LATEST ANALYSIS
August 2009
31 Aug 2009
Pricing is everything in M&A, as recent mergers from Venture/Centrica to Friends Provident show. Though at first blush not...
31 Aug 2009
Bank IPOs: From Small Banks to Big Government; Global Gambling: What Happens in Vegas No Longer Stays in Vegas; Bond Buy-Backs: A Sign of Things to Come; Going, Going, Gone: Acquired Companies Taken Private…
28 Aug 2009
NYSE Euronext and NYFIX announced entry into a merger agreement on Thursday. The deal, contingent upon governmental and shareholder approval...
28 Aug 2009
Currency exchange risk is nothing new to companies, and its disclosure is not new to company lawyers. But as companies tip toe out of the credit crisis and put one foot back into economic waters…
28 Aug 2009
Two south-eastern banks filed for IPOs. Plains Capital Corp, a Dallas-based bank holding company and mortgage lender, and Boca Raton, Florida-based 1st United Bancorp Inc…
28 Aug 2009
Despite the overall pickup in M&A activity in the mining industry, proposed deals are not necessarily a certainty. Earlier this week, Forsys Metals Corp. terminated its C$579-million agreement…
28 Aug 2009
A curious thing happens to some companies on their way out of bankruptcy – a scant few months after pleading poverty, they turn around and acquire or loan money to other businesses. Look no further than…
28 Aug 2009
The already shuttered and sold Colonial BancGroup, represented by Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs, filed for Chapter 11 protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the…
28 Aug 2009
Getting debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing just got a little easier, at least in Canada. Brookfield Asset Management and the Canadian government’s…
27 Aug 2009
Desperate times call for desperate (or at least unconventional) measures, to judge from recent activity involving some hedge funds and private equity players…
26 Aug 2009
Calgary, Canada-based Provident Energy Trust, an open-ended energy income trust, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Crescent Point Energy Corp., a conventional oil and gas producer, to sell its oil and natural gas assets in Southeast and Southwest Saskatchewan…
26 Aug 2009
Brazilian-based Gol Intelligent Airlines Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $382.2 million in a global offering of non-voting preferred shares...
26 Aug 2009
Company boards are pulling out the brass knuckles as things turn hostile on the deal front. Though M&A markets continue to be sluggish, an increasing number of companies seem willing to launch unsolicited bids on both sides of the 49th parallel…
26 Aug 2009
According to some analysts, derivatives were at the epicenter of the credit crisis. But memories seem to be short. Now that the credit maelstrom has abated, companies as varied as…
25 Aug 2009
On Monday, the Federal Reserve announced that it will offer $100 billion in 28-day credit through its Term Auction Facility. This is the lowest amount offered so far...
25 Aug 2009
(Reuters) A federal judge on Monday ruled against an effort by the U.S. Federal Reserve to block disclosure of companies that participated in and securities covered by a series of emergency funding programs as the global credit crisis began to intensify...
25 Aug 2009
Failing Banks: FDIC Seizures Provide Opportunity; Forbearance: By the Lenders, for the Lenders; China’s Domestic M&A: Share Transfer Agreements Increasing in Share; …And India’s, Too: Acquisitions in India…
25 Aug 2009
The era of restructuring has now entered the sukuk markets, in corners of the world both near and far. Curiously, at the forefront of sukuk restructuring is the case of East Cameron Partners, in, of all places, the Western District of Louisiana…
24 Aug 2009
Recent offerings by commodities trusts are sparkling standouts in an era of tarnished financial products. These funds, based on stashing hard assets in the proverbial vault…
24 Aug 2009
Silicon Valley is back on Wall Street. With capital markets picking up, venture capitalists from Benchmark Capital and Integral Capital Partners Fund are IPOing portfolio companies. Of course, IPOs are more complex than their innocuous acronym might indicate…
21 Aug 2009
Union Carbide, a UK chemical company and subsidiary of Dow Chemical, sold its interests in Optimal Group to Petoliam Nasional Berhand, a Malaysian oil and gas company more commonly known as Petronas...
21 Aug 2009
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc entered into a 364-Day Credit Agreement with Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC as the Guarantor and certain other subsidiaries to receive a $433,333,333.34 line of credit from lender Bank of America...
21 Aug 2009
Empire Resorts, a gaming and hospitality company, entered into an investment agreement with Kien Haut Reality III on Wednesday.
21 Aug 2009
Wynn Resorts and Aruze USA agree to transfer 2 million shares each with regard to Stockholder agreement entered into by the two companies on April 11, 2002…
21 Aug 2009
Cooperative Bankshares entered into Chapter 7 liquidation on Wednesday. The bank was previously closed and put into FDIC receivership on June 19, 2009…
21 Aug 2009
A NYSE initial and continued listing requirement has gotten $20 million easier. The exchange filed a proposed rule with the SEC last week...
21 Aug 2009
Lightspeed Trading, an operator of trading platforms, settled accusations by the SEC that it violated the temporary ban of short sales...
21 Aug 2009
Clamour about over-the-top pay packages in both the UK and U.S. has collided with word of tighter enforcement by the UK’s FSA and the U.S.’s pay czar…
21 Aug 2009
China may be trying to acquire the world of natural resources, but it’s not easy, at least not from the legal perspective. With the $41 billion natural gas deal announced today between Exxon Mobil and PetroChina, two of the…
21 Aug 2009
On Tuesday, the SEC instituted an administrative proceeding against JayCee James. The SEC alleges that James filed multiple bogus insider and beneficial ownership filings...
20 Aug 2009
IP matters. While clean title to IP may sound as obvious as baseball and apple pie, this pairing may be a rarer treat than one might imagine. No less than eBay, RealNetworks and Redbox have been…
20 Aug 2009
Are credit markets still thawing or are they finally starting to heat up? Evidenced in recent disclosures, there has raft of activity in credit markets as companies scramble to refinance or amend existing credit facilities…
20 Aug 2009
Bristol-Myers Squibb just filed previously undisclosed material agreements. Eleven of the fourteen agreements were between Bristol-Myers and Sanofi-Aventis concerning Plavix…
19 Aug 2009
The ever-more active SEC has released several new rule interpretations over the past few days. From Friday to Tuesday, the Commission released a series of Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations...
19 Aug 2009
Stratstone/Bluegreen Secured Income Fund filed an IPO registration last Friday. The issuer is looking to raise $500 million to invest in a note backed by timeshare mortgages...
19 Aug 2009
Insolvency is the new frontier for complex transactions, from Lehman to Carlyle’s IMO Carwash. Complex capital structures and securitisations set up while the good times were still rolling are now rearing their quite-frightening heads, amidst this insolvency…
18 Aug 2009
(Reuters) The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday proposed increasing federal oversight of the Chicago Climate Exchange's carbon spot contract…
18 Aug 2009
Lawyers: Money may not grow on trees, but it appears to be blooming in our carbon-rich climate. Effervescent excitement bubbles around carbon credits, especially profit-generating investments and transactions around them…
17 Aug 2009
The SEC, on Monday, reopened the comment period on the proposed uptick rule...
17 Aug 2009
While PE is boosting IPOs, IPOs are also definitely boosting PE. A first glance shows funds like KKR and General Atlantic suddenly pushing their portfolio companies…
17 Aug 2009
Green: The Color of Money…and Credit Agreements?; Thawing Real Estate Industry: Are We There Yet?; TARP Repayments: Please Move to the Back of the Line…
14 Aug 2009
Pundits can be forgiven for following the trial of Garth Drabinsky and his partner Myron Gottlieb with a skeptical eye. After all, it has been over ten years since the $500 million dollar accounting scandal occurred…
14 Aug 2009
Probe Manufacturing, a small circuit board printer, completed a debt repayment, asset sale and an infusion of new capital via equity offering...
14 Aug 2009
Corruption is no longer good business, if indeed it ever was. From Morgan Stanley UK to Sun Microsystems, companies are being forced to take added steps to uncover overseas corruption, as well as…
14 Aug 2009
Is Chapter 11 an aspiring emperor’s best friend? You might think so, judging from recent acquisitions of Lehman units by former insiders at Neuberger Berman, Donald Trump’s plans to reassume control of his Atlantic City Empire, and the alleged conspiracy between…
13 Aug 2009
A joint venture between Martek Biosciences, a maker of health and wellness products, and BP was announced on Tuesday. The JV was created in order to facilitate the joint development of microbial oils for...
13 Aug 2009
The SEC announced that two General Electric entities were granted exemptions under Section 9(c) of the Investment Company Act in relation to...
13 Aug 2009
Brookfield Properties Corporation, one of North America's largest commercial real estate companies, issued an amended initial public offering to raise $902.5 million...
13 Aug 2009
Telecommunications provider Sprint Nextel Corp., counseled by Jones Day, announced a $1.3 billion public offering of senior notes due 2017. The 8.375 percent notes will be...
13 Aug 2009
While the once-slowed public equity markets are showing signs of life, fundraising prospects for some companies still remain tough. Enter the “rights offering”, a fundraising vehicle of choice for a number of Canadian companies, from energy to technology...
12 Aug 2009
With bank asset seizures and extended antitrust allegations perceived as unfair, it is natural that aggrieved parties question whether property rights have been unfairly denied. Companies active in the EU, among them RAB Capital and Intel Corp., have…
11 Aug 2009
CIT Group is warning of a possible bankruptcy filing as it continues to struggle with restructuring its debt. In a recent SEC filing notifying that the company would miss the deadline for its quarterly filing, CIT disclosed that it…
11 Aug 2009
As disclosed in its recent 10Q, real estate investment trust (REIT), General Growth Properties (GGP), which owns over 200 regional shopping malls in the U.S., entered into a $400 million…
11 Aug 2009
Illustrating the trend that Currents highlighted in early July, two recent M&A deals have occurred in the health sector. In the first, PE firm Excellere Partners' newly formed affiliate…
11 Aug 2009
Venture capital-backed network security company Fortinet, Inc has registered to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering...
11 Aug 2009
SPACs are Back; SEC: Government Investigating Itself; Increases in Credit Lines: It Takes Money to Make Money; Corporate Perks: Let the Good Times Roll…
11 Aug 2009
Covenant lite debt is a honey trap that weighs increasingly on the economy. With fast approaching maturity cliffs for over $400 billion in debt, borrowers must think about…
10 Aug 2009
BP PLC offered $2B worth of Guaranteed Notes on Friday via two issuances. $750M principal value of 1.55% Guaranteed Notes due 2011 and $1.25B worth of 3.875% Guaranteed Notes due 2015 were offered…
10 Aug 2009
IP venture success sounds thrilling – but with the cautionary lesson of eBay’s delayed Skype IPO, the key is deal structures that maximize profits while avoiding the conflicts inherent in licensing IP…
10 Aug 2009
As we reported back in February, some of America’s biggest players have been de-leveraging through debt exchanges. It is not, however, just the big boys who have been involved with these transactions. Canadian markets have seen…
7 Aug 2009
Hicks Acquisition Company merged with Resolute Natural Resources, in a $582 million Transaction to form Resolute Energy Corporation...
7 Aug 2009
What brought two prominent business families linked by marriage and hailing from the same Saudi Arabian industrial city of Al Khobar together in New York Supreme Court last month? A multi-billion dollar lawsuit involving bad debt, alleged fraud and …
7 Aug 2009
Public issuers in Canada have now received their annual report card from the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), and while the failure rate is low, many companies have been graded “Needs Improvement”…
7 Aug 2009
The Bank of New York Mellon, a global financial services firm, announced a warrant repurchase of shares issued as part of the…
6 Aug 2009
IPOs are on the rise, and so is the epic battle between the NYSE and NASDAQ for U.S. ascendancy. This battle is being fought, oddly, using listing rules as their key weapon and sanctioned by permissive SEC attitudes...
6 Aug 2009
Earlier this year, the SEC amended a rule applicable to nationally recognized statistical rating organizations and imposed additional requirements on them in order to…
6 Aug 2009
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, owner of A&P, Pathmark and other grocery trade brands, completed three private placements totaling $435M on Tuesday…
6 Aug 2009
Tuscany Minerals, a mining exploration stage company, has received approval from shareholders to complete a re-domestication from Wyoming State to the Cayman Islands…
6 Aug 2009
PepsiCo is about to take two massive bottlers that it spun off a decade ago back into the fold. The beverage giant has agreed to pay $36.50 per share for Pepsi Bottling and $28.50 per share for PepsiAmericas, which...
6 Aug 2009
PepsiCo is about to take two massive bottlers that it spun off a decade ago back into the fold. The beverage giant has agreed to pay $36.50 per share for Pepsi Bottling and $28.50 per share for PepsiAmericas, which...
6 Aug 2009
Commonwealth Biotechnologies, a biotech discovery and development company, has run afoul with the expiration of the suspension NASDAQ’s market capitalization rule…
5 Aug 2009
Rio Tinto reached an agreement with Bermis Company, Inc to sell its Alcan Packing Food Americas Division for $1.2 billion...
5 Aug 2009
Exclusivity has its privileges – especially when it’s used to control litigation risk in global commerce. While lawyer worrying tends to get clients scoffing, a recent UK court case leaves global companies scoffing at…
5 Aug 2009
It’s not easy being an activist – and being an activist investor during the 2009 proxy season is turning into a particularly trying task. Recently, mega-hedge funds and founders have faced serious setbacks after waging…
5 Aug 2009
The SEC froze assets of Medical Capital Holdings (MCH), a medical receivables financing company, and its operating subsidiary, Medical Capital Corporation. The assets of both companies were also frozen and they were enjoined yesterday to halt an offering by one of its special purpose corporation (SPC) offerings...
4 Aug 2009
Globe Specialty Metals Inc., in a follow up to its July 29 IPO, filed a secondary offering on August 3 for…
4 Aug 2009
The SEC approved a regulatory plan on Friday to allow regulatory functions over NYSE Amex (formerly the American Stock Exchange) members to be carried out by FINRA (formerly NASD)…
4 Aug 2009
The Canadian cleantech sector (also known as green energy) has been generating some heat over the past several weeks. First, geothermal company Magma Energy completed a $100 million IPO…
4 Aug 2009
Strategic alliances, look out: antitrust authorities are on a collusion hunt. With companies like Microsoft/Yahoo and Continental/United Airlines announcing recent alliances, it seems that companies are turning to strategic deals to break out of constraints, whether relating to revenues, costs or financing. At the same time, the newly-inspired Antitrust Division…
3 Aug 2009
The SEC today filed charges of proxy rule violations against Bank of America (BOA) in connection with billions of dollars worth of bonuses paid out by Merrill Lynch …
3 Aug 2009
The SEC today proposed new rules governing investment advisors in relation to “pay-for-play” practices. The proposed rules, based off of Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s rules G-37 and G-38…
3 Aug 2009
The SEC announced in a litigation release today that it is involved in a civil suit against two more former Take-Two executives for stock option backdating …
3 Aug 2009
Continuing the trend of alternative energy industry consolidation, noted recently by Currents, GreenMan Technologies, Inc., a provider of technological processes for renewable fuel, alternative energy, recycled feedstock, and innovative recycled products, acquired substantially all operating assets of American Power Group, Inc...
3 Aug 2009
Bank M&A: Big Moves for Small Banks; Biotech M&A: Healthy Deal Flow; Environmental Issues: Asbestos is Poor Insulation from Environmental Liability; Voting Results: Not a Bush v. Gore Situation; Solar Activity Rising…
3 Aug 2009
The Pacman defence has rarely been used in U.K. M&A, and has never been successful, but a recent ongoing acquisition in the U.K. insurance sector proves that it’s not yet “Game Over” for this old-timer of the anti-takeover tactic arsenal…