For Yell, the publisher of Britain’s Yellow Pages directories, there is a world of difference between 90 and 95 percent.

The lower figure is the amount of lenders backing its debt financing plan, the higher figure is the amount it needs. If it falls short of its target this evening, the company may need to go to the court to push through a deal.

(News story here.)

The proposals are vital to the heavily indebted company’s short-term future, allowing it to rejig its capital structure and tap equity investors for up to 500 million pounds.

However, the size of the company’s lender group – 300 banks and funds – is working against it. Trying to get all the lenders signed up to the debt deal has been as difficult as herding cats, bankers say.

Going to the courts for approval can be lengthy and expensive, lawyers say. For Yell, a court case may mean they will miss tapping the equity markets before the end of the year. This will disappoint, as the equity markets have backed a range of weak companies in recent weeks, such as HeidelbergCement and Ladbrokes.

Yell may need to hope their generous spirit continues into the new year.

A string of Yahoo sales, engineering and product executives took the stage on Wednesday in the company’s first full-day briefing with analysts since May 2006, all with a mantra that came down from on high: “Today is the beginning of a journey back to respect,” said CEO Carol Bartz.

With page views increasing, Carl Icahn having drawn in his horns, and the company extending a deadline for finalizing a search agreement with Microsoft, the time was right for a love-in.

Finance Chief Tim Morse said Yahoo expects to achieve operating margins between 15 percent and 20 percent by 2012. After the third quarter’s “pathetic” 6 percent, shareholders would certainly consider that a more respectful performance.

Another way to show their respect would have been to give specific details on the engineering involved in the promised prestige. Executives said Yahoo would achieve the new margin targets by accelerating its revenue in the next few years, but demurred from providing a specific revenue growth target.

The company said it would invest in editorial staff to produce more original features, and tweak its online products to keep users on the site longer and boost advertising revenue.

Hiring more staff and investing in ad search wizardry will certainly add to costs, so the need for a little more Internet alchemy could require a leap of faith to engineer the recovery in esteem Yahoo hopes to achieve.

Blackstone Group (BX.N) talks to lenders about cutting up to $5 billion of debt held by its Hilton Hotels chain; National Express (NEX.L) ends talks over a possible merger with rival British bus and rail group Stagecoach (SGC.L); and the U.S. IT services sector occupies a sweet spot for M&A. Plus, will Obama’s upcoming trip to China be marked by a deal between Disney and Shanghai?

For more on these stories, and all the rest of the latest deal-related news from Reuters, click here.

And here’s some picks from the papers (some external links may require subscriptions):

Global miner Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) is looking to mend relations with Chinese metals firm Chinalco by making a joint investment in Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine project, the Sydney Morning Herald says.

UK law firm Lovells is discussing a potential tie-up with Washington-based Hogan & Hartson, several newspapers report. WSJ story here.

Private equity group MGPA is in the final round of talks to acquire Land Improvement Holdings for 90 million pounds, the Financial Times says.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) and shareholders in trading platform Turquoise are expected to reach a deal within two weeks which will result in a new joint venture, the Financial Times says.

In these times of banking bailouts and gloomy results, it’s refreshing to read about a firm that is bucking the trend. Nomura Holdings Inc unveiled its biggest profit in nine quarters on Wednesday, suggesting that its push into overseas bond and equity markets is paying off.

But as Sadeq Sayeed, chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told reporters on a conference call, it doesn’t take much to get clients to transact with an investment bank. “They will trade with you if you provide them with systems, prices, liquidity and clear and careful settlements,” he said.

Nomura’s mergers and acquisitions business is expected to take longer to mature. “The fact that we are even in the top 12 (for European M&A) is quite remarkable given that we were essentially a start up in the investment banking world as of January this year,” Sayeed added. 

And his ambitions for the M&A team this time next year? He wants the bank to be the very best when it comes to business related to Asia and cross-border M&A in its chosen sectors.

For a glimpse into Nomura’s thinking about the US, have a look at the story I wrote earlier.

Societe Generale’s asset allocation team reckons cash-rich corporates are going to start ploughing money into deals as the economy recovers, and that spells a brighter future for stocks than bonds. The graph above is lifted from a note published earlier this week, in which the French bank shows how equities tend to outperform bonds as M&A becomes proportionally more important (they measure it as a percentage of GDP).

The Paris- and London-based team adds:

“Beyond share buybacks, we believe three main factors will trigger a strong M&A cycle: equities are still cheap versus bonds, productivity gains should continue to be a priority for corporates and the primary credit market has reopened, with access to cheap financing. Furthermore, higher industrial concentration leads to stronger pricing power.”

“M&A is currently a massive source of alpha for stock pickers as control premiums are above 40% in the U.S. and above 25% in Europe.”

Whatever reservations Ford may have had about selling Volvo to Geely and potentially exposing all of its competitive secrets to pirate-infested Chinese markets, they appear to have been laid to rest … for now.

The U.S. automaker named a Geely-led consortium as preferred bidder for the money-losing Swedish unit, estimated to be worth about $2 billion. The news is conspicuously coincidental — as many such stories are — with intensely routine negotiations in Hangzhou between top trade officials of the two countries. Naturally, Ford left open the possibility that it could back out of the deal, saying more detailed talks were needed.

It’s been nearly a year since Ford began efforts to sell Volvo, and only a week ago a source was telling us that concerns about intellectual property rights were threatening to scupper the deal. That followed news of a former Ford engineer’s arrest in the United States on charges of stealing trade secrets from Ford and using them to try to get work with Chinese auto makers. Good thing Volvo is such a safe brand; even with a preferred bidder in place, this asset sale could prove to be a wild ride.

Japan’s Monex Group will buy the securities unit of Orix Corp for about $246 million in stock, in a deal that will create the country’s second-largest online broker.

By forming a broker with more than $23 billion in client assets they will be able to cut systems and other costs and beef up product and service line-ups, they said.

In other M&A news reported by Reuters and other media:

Speculation about a possible takeover of UK retailer Debenhams was raised after private equity firm TPG sells its 9 percent stake, the FT says.

Matalan, another UK retailer, is being circled by KKR, Blackstone, Cinven and TPG, the FT adds.

GSI Commerce agrees to buy e-commerce company Retail Convergence for $180 million in cash and stock, to strengthen its online sales platform.

Liechtenstein-based LGT Bank would be interested in BHF Bank, a unit of Sal. Oppenheim, were it to be put up for sale, an executive at LGT tells German daily Handelsblatt.

Deutsche Boerse is the frontrunner to the Warsaw Bourse, the WSJ says.