- Bancrofts to discuss Dow Jones offer with News Corp
- Heard on the Street: RBS Bid for ABN Financed Far and Wide
- CBOT urges backing for CME deal
- Eton Park Raises $518.5 Million for New Emerging-Markets Fund
- more headlines below
- Milberg Weiss Held Talks On Settling Criminal Case
- Dell to Cut 10% of Its Work Force
- Hovnanian Posts Net Loss on Plummeting Home Sales
Bancrofts to discuss Dow Jones offer with News Corp
- Financial Times
The Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones, said on Thursday it would meet Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to discuss his $5bn offer for the company – a move seen as making a sale of the owner of the Wall Street Journal much more likely.
The family issued a statement after a meeting of the Dow Jones board, saying it had reached the conclusion that ”the mission of Dow Jones” might be better accomplished with a new ownership structure.
The decision comes after weeks of debate within the family, which controls 64 per cent of Dow Jones voting shares and which has controlled the media group since 1902. Numerous Wall Street Journal reporters have also opposed a sale to Mr Murdoch, with many writing to the Bancroft family about concerns that Mr Murdoch would tarnish the newspaper’s reputation for independent reporting…..
Heard on
the Street: RBS Bid for ABN Financed Far and Wide – Wall Street Journal
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and its European bank partners are pulling out all the stops to cover their bid of €70.7 billion ($95 billion) to buy Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV.
To raise immediate financing for the deal, the banks will be selling assets held on their balance sheets. These include Spanish mortgages and car loans, as well as home loans in Belgium and the Netherlands, all of which generate steady cash flow for the banks. One member of the RBS-led consortium, Banco Santander Central Hispano SA of Spain, may sell and then lease back some of its own real estate.
The consortium is using RBS stock to fund a portion of its bid. But to make its offer more attractive, the group says it will fund 79% of it with cash….
CBOT urges backing for CME deal
- Financial Times
The Chicago Board of Trade on Thursday appealed to members to back its agreed merger with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, ahead of a key address to CBOT members by a rival bidder.
Jeff Sprecher, founder and chief executive of the Intercontinental Exchange, will brief the CBOT’s influential membership on the merits of his unsolicited proposal at a Chicago hotel on Thursday afternoon.
The CBOT continues to back a deal with the CME, which would create the world’s largest derivatives exchange. The value of the all-stock agreement remains $1bn below the terms proposed by ICE, based on midday prices on Thursday, though the 10 per cent gap is the narrowest since May 11….
Eton Park Raises $518.5 Million for New Emerging-Markets Fund
- Bloomberg
Eton Park Capital Management, the hedge-fund firm founded by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Eric Mindich, raised $518.5 million for a private-equity fund to invest in developing countries.
Eton Park, which manages $6.2 billion, has made investments in developing countries including Brazil and Mexico through its Eton Park Fund. It disclosed fund-raising for the private-equity fund, Eton Park Emerging Markets Fund LP, in May 15 filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Emerging-markets hedge funds have outperformed their peers for much of the past year. Some managers who invest in developing regions now are setting their sights on closely held companies. New York-based Eton Park’s new fund will focus on South America, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East….
Milberg Weiss Held Talks
On Settling Criminal Case – Wall Street Journal
Law firm Milberg Weiss & Bershad LLP held talks this week with federal prosecutors about settling a criminal case that alleges the firm made improper kickbacks to class-action clients, according to two people familiar with the case.
The development comes as prosecutors are in plea negotiations with Milberg partner David Bershad. Prosecutors have also engaged in recent settlement talks with William Lerach, a former Milberg partner who has been scrutinized by the government but hasn’t been charged with wrongdoing, says a person familiar with the case. It wasn’t clear how recent the talks were. This person said a "global" settlement was possible that would include additional defendants.
On Wednesday, Milberg partners had a meeting at the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles to discuss terms of a possible deal, which could be finalized within "weeks," the two people say. Some of the terms discussed, according to a person briefed on the meeting, included Milberg’s paying a fine and agreeing to increased oversight of its business practices…..
Dell to Cut 10% of Its Work Force
- Wall Street Journal
Moving to turn around ailing Dell Inc., founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell announced layoffs at the company for the first time since 2001.
The Round Rock, Texas, personal-computer company yesterday said it would lay off 10% of its work force, or about 8,800 people, over the next year. The cuts came as a part of a cost review and were announced with fiscal first-quarter earnings. Under the results, which were preliminary, Dell posted flat net income and 2.8% revenue growth from a year earlier.
The layoffs, which Wall Street had been calling for, are part of Mr. Dell’s strategy to fix the company, whose sales have been beaten by rival Hewlett-Packard Co. over the past year. Since being reinstated as CEO in January, Mr. Dell has reshaped Dell’s management team and signed a deal to sell desktops in Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other things, in order to turn the company around…..
Hovnanian Posts Net Loss on Plummeting Home Sales
- Bloomberg
Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., New Jersey’s largest homebuilder, reported a fiscal second-quarter loss as it cut prices and wrote off land options while sales continued to plummet.
The net loss for the three months ended April 30 was $28.1 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with net income of $103.7 million, or $1.55, a year earlier, Red Bank, New Jersey-based Hovnanian said today in a statement. Revenue slid 29 percent to $1.11 billion. The company won’t provide an earnings forecast and withdrew its previous estimate for 2007 earnings because of uncertainty in the housing market.
The quarterly loss was the company’s third in a row, after nine years of gains. Builders are struggling to sell homes as inventories grow. Last month’s 16 percent increase in new-home sales, the biggest jump since 1993, came as construction companies in April cut prices more than they had since 1970, the Commerce Department said last week…
