Filed under: Deals

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer isn’t providing much in the way of new information behind the high stakes game of Deal or No Deal being played with Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Appearing at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference on Tuesday, Ballmer said the company was in talks “about other things with Yahoo!” after its efforts to acquire the company failed. He also stated the software maker is not “re-bidding” for the company, while noting that “we reserve the right to do so.” In other words, everything is still on the table.

Ballmer can afford to play coy as the pressure remains on Yahoo! to come up with alternative to an outright buy of the company and to pacify angry shareholders. Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang and president Susan Decker are scheduled to appear at the conference this day and will have to defend their actions throughout the Microsoft saga. But anticipate them to be just as coy about the status of negotiations with Microsoft.

Continue reading at TechConfidential.com.

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Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Texas Pacific Group, GS Capital Partners, Public or private?

According to a fresh report out of CNBC’s David Faber, Alltel might soon be acquired by Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). Faber just noted that the companies are in advanced speaks to acquire the current private equity held telecom operator by TPG and GSCP, which are Texas Pacific Group and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.

Alltel went private last year and has somewhere in the vicinity of 13 million wireless subscribers. The value of that deal was in the 427 to $27.5 billion range, and interestingly enough this new deal might not be at any or at much of a premium to that price.

If there is any company that can acquire this and not have all the credit rating issues and not run into multiple bank debt issues like private equity, then it is Verizon. There are a couple of other players like AT&T (NYSE: T) or some foreign-owned carriers that could swing it too.

Read more about the full implications for the sector and which other companies might be affected by this deal at 247WallSt.com.

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Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Engagements

Following this Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) affair is like playing a very high-stakes game of Three Card Monte: Take your eyes off the lucky lady and, pfffft, you’re cooked.

As paidContent reported yesterday and the Wall Street Journal confirmed this morning, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is talking with the Internet company about shipping AOL and a trunk full of cash to Yahoo! in exchange for a minority stake in the combined company and a chance to close the door on one of the dumbest mergers in current memory. AOL would get a lifeline. Beyond escaping Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) $42 billion headlock, in AOL Yahoo! would get what remains a premier player in internet advertising and a company that retains massive on the internet audiences for financial, entertainment and other content.

The hardest thing to figure here is what’s happening on the other side of the deal, where Microsoft is reportedly lining up News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) for a joint bid for Yahoo!. Under that scenario, Yahoo! would be folded in with Microsoft’s MSN portal and News Corp.’s MySpace unit in one mighty on the web ad-selling, application-bundling, social networking-ing company. That Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is thinking of climbing into business with News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch (pictured) suggests just how worried the software giant is about losing Yahoo!. But Ballmer should think twice. Murdoch has a famously keen instinct for when to buy, sell or hold a business. His interest in unloading MySpace underscores that, with the rise of FaceBook and other social networks, the Web property’s ideal days might be behind it.

Continue reading at TechConfidential.com.

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Filed under: Deals, Top deals, Rumors, Financials and analyticals, Private equity industry, Public or private?

BCE, Inc. (NYSE: BCE) is one of the big multi-billion dollar pending mergers that’s on hold and is caught in the middle of a fight. Its merger has been on the books for nearly a year but its ultimate fate isn’t yet know. Because of all the speculation in this and with a legal fight currently underway, this one is uncertain.

We’ve seen leveraged trading in the stock options activity today that threw up a massive giant red flag. More than 20,000 options contracts traded today that looks like a straddle play in the June options.

You can read the full story at Volume Spike (VSinvestor.com) to see in-depth options analysis, where we think this stock has to go, and more detailed data on the BCE, Inc. legal fight.

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Filed under: Engagements, Private equity industry, Investments

Dubai International Capital and Chinese private equity First Eastern Investment Group have announced a new joint fund, China Dubai Capital.

The fund will focus on China’s growing economy in sectors such as infrastructure, health care, and resources and will attempt to capitalize on the growing ties between the UAE and China. Companies with strong growth possibilities and the potential to eventually trade on Dubai national securities markets will be primary recipients of the fund. The first closing of the fund will tag at least $500 million and will close this May. By the final closing expected in October, the fund is expected to reach $1 billion.

First Eastern currently manages over $1.5 billion for direct Chinese investments and is the first Chinese financial company to be established in the Dubai International Financial Center. Dubai International Capital manages Jordan Dubai Capital, a $300 million fund, and plans to launch a fund focused on Saudi Arabia.

$100 per barrel oil is increasing the face amounts of funds being committed. As high oil prices remain, expect more and more from Middle Eastern private equity and sovereign wealth funds to buy up infrastructure projects. That’s the new world.
If you think this is a big deal for private equity or sovereign wealth funds, check out the Dubai $54 billion proposed eco-project.

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Filed under: Deals

Shares of online travel service Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) were trading 7% higher early Thursday after rising 5% Wednesday on rumors the company could be taken private by its chairman, Barry Diller. Gains in today’s session, however, were tied to an upgrade in the stock by Stifel Nicolaus, rather than any further acquisition chatter, particularly after Diller himself denied the rumors and said the environment is poor for dealmaking.

“I am so suspect of current markets and the hedge funds and momentum selling/buying,” Diller said Wednesday at the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, according to DealBook. “I think there is a plot behind everything.”

Stifel Nicolaus analyst George Askew upgraded Expedia to ‘buy,’ from ‘hold,’ with a $30 price target based on the company’s attractive valuation, successful advertising model, international growth, and expected stabilization in the economy and travel demand. He also addresses the buyout chatter, writing he does not find speculation of a management-led buyout “credible.” He contends that a management or private equity buyout of the $7 billion company would require considerable debt financing, which the current debt markets would not support.

Continue reading at TechConfidential.com.

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Filed under: Deals

This report on the newly reopened talks between Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), which surfaced late Monday, has Microsoft exploring the possibility of buying Yahoo!’s search business and taking a passive minority stake in the company. Part of the deal would include Yahoo! spinning off its Asian business.

Microsoft and Yahoo!, which earlier this month broke off acquisition talks, confirmed on Monday that they were back at the table.

This time, they are talking about a more limited alliance. However, neither company gave further details, although many industry analysts have speculated that they remain interested in an outright acquisition. but could do it on friendlier terms by moving slowly.

Continue reading at TechConfidential.com.

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Filed under: Deals

Some of the fat cats in the Senate think that the Sirius Satellite (NYSE:SIRI) merger with XM Satellite (NYSE:XMSR) might be OK if the combined company would give up a large portion of its spectrum. According to The Wall Street Journal, these legislators would propose that the firms “divest as much as half of their combined radio spectrum as a condition of their proposed merger.”

Even though it isn’t clearly articulated, the reason for the proposal is so that the US government could, if it wanted to, sell that spectrum to another celebration to start a new satellite radio company. Even that option would grant the government to view XM plus Sirius as something short of a monopoly.

The Senate and the FCC actually know superior than to push their deal. Over the year-and-a-half that the merger has been pending, the two companies have gone from being in bad financial share to being in a dire set of circumstance. Each company has well in excess of $1 billion in debt. Neither has ever made a dime and their losses last quarter weren’t encouraging.

Continued at 24/7 Wall St.

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Filed under: Deals

By now you’d figure there would be some clarity about how the Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) - Microsoft (NASDAQ::MSFT) saga is going to play out. After all, it’s been more than three months since Yahoo! first stated “thanks but no thanks” to Microsoft and its $31 a share, or $44.6 billion, acquisition offer. But noooo, and each day it seems there’s another piece of information that must be dissected and examined.

Today’s tidbit of news comes from Israel, where Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told reporters the company is not looking to acquire all of Yahoo!, but instead is “trying to have discussions about deals with Yahoo! that might create value….” It’s not a whole lot different than what Microsoft disclosed on Sunday, though it does give more ammunition to those who believe the software maker is no longer interested in pursuing an outright acquisition with Yahoo! at the moment.

Adding to the uncertainty is that Yahoo! continues to speak about alternative deals with everyone from AOL to MySpace to rival Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Meanwhile, corporate rabble rouser Carl Icahn is busy lining up shareholders to oust Yahoo! board of directors, though it appears as though Icahn will have difficulty getting rank-and-file shareholders on board if they don’t have a reason to believe Microsoft wants to come back to the bargaining table and revive acquisition speaks.

Continue reading at TechConfidential.com.

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Filed under: Deals

This report on the newly reopened speaks between Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), which surfaced late Monday, has Microsoft exploring the possibility of buying Yahoo!’s search business and taking a passive minority stake in the company. Part of the deal would include Yahoo! spinning off its Asian business.

Microsoft and Yahoo!, which earlier this month broke off acquisition speaks, confirmed on Monday that they were back at the table.

This time, they are speaking about a more limited alliance. However, neither company gave further details, although many industry analysts have speculated that they remain interested in an outright acquisition. but could do it on friendlier terms by moving slowly.

Continue reading at TechConfidential.com.

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