Pearson said it would merge Penguin Books with Bertelsmann's Random House to create the world's leading consumer publisher, a day after Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times said his News Corp. group could bid for Penguin, Reuters wrote. The education and media publisher Pearson said the newly created joint venture, which will bring together writers Ken Follet, Terry Pratchett, EL James and 2012 Nobel prize winner Mo Yan, would be named Penguin Random House.
4 min read · 29 October 2012
Dymon Asia Capital is branching out to the private equity world, launching a fund with backing from a unit of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, a company email obtained by Reuters shows, indicating an uncommon move by a hedge fund. The firm aims to raise S$300 million ($246 million) for Dymon Asia Private Equity, Keith Tan, Dymon's managing partner told clients in an email this month, Reuters wrote.
2 min read · 29 October 2012
The owner of Britain's Daily Mail newspaper is in talks over the future of its Northcliffe Media regional newspaper division, the group said on Sunday, following reports of a planned sale. The Sunday Times said earlier that the Daily Mail and General Trust was in negotiations to sell the local newspaper division to David Montgomery - a former chief executive of the Mirror Group of newspapers, now Trinity Mirror - in a deal that would value the titles at around 110 million pounds ($180 million), Reuters wrote.
2 min read · 29 October 2012
Amazon.com Inc's first quarterly net loss in more than five years on Thursday highlights the trials of LivingSocial, Groupon Inc's closest rival in the daily deal industry.
2 min read · 26 October 2012
Blackstone has agreed to buy the Huamin Imperial Building in Shanghai, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, an office tower which media reports say is valued at around RMB7 billion ($1.12 billion). The Huamin Imperial, a grade A office and 5-star hotel complex in Shanghai's Jing'an district, is 95 percent complete, and Blackstone will finish the construction and lease it out, Reuters reported.
2 min read · 26 October 2012
Germany's largest real estate group Deutsche Annington is eyeing a listing in the last three months of 2013, Chief Financial Officer Stefan Kirsten said. Deutsche Annington, owned by private equity group Terra Firma, owns more than 210,000 flats mainly in Western Germany, Reuters wrote.
1 min read · 26 October 2012
Industrial machinery maker Gardner Denver Inc. said it is exploring strategic alternatives including a potential sale or merger of the company, confirming a Reuters report earlier on Thursday. Gardner Denver said in a statement that its board of directors is working with its management team and financial adviser Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to evaluate options to enhance shareholder value.
3 min read · 26 October 2012
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. won a bankruptcy auction for a Residential Capital LLC loan portfolio with a $1.5 billion bid, ResCap said on Thursday. Berkshire had been the opening bidder for the portfolio of 47,000 whole loans at $1.44 billion. A sale approval hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19 before the bankruptcy court, Reuters wrote.
2 min read · 26 October 2012
U.S. college and university endowments returned an average loss of 0.3 percent for fiscal 2012, down sharply from a gain of 19.2 percent a year earlier, pressured by volatile international markets during the second quarter of the year, a preliminary study showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Among the institutions that have reported thus far, the highest return earned for the fiscal year ended June 30, was 15.8 percent and the lowest was a loss of 9.5 percent, according to data gathered from 463 institutions sponsored by Commonfund Institute and the National Association of College and University Business Officers, Reuters wrote.
3 min read · 26 October 2012
Testimony by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in connection with the divorce of Staples Inc. founder Tom Stemberg two decades ago can be made public, a state court judge ruled on Thursday, Reuters reported. Romney provided testimony in 1991 on behalf of Stemberg, who was battling a post-divorce lawsuit. The court did not immediately release the documents - two inch-thick bundles of paper - leaving that to attorneys for Maureen Sullivan Stemberg, the ex-wife of Stemberg. She has disputed Romney's description of the value of the company, according to a film-maker who interviewed her.
3 min read · 26 October 2012
