November 2007

Posted on November 30, 2007 at 3:59 PM
Filed under: Acquisitions

Interesting piece in the December Harvard Business Review (subscription required) by a McKinsey trio. They call it "Deals without delusions," and they explore the ways acquirers tend to delude themselves at each stage of a deal — most notably, by seeking information that confirms rather than challenges their hypotheses....  Continue reading

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Posted on November 30, 2007 at 3:14 PM
Filed under: Movers & Shakers | Slides

If John Thain does bring in his NYSE Euronext colleague Nelson Chai (pictured right) as the new CFO at Merrill Lynch & Co., he would not be getting someone with investment banking experience, as noted in this Dealscape blog. But one thing Chai does have is deal experience, having led...  Continue reading

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Posted on November 30, 2007 at 2:09 PM
Filed under: Joint Ventures and Alliances

The world's third-largest drugmaker, France's Sanofi-Aventis SA, is restructuring its joint venture with Japanese pharmaceutical firm Astellas Pharma Inc. in order to simplify the operational management. They will draw some lines regarding marketing, manufacturing and distribution of their products. The JV, Fujisawa Sanofi-Aventis KK, is 51% owned by Sanofi-Aventis...  Continue reading

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Posted on November 30, 2007 at 10:50 AM
Filed under: Acquisitions | Corporate Strategy

Google Inc.'s Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives, is pretty enthused about the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming auction of wireless spectrum in the 700 megahertz. Referring to chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt's comments, Sacca wrote on the official Google blog that "regardless of how the auction unfolds, we think it's...  Continue reading

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Posted on November 29, 2007 at 5:25 PM
Filed under: Joint Ventures and Alliances

General Motors Corp., Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group, or SAIC, and OnStar Corp. established a telematics joint venture called Shanghai OnStar Telematics Co. Ltd. This is OnStar's first venture outside of North America in its 11-year history. GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner signed the agreement during a visit...  Continue reading

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Posted on November 29, 2007 at 2:35 PM
Filed under: Corporate Strategy | Joint Ventures and Alliances

Warner Music Group Corp. formed a 50-50 joint venture with the family of Frank Sinatra to manage global licensing of Sinatra’s recordings from the Reprise era as well as films, television specials and unreleased footage, photos and audio recordings. WMG is coming off a difficult quarter, but it remains...  Continue reading

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Posted on November 29, 2007 at 1:15 PM
Filed under: Joint Ventures and Alliances

Adobe Systems Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. just launched Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo!, an opt-in service enabling online commercial publishers to gain revenue by including timely ads next to PDF-based content. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. To join the free program, publishers must register...  Continue reading

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Posted on November 29, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Filed under: Movers & Shakers | Slides

In Paris, Richard Keatinge left his post as managing director and VP of business development at BioAlliance Pharma SA to join biopharmaceutical company Cytheris SA, where he is now the chief business officer. He'll be looking to form some commercial partnerships and has a load of contacts to start...  Continue reading

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Posted on November 29, 2007 at 10:57 AM
Filed under: Trends

"I think the golden era of private equity is probably behind us, and we're in a new era and need to adapt." That was the assessment offered by Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein (pictured right) during a symposium on the PE industry sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, a think...  Continue reading

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Posted on November 28, 2007 at 5:25 PM
Filed under: Joint Ventures and Alliances

About a month ago, OAO Gazprom signed a $30 billion gas project deal with Norway's StatoilHydro ASA. Now, the Russian-controlled energy giant is looking to deal with the U.S.'s Dow Chemical Co. In Moscow, chairman of the management committee of Gazprom, Alexey Miller; the president of SIBUR, Dmitry Konov;...  Continue reading

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