Highlights from the Thomson Reuters Investment Banking Scorecard:

BIGGEST EUROPEAN IPO SINCE MAY 2008

As part of a government privatisation program, Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA (PGE), an electric utility, raised $2.1 billion in an IPO on the Warsaw stock exchange this week.  The offering marks the largest IPO from a Polish company on record and the biggest IPO in Europe since the $2.5 billion listing of Dutch coal miner, New World Resources NV, in May 2008.

Goldman Sachs and Unicredit led the offering, which brings year-to-date European IPO activity to $3.3 billion, a decline of 76% compared to last year at this time.

* REAL ESTATE ACCOUNTS FOR 19% OF CHINESE M&A

China’s Stellar Megaunion’s planned $2.7 billion acquisition of real estate assets from Guilherme Holdings brings the volume of Chinese M&A to $73.6 billion for year-to-date 2009, a 14% decline from last year’s levels but far outpacing the 40% downturn for worldwide mergers.

M&A activity in the real estate sector accounts for 19% of overall activity in China this year, with financials accounting for 17% and industrials comprising 15% of the year-to-date total for Chinese targets.

* U.S. IPO ACTIVITY CONTINUES PACE

For the seventh consecutive week, companies listed new shares on U.S. exchanges, marking the longest consecutive weekly period for IPO activity this year.  Overall, U.S. IPO activity totals $11.6 billion for year-to-date 2009, a decline of 56% over year-to-date 2008.

Consumer products leads all sectors for U.S. IPO volume year-to-date with $2.9 billion or 25% of all new issues.  The real estate and healthcare sectors comprise 20% and 16%, respectively.

That big, candy-coated M&A bellwether, Kraft-Cadbury, remains at the forefront of many dealmakers’ thinking. Brad Dorfman examines how the clock will really start ticking on a deal to create the world’s biggest confectioner once Kraft (KFT.N) reports earnings next week. Meanwhile, a clutch of other companies are making more upbeat noises about M&A, to wit:

* Juniper Networks Inc’s (JNPR.N) chief executive says the network equipment maker is open to acquisitions, although in-house research and partnerships remain its priorities.

* Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG.AX), Australia’s largest investment bank, has grown its surplus capital by almost half to a hefty A$4.5 billion ($4.1 billion), giving it muscle to hunt for assets overseas.

* And in Canada, Teck Resources (TCKb.TO) doesn’t plan to sell any more assets to pay down debt taken on last year to finance its takeover of Fording, and may start considering acquisitions, the company’s CEO says.

For all the latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

Elsewhere:

Forbes magazine offers up cut-out Halloween masks of Bernie Madoff, Glenn Beck and others.

And the WSJ crunches the numbers on the planned transatlantic tie-up between law firms Lovells and Hogan & Hartson.