After a New York Post article reported that Hollywood studio MGM had retained investment bank Goldman Sachs to look into a possible sale or capital raising, the studio issued a statement that it was not for sale. MGM, however, may look at “enhancements” to its long-term capital structure.

Private equity sales to strategic buyers have become a silver lining in an exit environment made difficult in part by a weak IPO market, writes the Wall Street Journal’s Deal Journal. According to Dealogic, U.S. sales to corporate buyers by PE firms are up 46 percent from a year earlier.

CNBC reported that private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts was in the lead in bidding for Neuberger Berman, beleaguered investment bank Lehman Brothers’ “crown jewel,” its asset management unit.

OTHER DEALS OF THE DAY

** Infosys Technologies, India’s No. 2 software services exporter, said it had agreed to buy UK-based consultancy services firm Axon Group Plc in an all-cash deal valued at 407.1 million pounds. ($753.1 million)

** Norwegian solar industry group Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) plans to build its next silicon materials plant in Bécancour, Quebec in Canada with a goal of starting production in 2012, REC said on Monday. A final investment decision will be made after preliminary engineering is completed, but REC’s investment in the plant is assumed to be at least $1.2 billion, Chief Executive Erik Thorsen said.

** Chip maker Broadcom Corp said it would buy Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s digital television chip business for $192.8 million in cash to enter the market for cheaper television sets. After the deal, Broadcom would be selling chips for television sets with screens of up to 20 inches priced around $200 to $300.

** Q9 Networks Inc, which provides data centers and network management services to other companies, agreed to be bought by private-equity firm Abry Partners in a cash transaction worth about C$361 million ($345 million), the companies said on Monday. Boston-based Abry, through its affiliate CDC Acquisition Corp, will buy all of the outstanding common shares of Q9 for C$17.05 each.

Are Microsoft and WPP gearing for an asset swap?

Advertising Age’s Abbey Klaassen is reporting that the two companies — criticized for overpaying for their respective digital advertising acquisitions — have rekindled six-month-old discussions to scratch each others itch.

Microsoft may possibly be seeking to shed its Avenue A/Razorfish, one of the units of aQuantive it purchased last year in a $5.9 billion deal. Avenue A accounted for about 60 percent of aQuantive’s revenue. But getting anywhere close to $3.5 billion would be far-fetched. The division’s market value is close to $800 million, Klaassen calculates.

Enter WPP’ s Martin Sorrell, who has also sought to unload Open AdStream, the ad-serving division of 24/7 Read Media, which WPP purchased for $649 million.

The hitch: Sorrell sees m&a activity in emerging markets like China, not the United States.

Keep an eye on:

• Merrill Lynch may seek to revise its contract with MGM to see if the studio violated any terms by “axing” Paula Wagner as UA’s CEO (NY Post)
• Beijing Olympics were a big ratings success for NBC, but profit estimates of as much as $100 million are too high. (FT)
• Consumer electronics companies want your TV to talk to your fridge. (NYTimes)

(Photo: Reuters / WPP’s Martin Sorrell)

The yo-yo that is Lehman Brothers’ stock took another spill before the market opened on Monday, after a top South Korean regulator threw cold water on the idea of a state bank buying the battle-scarred Wall Street warrior. Financial Services Commission Chairman Jun Kwang-woo told reporters Korea Development Bank (KDB) should be a “cheerleader” and let local private banks take the lead in any such purchase. KDB’s interest lit a rocket under Lehman’s shares on Friday. When asked about the status of KDB’s possible interest in Lehman Jun said: “That would be an international marriage. Would you get married just after one or two blind dates?” A couple of blind dates might be a step up from the shot-gun buyouts that South Korea’s banks faced after the Asia crisis.

Canada’s Precision Drilling Trust will buy U.S. driller Grey Wolf for $2 billion in cash and stock, creating one of the largest North American oil and gas rig operators. The announcement comes a month after Grey Wolf shareholders voted down a proposed purchase of well-servicing company Basic Energy Services. Precision Drilling, Canada’s largest oil and gas driller, first made an unsolicited purchase offer for Grey Wolf in June. News that a deal had been struck emerged on Sunday. Based on financial results through June, the combined companies will have annual revenue of $1.8 billion.

Germany’s Commerzbank could buy insurer Allianz’s Dresdner Bank possibly by the end of this month, according to a source familiar with the situation at the bank. German weekly Welt am Sonntag said an agreement between the two was possible within the coming week. The two companies had agreed on the basic principles of the transaction, according to the paper, which said Commerzbank would buy Dresdner for slightly more than 9 billion euros ($13.38 billion) and Allianz would vouch for writedowns on the balance sheet of Dresdner of up to 1 billion euros. The sums were still being negotiated. Allianz would have a stake of slightly less than 30 percent in the merged bank, the report also said.

Australia has approved Chinese aluminum giant Chinalco’s recent purchase of a minority stake in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, but warned the Chinese firm against buying more shares without prior approval. State-owned Aluminium Corp of China (Chinalco), backed by U.S. peer Alcoa, began amassing shares this year with the aim of taking up to 14.9 percent of Rio, the target of a $127 billion takeover bid from rival BHP Billiton. Treasurer Wayne Swan said Chinalco had already vowed not to raise its stake above 14.99 percent without receiving fresh government approval and, secondly, not to seek to appoint a director to Rio Tinto’s board. Rio Tinto is at the center of a tug-of-war that reflects China’s anxiety over BHP Billiton’s proposed all-share bid for Rio, which would create a titan unrivaled in its degree of control over a wide range of industrial commodities. Rio is a major aluminum producer and both it and BHP are global suppliers of copper, but China’s biggest concern about the takeover bid surrounds iron ore, which is used in steel-making.

Other deals of the day:

* Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings is expanding its food business in Australia through unit National Foods’ $780 million acquisition of Dairy Farmers, helping it diversify away from a shrinking domestic beer market as Japan’s population ages.

* Lufthansa has formally announced its interest in acquiring a stake on offer in Austrian Airlines, a spokesman for the German carrier said. OeIAG is offering its 43 percent share in Austrian, worth around 157 million euros ($233.4 million), but said the size of the stake sold would depend on preserving an Austrian group of core shareholders owning 25 percent between them.

* Irish food group Glanbia said it would spend $315 million to buy Optimum Nutrition Inc, a U.S. maker of supplements for body builders, which will use by-products of its cheese manufacturing.

* Singapore Telecommunications said it has bought a 60 percent stake in Singapore Computer Systems for S$140 million ($99 million) as it seeks to boost its IT business.

* Norwegian shipping group DOF ASA said that uncertainty in the financial market had forced it to re-evaluate a planned buyout of offshore services group DOF Subsea.

* MLP Chief Executive Uwe Schroeder-Wildberg was quoted by Swiss finance newspaper Cash Daily as saying he believes Swiss Life’s plan to take over the German financial adviser would fail.