Adding to the woeful performance of the market for IPOs this year, five more companies pulled plans to brave the U.S. exchanges this week and not a single IPO priced anywhere in the world.

In a economic crisis like this, some lines of business might be expected to thrive: bankruptcy law firms, repossession agencies, psychotherapists, and perhaps even pawn shops.

But one of the companies dropping its ambitions of becoming public is just that — Florida-based pawn shop operator Value Financial. Value Financial, which operates 62 stores, mostly in Florida, had hoped to raise $60 million. According to the company’s SEC filing, the company was planning to use the net proceeds to pay off debts of about $35.5 million.

It stated as the unsurprising reason: “market conditions”.

The other companies that have pulled IPO plans this week operate businesses more commonly seen on the market: Research Triangle based biotech firm Aldagen, New Jersey-based marine transportation company K-Sea GP Holdings, life insurer Symetra, and professional employer organization SOI Holdings.

Iceland is for sale — on ebay.

It has great scenery and wildlife but the financial situation is in need of repair and a buyer must collect in person.

Bidding started at 99 pence but had reached 10 million pounds ($17.28 million) by mid-morning on Friday.

Globally renowned singer Bjork was “not included” in the sale, according to the notice, but there were nonetheless 26 anonymous bidders and 84 bids.

“Located in the mid-Atlantic ridge in the North Atlantic Ocean, Iceland will provide the winning bidder with — a habitable environment, Icelandic Horses and admittedly a somewhat sketchy financial situation,” the notice reads.

Bidders’ questions included: “Do you offer volcano/earthquake insurance?”, “Is it possible that my payment will be frozen?”, “Is this the tip of the iceberg?” and “Will you accept C.O.D. as a form of payment?”

– By Carolyn Cohn

Citigroup investors welcomed news the bank had abandoned its brief but acrimonious battle with Wells Fargo over Wachovia Corp, driving its shares up 15 percent in after-hours trade. 

When Citi announced last week that it was buying Wachovia’s banking operations, investors sent Citi’s shares higher, hoping the purchase would allow the bank to raise much-needed capital while expanding its branch network. But this week, investors cheered that Citigroup was walking away from a deal that could have proven more toxic than either Citi or Wachovia had thought. 

By this morning, the euphoria that followed the deal’s collapse had faded. Citi shares had lost all of those gains of yesternight and were trading back near 12-year lows. Dodging a bullet doesn’t seem to have done anything about the quicksand. 
 
Deals of the day: 
 
* Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest bank, said it has no plans to pull out of a planned $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley, even as shares of the U.S. bank continue to tumble. 

* Shares in South Africa’s Telkom jumped almost 5 percent on Friday after Vodafone offered to pay it 22.5 billion rand ($2.48 billion) for a controlling stake in mobile operator Vodacom.
 
* Japan’s top drug wholesaler Mediceo Paltac Holdings will take over No. 2 Alfresa Holdings in a $2 billion stock deal to better cope with falling prices and tough competition.  
 
* Fortis Bank Nederland may be sold to Deutsche Bank instead of some of ABN AMRO’s Dutch operations to replace a deal that has been put on hold with the nationalization of Fortis’s Dutch holdings, a Dutch paper said. 
 
* Abacus Group, a British distributor of electronic components, said it had agreed to a takeover offer from U.S.-based Avnet which values the company at about 42.2 million pounds ($72.93 million) 
 
* British natural resources consultancy RPS Group said it is buying smaller rival Paras for up to 6.4 million pounds ($11.03 million) in cash and shares, to complement its expansion strategy.  
 

Amid the drama of the continuing global financial crisis, the quiet death of a potential funeral home merger may have gone unnoticed.

Earlier this week, No. 1 U.S. funeral home operator Service Corp International withdrew its unsolicited bid to buy rival Stewart Enterprises for $11 per share, refusing to accept what it called Stewart’s “hell or high water” financing demands.

Service Corp had already raised its bid once, to $11 per share from its original bid of $9.50 a share.

Did Service Corp walk away too soon? Stewart, which said it was “surprised and disappointed” by Service Corp’s decision, said it would work with advisor Goldman Sachs to assess alternatives and that it remained open to further talks with Service Corp.

Stewart traded at $5.26 on Thursday — roughly half the price of the Service Corp offer.