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THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

M & A Fund Manager Sells Dell Shares After Blackstone Pulls Out

INVESTMENT BANKING Santander Earnings Slump on Weak Economy

PRIVATE EQUITY Permira Goes Small With Latest Fund

HEDGE FUNDS Lansdowne Abandons Bet Against British Insurer

OFFERINGS With Revenue in Decline, Zynga Bets on a New Game

VENTURE CAPITAL The Return of Jon Winkelried, Sort of

LEGAL/REGULATORY Capital One Settles Accusations It Understated Loan Losses

For the latest updates, go to dealbook.nytimes.com »

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BY WILLIAM ALDEN

VERIZON SAID TO HIRE ADVISERS ON A BID FOR WIRELESS STAKE

Verizon Communications has been vocal about its desire to buy Vodafone's portion
of the Verizon Wireless venture. Now, Verizon has hired banking and legal
advisers to prepare a possible $100 billion cash-and-stock bid for the 45
percent of the wireless carrier it does not own, according to Reuters, which cites
two unidentified people familiar with the matter.
Vodafone's shares rose in trading in London on Thursday. The latest move by
Verizon is being seen as an "attempt to force Vodafone in to serious talks," the
Reuters report says. Verizon, the report continues, "hopes to start discussions with
Vodafone soon for a friendly agreement but is prepared to take a bid public if the
British company does not engage, one of the sources added." In the beginning of
April, The Financial Times's Alphaville blog said that Verizon was working with
AT&T on a potential bid for Vodafone itself.

With Verizon's stock price near its highest level in a year, and with debt cheap, it's
not hard to see why the company might be making a move, The Wall Street
Journal's Corporate Intelligence blog writes. "What it could really use at this point
is a seller."

BERNANKE'S POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR Janet L. Yellen, the vice chairwoman

of the Federal Reserve, "has played a leading role in cementing the central bank's
commitment to keep prices rising about 2 percent each year," The New York
Times's Binyamin Appelbaum writes. "Ms. Yellen is now widely viewed as a logical
candidate to succeed the current Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, when his term
ends in January 2014. She has worked closely with him in shaping and building
support for the Fed's campaign to stimulate the economy and bring down
unemployment."

"But some of Ms. Yellen's critics remain wary. They worry that she would not
be sufficiently concerned about the possibility that inflation will
accelerate as the economic recovery gains strength. If nominated, she
could face opposition from Senate Republicans who have repeatedly expressed
concern that the Fed's campaign would destabilize financial markets and make
controlling the pace of inflation more difficult."

Still, even some of Ms. Yellen's critics hold her in high regard. "Intuitions are
useless," Alan Greenspan, the former Fed chairman, said. "Janet's conversation
and her presentations were factually based, and that always got my
attention."

DOWN PAYMENTS AT THE HEART OF MORTGAGE DEBATE "It seemed

an easy fix to prevent the excesses of the housing market: make home buyers put
more money down. But as the housing market starts to return and the subprime
mess fades from memory, the issue is up for debate," DealBook's Peter Eavis writes.
"Lenders and consumer advocates - rarely on the same side of the issue - are now
cautioning against down payment requirements. They argue that such restrictions
could limit lending, and prevent lower-income borrowers from buying homes. They
also contend that the new mortgage rules put in place this year will do enough to
limit foreclosures, making down payment requirements somewhat superfluous."

ON THE AGENDA K.K.R. reports earnings before the market opens. Amazon
and Starbucks report earnings this evening. The Financial Stability Oversight
Council is expected to release a report on possible threats to the financial system.
Gary D. Cohn, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs, is on
CNBC at 10:15 a.m. Steve Case, the AOL co-founder who runs the Revolution
venture capital fund, is on Bloomberg TV at 3 p.m.

FIAT'S PLAN FOR CHRYSLER Fiat is developing a plan to buy the stake in the
Chrysler Group it does not already own, and then take the combined company
public in the United States, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites
unidentified people familiar with the matter. The Italian auto maker is in talks with
investment banks over financing a purchase of the 41.5 percent of Chrysler owned
by a retiree trust, the newspaper says. Fiat and the trust "are wrangling in court
over a price for a portion of the trust's stake. A hearing on the matter is scheduled
for Thursday before a state court in Delaware."

Contact: @williamalden | E-mail

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS »

Fund Manager Sells Dell Shares After Blackstone Pulls Out A portfolio
manager at Oakmark Funds said Blackstone's decision to leave the bidding for Dell
"changed our thesis for owning Dell," Reuters reports.

 REUTERS

Actian to Buy ParAccel, a 'Big Data' Start-Up The deal is "Actian's third
significant acquisition since 2011," AllThingsD reports.

 ALLTHINGSD

MetroPCS Shareholders Approve Revised T-Mobile Deal Shareholders of

the cellphone service provider overwhelmingly approved a sweetened takeover bid
by Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA unit on Wednesday, after a months-long
battle with hedge funds dissatisfied with the original deal.

 DEALBOOK »

Georgia-Pacific to Buy Buckeye for $1.5 Billion Georgia-Pacific agreed on

Wednesday to buy Buckeye Technologies, a maker of specialty fibers, for about $1.5
billion.

 DEALBOOK »

Arseus of Belgium Buys Freedom Pharmaceuticals

 REUTERS

INVESTMENT BANKING »

Santander Earnings Slump on Weak Economy Banco Santander of Spain

said first-quarter net profit fell 26 percent, hurt by continuing troubles in Spain and
a slowdown in developing economies.
  DEALBOOK »

GE Capital Stops Consumer Financing for Gun Shops GE Capital cited

"industry changes, new legislation and tragic events."

 NEW YORK TIMES

Comparing the Valuations Behind Amazon and Apple Shares Investors

seem to be starry-eyed about Amazon's valuation, particularly when compared with
Apple's.

 DEALBOOK

European Bonds Rise as Economies Sink

 WALL STREET JOURNAL

In Defense of Regulatory Capital Trades The transactions that have come

under a spotlight are valid and effective tools for banks to reduce risk while
enabling them to continue to run their core businesses, which are at the heart of the
economic recovery, Glenn Blasius, the chief executive of Ovid Capital Advisors,
writes in the Another View column.

 DEALBOOK »

Guggenheim Hires Lehman Veteran in Continued Hiring Spree The

arrival of Glenn Schiffman, a former senior banker at Lehman Brothers and
Nomura, signals the continuing growth of Guggenheim Partners, which has sought
to bolster its investment banking arm.

 DEALBOOK »

Jefferies Expands Into Thai Equities

 WALL STREET JOURNAL

For the latest updates, go to dealbook.nytimes.com »

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PRIVATE EQUITY »

Permira Goes Small With Latest Fund The European private equity firm
Permira attracted 2.2 billion euros, or about $2.9 billion, for a new fund, "taking it
only halfway towards a fundraising target that is a fraction of its last pool of
capital," The Financial Times reports.

 FINANCIAL TIMES

Caesars Blinds Market With Science The private equity owners behind
Caesars Entertainment have been working overtime in their financial laboratory,
Jeffrey Goldfarb of Reuters Breakingviews writes.

 REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

Blackstone Buys 1,400 Properties in Atlanta The deal by the Blackstone

Group was "the biggest bulk purchase for the fledgling homes-for-lease industry,"
according to Bloomberg News.

 BLOOMBERG NEWS

HEDGE FUNDS »

Lansdowne Abandons Bet Against British Insurer The hedge fund

Lansdowne Partners said it suffered "meaningful" losses on its four-year-old bet
against Prudential, the British insurer, Bloomberg News reports.

 BLOOMBERG NEWS

Olam Announces Changes After Pressure From Short-Seller Olam

International said it would reduce its debt and slow its pace of investment,
"addressing some of the key concerns raised by short-seller Carson Block, who
attacked the company's shares in November," The Wall Street Journal reports.

 WALL STREET JOURNAL

Paulson Sticks With Gold, Despite Volatility

 REUTERS

I.P.O./OFFERINGS »

With Revenue in Decline, Zynga Bets on a New Game "The company hopes
that a new game, which it is releasing Wednesday evening, will be the beginning of
a new chapter," The New York Times writes.

 NEW YORK TIMES

Emergency Medical Services Said to Pick Banks for I.P.O. The company,
which provides ambulance services, is backed by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

 REUTERS

Real Estate Trust Raises $292 Million in Singapore The Croesus Retail
Trust, which is focused on Japan, priced its initial public offering in Singapore,
amid "a surge in demand for real estate investment trusts," Reuters reports.

 REUTERS

VENTURE CAPITAL »

The Return of Jon Winkelried, Sort of Last month, Thrive hired Jon
Winkelried, a former Goldman Sachs executive, as a strategic adviser to provide
guidance as the three-year-old venture capital firm continues to expand.

 DEALBOOK »

LEGAL/REGULATORY »

Capital One Settles Accusations It Understated Loan Losses Federal

regulators accused Capital One and two of its executives of low-balling millions of
dollars in auto loan losses suffered during the financial crisis.

 DEALBOOK »

Britain Avoids a 'Triple Dip' According to official estimates released Thursday,

Britain's economy avoided entering a third recession in five years.

 NEW YORK TIMES

Strategic Posturing Behind the Suit Against Corzine Unlike in many other
cases, Louis J. Freeh has not named MF Global's directors as defendants in his
lawsuit against Jon S. Corzine and two other former executives. That is a critical
part of his legal strategy, Steven M. Davidoff and Peter J. Henning write in the Deal
Professor column.
  DEALBOOK »

Make Wall Street Choose: Go Small or Go Home In an Op-Ed in The New

York Times, Senators Sherrod Brown and David Vitter describe how they plan to
end the "too big to fail" system for banks. "It's a 'heads the megabanks win, tails the
taxpayers lose' scenario, one that discourages innovation and competition and is
distinctly un-American," the senators write.