dropped 13 percent to 43.30 Swedish crowns, while France Telecom shares jumped 7.3 percent. The two companies held talks but TeliaSonera said the terms did not improve significantly and France Telecom said the deal-breaker was money.

Deutsche Bank launched its first special purpose acquisition company focused on Germany, Switzerland and Austria, a venture led by three high-profile executives. Germany1 Acquisition will be headed by co-Chairmen Thomas Middelhoff, chief executive of retailer Arcandor, and Roland Berger, founder of the strategy consultancy bearing his name. Florian Lahnstein, a former investment banker at Bear Stearns and UBS, is chief executive. Germany1 aims to raise 275 million euros ($432.9 million) in an offering of shares and warrants, said Deutsche Bank, which is the sole IPO bookrunner.

Other deals of the day:

* Global steel giants ArcelorMittal and POSCO have separately bought stakes in Macarthur Coal, potentially blocking each other from taking over the Australian mining company as steelmakers rush to secure stable coal supplies.

* New Zealand rural services firm PGG Wrightson said it would pay NZ$220 million ($167 million) for a 50 percent stake in meat producer Silver Fern Farms, sending its shares lower.

* Tele2 said it was selling its Polish operation to Polish phone group Netia for 300 million Swedish crowns ($50 million).

* Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic said that Spanish power company Iberdrola had agreed to buy a 22.64 percent stake in it for $55 million.

* New Zealand retail investment company Hellaby Holdings said it would sell its poorly-performing BBQ factory business and forecast a fall in operating earnings. The company said it would sell the business to Auckland-based private equity firm Capital Group. No price was disclosed.

* China State Shipbuilding Corp, the country’s largest ship-building group, has put its Wenchong Shipyard up for sale on the Beijing Equity Exchange for 3.04 billion yuan ($443 million), according to the exchange’s website (http://www.cbex.com.cn/).

* Del Monte Foods agreed to sell its seafood business including tuna brand StarKist to South Korean food group Dongwon for $363 million, creating the world’s top canned tuna firm.

* New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra and National Foods are working together on a possible joint bid for Australia’s Dairy Farmers, the dairy producer said.

* Bear Stearns Asset Management will sell its 50 percent stake in Migdal Capital Markets to a subsidiary of Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings for $70 million, the Israeli insurer said.

* Commercial International Bank, Egypt’s largest publicly traded lender by value, said it had agreed to buy the remaining 49.9 percent of its investment banking subsidiary CI Capital. It already owns 50.1 percent.

* Indian discount food and grocery retailer Subhiksha is acquiring a majority stake in Chennai-based Blue Green Constructions and Investments, and expects to merge the two firms and list the combined entity shortly.