Tuesday’s top stories:

* Ireland’s government is poised to take control of a much bigger chunk of the financial sector than initially planned.

* South Africa’s Investec (INVP.L) announces a recommended offer to buy the remaining shares in British firm Rensburg Sheppards (RBG.L) for 412 million pounds ($619.4 million) to boost its wealth and asset management activities.

* Private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR.AS) and CVC have teamed up to bid for Interactive Data Corp (IDC.N), yet another private equity team formed in recent weeks as an auction for the financial market data provider progresses, two sources familiar with the matter say.

* More on Sunday’s sale of Volvo Cars by Ford: One of China’s most senior female bankers, two top Swedish industrialists and a childhood friend of London’s mayor led the Rothschild team that helped Geely seal China’s biggest-ever overseas autos takeover.

* Jeffrey Goldfarb of Reuters Breakingviews says Uncle Sam’s plans to sell its 27 percent stake in Citigroup are a partial vindication of the bailout, but Citigroup has hardly been turned around since the government stepped in.

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

And elsewhere on the web (some external links may require subscriptions):

* Dubai-based Emirates and Mashreq Bank are eyeing the retail operations of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) in the United Arab Emirates, Emirates Business says.

* EMI Group is struggling to reach a deal to license its catalogue of recordings, with Sony Corp (6758.T) on the verge of pulling out of discussions with the British music company, the Wall Street Journal reports.

* Metro (MEOG.DE), the world’s third-largest retailer, expects to sell its Galeria Kaufhof department stores unit this year, the Financial Times reported, citing an interview with its chief executive.

* France’s strategic investment fund the FSI and American fund Apollo Management LP [APOLO.UL] are on the point of buying a 10 percent stake in former Pechiney assets, Les Echos reported.  Reuters story here.

* Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Philip Collins, chairman of Britain’s Office of Fair Trading, questions if “rent-seeking behaviour” by investment banks has pushed up fees, and asks if the City’s customs “limit choice, misallocate rewards and risks and drive up costs to users?”

* Spin-offs at Cable and Wireless and Carphone Warehouse this month have underlined a shift in the deal cycle – the return of the demerger, the FT writes. Not since the start of the last decade has the trend for splitting up businesses, particularly in Europe, had such momentum, the paper says, citing investment bankers and analysts.

As “American Idol” enters the heated top-10 portion of its talent competition this week, there’s chatter offstage as the show’s parent company confirmed on Monday it’s in sale talks.

CKX, which also owns the rights to the “So You Think You Can Dance” TV franchise and the Elvis Presley name, stopped short of saying who it’s holding discussions with and warned there is no assurance the sale will close.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that One Equity Partners, JPMorgan and Co’s private-equity arm, is nearing a buyout deal to take the entertainment group private “for roughly $6 a share,” with CKX CEO Robert F.X. Sillerman set to retain a roughly 20.6 percent stake in the company.

More on this story from around the Web:

“American Idol”: The real worth? (Wall Street Journal)

“One issue for the company is that it is costly to keep the talent happy. The company, for example, recently paid Ryan Seacrest to $15 million to retain him for future projects and for the rights to market his name and image, according to analysts.”

The tanking value of the “American Idol” franchise (BloggingStocks)

“While American Idol is still a popular show, its ratings have been in decline. Last week USA Today reported that ‘The final rounds of American Idol opened Tuesday with 22.9 million viewers, down 10% from last year’s equivalent episode. Wednesday’s results show drew 20.5 million.’ Back in February, the series lost in the ratings for the first time in six years.”

CKX deal shouldn’t be Idolized (Wall Street Journal)

“A couple of years back, Mr. Sillerman and the creator of Idol failed in a bid to take the company private at more than double the current price and the reported private-equity bid.”

“American Idol” owner CKX confirms it’s in sale talks (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

CKX CEO Robert F.X. Sillerman expressed his frustration over the company’s stock price earlier this month. “‘Without giving a specific timeframe, I’m frustrated at the public valuation, and I couldn’t tell you how much longer that I can sit by,’ Sillerman said on a March 16 earnings conference call. ‘I don’t know whether that’s an hour or whether that’s multiple years, but I can tell you that I am as frustrated or more frustrated than anybody.’”

(Photo: American Idol host and judges (L to R) Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell arrive to attend the “American Idol, The Idol Gives Back” show and fundraising event in Hollywood, California in this April 6, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Hector Mata)

A bit grayer and world wearier, maybe, but there’s no mistaking the family resemblance between NYSE Chief Operating Office Larry Leibowitz and his kid brother Jon Stewart. Unlike the Daily Show host, Leibowitz mostly keeps a low profile, although he did find himself in the spotlight even before his appearance at the Reuters Global Exchanges and Trading Summit on Monday. The Wall Street Journal interviewed him in a story about the NYSE’s effort to turn some high frequency traders — who have been chipping away at the exchange’s business — into exchange floor traders.

Leibowitz may be sick of the Jon Stewart questions, but when pesky Reuters editors and journalists  inevitably raised them, he answered them with relatively good humor.  

“I know my mother’s pretty happy with both,” the NYSE’s resident electronic trading expert said when asked whether it was tough living in the shadow of the celebrated news comedian. Leibowitz allowed that it was hard to imagine two brothers who had chosen more different careers. At this point, they even have different last names, after Leibowitz’s younger brother adopted a stage name.

While Stewart hasn’t shied away from financial themes, especially in his much-hyped verbal smackdown with Jim Cramer, Leibowitz said his kid brother hasn’t been running to him to ask for advice, even when his show has tackled topics like short selling and high frequency trading. But he admitted that being an older sibling, ”I give it to him anyway sometimes.”

Would he ever go on the Daily Show as a guest? That would be a no.  “I probably wouldn’t make a very good guest,” he said, noting he didn’t have any books to plug.  “I have tried to fly under the radar.”

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group’s acquisition of Volvo from Ford for US$1.8bn means a Chinese carmaker has finally succeeded in reaching agreement to buy a Western marque. Ford originally put the Swedish brand up for sale nearly three years ago, as GM looked for a buyer for its notoriously gas-hungry Hummer.

Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, advised by Credit Suisse, agreed to buy Hummer last June but that deal was later shelved. Similarly Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co pulled out of a possible purchase of GM’s Swedish asset Saab. That deal had been fronted by smaller Swedish luxury carmaker Koenigsegg.

At the time, advisers murmured that these deals had been killed by the Chinese authorities baulking at allowing smaller vehicle makers in the unconsolidated Chinese market buying tired Western consumer brands. These would have needed significant investment to be restructured.

Geely, which is backed by a Goldman Sachs private equity fund, is in a different league. Its move, principally funded by US$1.6bn cash, looks credible and Volvo is in better shape and might need less effort to turnaround, fuelled by rampant Chinese demand, than other autos on the block. One estimate says China’s will post 12% annualised GDP growth this quarter.

That said, the Chinese state itself, although backing private company Geely’s deal, still seems more focused on easier asset deals. On the same day state oil company Sinopec has splashed out US$2.5bn on African assets, this time offshore from Angola. Ironically these were owned by Petrochina.

This is Sinopec’s first purchase of overseas upstream assets, although it did agree to buy Addax Petroleum, which has assets in northern Iraq, for US$9bn last June. It has plans for further deals.

Such transactions, in more welcoming areas of the world are easier to pull off. But asset deals elsewhere are harder to complete. Take Chinalco’s aborted purchase of certain Rio Tinto assets.

The uneasy relationship between China and the Anglo-Australian miner was shown this morning after four Rio executives were jailed for accepting bribes and stealing commercial secrets.

Monday’s top stories:

* Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, China’s largest private-run car maker, agrees to buy Ford Motor’s Volvo car unit for $1.8 billion, the country’s biggest overseas auto purchase. (See how the two carmakers stack up here, and read a profile of Geely founder Li Shufu here.)

* Sinopec , Asia’s top oil refiner, will buy a stake in upstream assets in Angola for $2.46 billion and said it wanted more such deals.

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

And elsewhere on the web (some external links may require subscriptions):

* Billionaire financier George Soros and philanthropist George Kaiser are in the race to buy close to 4 percent in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Business Standard newspaper reports.

* Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, is considering buying Macquarie Group’s (MQG.AX) 23.2 percent stake in airports fund MAP Group (MAP.AX), the Age says.

* Tata Steel Ltd (TISC.BO), the world’s No. 8 steelmaker by output, plans to raise at least $500 million by issuing global depository receipts within six months to capitalise balance sheet, the Business Standard newspaper says

* India’s Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd., a unit of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group controlled Reliance Capital (RLCP.BO), may sell a 26 percent stake to Zurich-based re-insurer Swiss Re for at least 7 billion rupees ($154.9 million), the Mint newspaper reports.

* Swatch Group (UHR.VX), the world’s largest watch maker, has signalled interest in Italy’s luxury watchmaker Bulgari (BULG.MI), German magazine Focus reported, citing an interview with the company’s chief executive. Reuters story here.

* Russia’s largest steel company Severstal (CHMF.MM) plans to sell its European activities, including in Italy, if it is offered an adequate price, a top executive told an Italian newspaper. Reuters story here.

* The WSJ writes that China’s government is moving forward with a new system to vet foreign acquisitions of local companies for national-security concerns, as tensions grow with international businesses that feel increasingly unwelcome in a fast-growing market.

* Britain’s Lord Kirkham has called off the £500m auction of DFS, the sofa chain he founded more than 40 years ago. “I am categorically not interested in selling the business. I don’t need the money. I’m loaded,” Kirkham tells the Sunday Times.