Undaunted

MID-DAY DEAL ROUND-UP

A123 Systems, a Massachusetts maker of lithium-ion batteries filed today for a $175 million IPO, despite a week that has seen three more IPOs struggle. China Mass Media International Advertising started the week off by halving its IPO, then Rhino Resources, a coal company, pulled its IPO on Thurday. And on Friday morning, Rackspace Hosting saw its shares sink in their debut.

Sprint Nextel is in talks to sell its iDen wireless network to either NII Holdings Inc or private equity investors, according to CNBC, which that a sale of the network, which is used by public safety and construction workers, was not expected any time soon and did not name any sources for the report. The news comes a day after the embattled No. 3 U.S. wireless service canceled a $3 billion convertible sale it had announced the day before.

Elsewhere on the deals front, British Airways is confident it can submit an application to to get antitrust immunity in the U.S. for an alliance with American Airlines. American Airlines and BA already have an alliance through the 10-member oneworld alliance, but have twice tried and failed to win antitrust immunity for it.

3i is planning to sell its entire U.S. venture capital portfolio, or maybe only just a bit of it, according two conflicting sources cited by Private Equity Hub, which guesses it will only be a small part of the portfolio, since the sale is designed to generate about $100 million.

Other deals of the day:

** Ford Motor Co has ended a plan to sell an interiors plant to parts maker Johnson Controls Inc because the downturn in the U.S. auto sector has made pricing the deal hard, the automaker said.

** Malaysia’s Maybank has bought another 5 percent of Pakistan’s MCB Bank for about 703 million ringgit ($213 million), raising its stake in the South Asian nation’s biggest lender to 20 percent, it said.

** Swiss luxury goods maker Richemont and South Africa’s Remgro said they are to spin off their jointly held 30.1 percent stake in British American Tobacco

** Indicative bids for General Electric Co’s potential sale of its Australian mortgage business are due next week, but bankers do not expect a stampede as likely buyers grapple with the fallout of a global credit crisis.

** Spanish oil company Repsol and Portugal’s Galp denied a newspaper report that they were negotiating a possible merger.