It can be tough running an auction in the best of times — and that certainly isn’t now. But some assets almost sell themselves.

The Chicago Cubs is one of the latter auctions. Finding a buyer for the team, network and field is a drawn out process, but that isn’t to do with lack of interest, more the lenghty process whereby potential buyers have to be approved by the MBL before they can submit an offer.

Bids went in on Friday and interest was high. Still, it will likely be before the close of the baseball season before a new owner is picked and rubber-stamped.

As the process rolls on, the scramble is on to work out who bid for what. The latest name to come out is Hersch Klaff, president of Chicago-based Klaff Realty.

Investors in Countrywide’s debt got an unhappy reminder on Monday that the mortgage lender’s acquisition by Bank of America did not necessarily mean that their money was safe.

Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Joe Price said on a conference call that the bank does not intend to guarantee Countrywide’s public debt, spooking investors and sending the cost of insuring the debt of Countrywide’s home loan unit higher.

“We have received a lot of questions about Countrywide’s public debt,” Price said after the company announced the company’s results. “All I can say at this point is, we don’t intend to guarantee the public debt but we understand the ramification of not paying.”

The cost to insure the debt of Countrywide Home Loans rose to 235 basis points, or $235,000 per year for five years to insure $10 million in debt, from 220 basis points, according Phoenix Partners Group.

Bank of America first suggested in May that it may not stand behind Countrywide’s debt. Then, the deal had not closed, and the reluctance was seen as a possible sign that BofA may want to revise the terms of the deal or walk away from it completely.

Bank of America closed its purchase of Countrywide on July 1.

One analyst said the bank’s latest statement was aimed at limiting any damage to its own investors, as otherwise they might have believed Bank of America would take on Countrywide’s liabilities under any terms.

(Photo credit: Reuters)

Yahoo chief Jerry Yang has fended off Carl Icahn’s pending proxy fight, but the billionaire activist investor isn’t going away. In the aftermath of a deal struck between the two to end Icahn’s pending proxy fight, eight Yahoo board members are set to stand for re-election, including Roy Bostock, Ronald Burkle and Yang. Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick will stand aside. The board will be expanded to 11 members and include Icahn and two of his candidates. Icahn, who owns an aggregate just under 5 percent of Yahoo, has agreed to withdraw his nominees for consideration at the annual meeting and to vote his Yahoo shares in support of the board’s nominees, but he says he is still in favor of a sale. “While I continue to believe that the sale of the whole company or the sale of its search business in the right transaction must be given full consideration, I share the view that Yahoo’s valuable collection of assets positions it well to continue expanding its online leadership and enhancing returns to stockholders. I believe this is a good outcome and that we will have a strong working relationship going forward,” Icahn said.

Swiss drugmaker Roche has offered to buy up the rest of Genentech for $43.7 billion in cash. That’s $89 a share, an anemic 9 percent premium if you look at how the market reacted. The stock was up to $96.50 by 0715. Roche owns 55.9 percent of Genentech, the largest biotech by market cap. “We would expect Roche will have to make a significantly higher offer if it is to acquire Genentech,” analysts at Cazenove wrote in a research note. The premium offered by Roche compares with an average of 63 percent, according to Credit Suisse, for recent pharmaceutical buys of biotech companies.

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever said it had agreed to sell its Bertolli olive oil and vinegar business to Spanish food group Grupo SOS for 630 million euros ($998.4 million). The deal is part of previously announced plans by Unilever, which makes Dove soap and Sunsilk shampoo, to sell non-core businesses with collective turnover of over 2 billion euros. Grupo SOS will acquire the worldwide license for the Bertolli brand in respect of olive oil and premium vinegar.

Other deals of the day:

* German privately owned ball-bearings maker Schaeffler said it was open for constructive talks with German tires-to-brakes maker Continental, for which it has launched an $18 billion takeover bid.

* German steel and metals trader Kloeckner & Co said it would sell its KVT unit for 325 million euros ($515 million) to private equity company Capvis.

* China’s largest motorcycle maker, Lifan Group, which is diversifying into car production, has sold a 13.5 percent stake to AIG for $90 million, two Lifan executives said.

* Infinity Bio-Energy said it bought the shares in Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Cridasa it does not already own for about $17 million.

* National Foods, the Australian food producer owned by Japan’s Kirin Holdings, has lodged a final bid for Australian dairy producer Dairy Farmers, a source familiar with the situation said.

* French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis will pay A$560 million ($544 million) for the vitamins business of Australia’s Primary Health Care, a source close to the deal said.

* Luminar, Britain’s biggest nightclub operator, said it was interested in a tie-up between its 3D Entertainment venture and Regent Inns, but that Regent had declined to enter talks.

* Russian gas major Gazprom has agreed to buy a 25 percent stake in gas transport firm DalTransGas from the country’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, Gazprom said.

* Shareholders of Indonesia’s PT Bank Niaga and PT Bank Lippo have approved plans to merge the two, Bank Niaga said on its website.

* Ghana’s parliament delayed a decision on a deal that would allow Britain’s Vodaphone buy a 70 percent stake in Ghana Telecom, the country’s third largest mobile phone operator.

* U.S. hedge fund Harbinger remains interested in buying British satellite communications firm Inmarsat, but is suspending talks for now because of the lengthy regulatory process involved, it said.

* South African consumer goods group Tiger Brands said it had reached agreement to sell 50 percent plus 1 share of its unit Adcock Ingram Critical Care to Swiss group Baxter Healthcare.

* Spanish construction company ACS will put its 45 percent stake in electricity group Union Fenosa on sale this week and hopes to close the deal by mid-September, a source close to the deal said.