The U.S. economy and stock market continue to have minds of their own. Despite evidence of some cracks in the economic recovery, most notably in housing, the stock market entered this week near 18-month highs. …
The final revision is in, and the Commerce Department reported today that the U.S. economy officially grew at 5.6% pace in the fourth quarter of last year. However, as the
From The Business Insider, March 26,2010: The Bond King is getting bearish on
With the vast majority of fund managers underperforming the market and fees eating into your returns, “mutual funds are a scam,” says Phil Town, author of Payback Time.Citing Forbes research, Town says 96% of active fund managers underperform th
Remember the part in the ObamaCare pitch when they said if you like your current healthcare, it won’t change?Turns out it might.Companies are already announcing that their healthcare premium costs are going through the roof. Some are responding by f
As the stock market continues to lurch forward, many individual investors are wondering how to get off the sidelines. Sure, the experts say separate the wheat from the chaffe. Do your homework. But that’s easier said than done. …
Announced global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) totaled $524 billion in the first quarter, rising 10 percent compared to the same period a year earlier, preliminary Thomson Reuters data shows.
Below are the top 10 rankings for financial advisers, by ranking value of deals, for the year to date (YTD):
| RANK YTD | RANK Q1 O9 | Financial Adviser | Dollar Value | No. of Deals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Goldman Sachs & Co | 149,209.6 | 63 |
| 2 | 6 | Credit Suisse | 133,196.7 | 54 |
| 3 | 1 | Morgan Stanley | 130,611.4 | 63 |
| 4 | 3 | JPMorgan | 118,019.1 | 46 |
| 5 | 5 | Deutsche Bank AG | 100,032.8 | 38 |
| 6 | 12 | Lazard | 99,803.8 | 40 |
| 7 | 2 | Citi | 96,047.5 | 40 |
| 8 | 8 | UBS | 73,142.9 | 42 |
| 9 | 81 | Blackstone Group LP | 57,042.0 | 8 |
| 10 | 7 | Bank of America Merrill Lynch | 56,735.9 | 35 |
The list below ranks the largest deal of the first quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.
| BUYER | TARGET | DEAL VALUE |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Prudential Plc | AIA Group Ltd | $35.5 billion |
| 2. Simon Property Group | General Growth | $30.0 billion |
| 3. American Movil | Carso Global Telecom | $27.4 billion |
| 4. MetLife Inc | American Life Insurance | $15.5 billion |
| 5. Coca-Cola Co | Coca-Cola Enterprises N.A. | $13.4 billion |
| 6. Schlumberger Ltd | Smith International Inc | $12.2 billion |
| 7. Williams Partners | Williams Cos Inc-Gas | $11.8 billion |
| 8. Bharti Airtel Ltd | Zain Africa BV | $10.7 billion |
| 9. Novartis AG | Alcon Inc | $10.6 billion |
| 10. FirstEnergy Corp | Allegheny Energy Inc | $8.9 billion |
The following ranks the top 10 law firms based on the global volume of announced mergers and acquisitions they worked on as advisers this year as of March 25, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
| RANK | LAW FIRM | VALUE OF DEALS YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weil, Gotshal & Manges | $90.8 billion |
| 2 | Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz | $88 billion |
| 3 | Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton | $80 billion |
| 4 | Davis Polk & Wardwell | $77.2 billion |
| 5 | Dewey & LeBoeuf | $74.7 billion |
| 6 | Sullivan & Cromwell | $71.6 billion |
| 7 | Cravath, Swaine & Moore | $52.8 billion |
| 8 | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom | $47 billion |
| 9 | Blake, Cassels & Graydon | $43.9 billion |
| 10 | Slaughter & May | $39.9 billion |
Auto partners Renault and Nissan are in the final stages of talks with Daimler to obtain symbolic stakes in each other as they look to share technology amid intensify competition, according to reports. For the Reuters story click here.
Canada’s largest pension plan, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is buying Camelot, the British national lottery operator, for 389 million pounds. It saw off rival bidder CVC.
In other M&A and corporate finance news reported by Reuters and other media:
South Korea’s top insurer Samsung Life is expected to raise an estimated $4.7 billion in its upcoming initial public offering, the country’s biggest share float, after a major shareholder group agreed to sell the bulk of their holdings in the offering.
U.S. private equity firm The Gores Group is mulling a merger between its unit Siemens Enterprise Communications and videoconferencing company Polycom Inc, the Financial Times says, citing people familiar with the situation.
UK hedge fund Man Group sounds out investors in U.S. about deals to expand there, the FT says.
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