In deal-making, even deep-pocketed bargain hunters can’t always call their own tune. They need to find someone willing to sell for a song.
 
United Technologies’ caught Wall Street’s attention in March when Chief Executive Louis Chenevert repeatedly said he was confident the company could find some “good values” on the merger front, at a time when U.S. stocks were plumbing 13-year lows.
 
Fast forward four months and the diversified U.S. manufacturer has barely touched its $2 billion 2009 takeover budget. What happened?
 
“We were hopeful, I think, earlier back in March when we saw equity prices so low that there would be opportunities for us to do some deals that, quite frankly, would be very accretive to the business,” United Tech Chief Financial Officer Greg Hayes told investors on a conference call on Tuesday. “It’s taking time and quite frankly it may take some more time. I think people’s expectations of price have not really come down to what the level of their stock price is and so we’re just going to wait this out.”
 
Factoring out the money it has made on some divestitures, United Tech has spent just $153 million on takeovers so far this year. That money has gone for small bolt-on deals, like the June agreement to buy Turboden, an Italian maker of turbogenerator systems, and Pressure Products Industries, a Warminster, Pennsylvania-based company that makes industrial compressors.
 
After having been burned last year in an unsuccessful attempt to takeover Diebold Inc, a maker of automated-teller machines, the company has shied away from hostile bids.
 
So a blockbuster deal — like a takeover of Textron Inc.’s Bell helicopter unit, which United Tech earlier in the year hinted could be of interest — may simply not be in the cards this year, Hayes said.
 
“It’s going to be tough to get a lot of things done yet this year,” he told investors.
 
So what to do with the money?
 
“Share repurchase,” Hayes said. “I would expect to see that much more aggressive in the back half of the year.”

As investor attitudes toward risk thaw, and the fear that has been keeping the dollar strong starts to ebb, the global market’s top gamblers are likely to be the ones putting down early bets.   Enter Las Vegas casino company Wynn Resorts. Sources tell Clare Jim and Michael Flaherty that Wynn has submitted an application to list its Macau unit on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Las Vegas Sands is also looking to secure funding in the Hong Kong IPO market.

Both gaming groups, saddled with debt after their Macau expansions were soaked by the financial crisis, are hoping any success in the Pearl River Delta will boost their valuations at home, Jim and Flaherty report.  U.S. investors think they are on to something. Wynn shares were on a roll this morning, up nearly 5 percent.

These are sensible bets. Hong Kong investors are a luck-happy lot and should have no problem finding the $500 million to $1 billion Wynn is looking for, given recent strength in Hong Kong stocks. Macau is the world’s largest gaming market and analysts say it is recovering from the global financial crisis faster than its U.S. counterpart. A question for macro economists watching this little pocket of what might be considered the prime meridian of irrational exuberance: how Chinese attitudes toward fate stack up in wealth creation when compared with U.S. investment theory.

Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch is in talks with several firms including Blackstone and Apollo Investment Management to sell management rights of its $2.65 billion Asian Real Estate Opportunity Fund, a source tells Reuters. A deal would be valued at a few hundred million dollars, the source said.

Meanwhile, China’s sovereign wealth fund has acquired 1.1 percent of British drinks firm Diageo drinks group, the Financial Times reports. China Investment Corp’s stake is worth 221 million pounds.

In other media reports on Tuesday:

The chief executive of German automotive supplier Continental is planning to propose a 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) capital increase, the FT says.

Wynn Resorts will likely join Las Vegas Sands by listing its Macau gaming business on the Hong Kong bourse, raising up to $2 billion, sources tell Reuters.

Investment dealer Citadel Securities is to take a majority stake in electronic trading platform Equiduct, the Financial Times reports.

Chery Automobile, China’s largest indigenous car maker, has resumed preparations for an A-share initial public offering as the country’s securities regulator lifted its nearly 10-month ban on domestic IPOs due to a recovery in the country’s stock market. For the Reuters story click here.

And the sale of auto unit Opel enters a new stage, after its parent General Motors said on Monday it had received three binding takeover offers for Opel. In a surprise move, the once heavily favoured consortium of Magna and Sberbank changed plans at the last minute and agreed that they would evenly split a stake in Opel, in a concession to critics, a source tells Reuters.