N.J. bank merger outsizes Bear deal for one week

Last week's biggest deal was led by International Paper Co.'s purchase of various assets from Weyerhaeuser Co. for $6 billion. However, sitting near the bottom of the domestic top 10 list and looking more like a typo on the charts for its deal valuation was J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s $236 million bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. on March 17. The offer was the seventh-largest domestic deal of the week behind Valley National Bancorp's purchase of Greater Community Bancorp for $279 million. Who would've ever imagined a merger of two New Jersey savings banks would rank ahead of a Bear Stearns buyout?

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Of course, though, dire circumstances require extreme solutions, but many Bear investors felt the offer to be preposterously low. That prompted J.P. Morgan chief Jamie Dimon to up the ante to $10 per share on Monday. Dimon hopes to appease the target shareholders and get the deal done as quickly as possible.

The Bear-J.P. Morgan deal may have received the most media attention last week, but the financial sector also had another big deal on the charts. After struggling to find a willing buyer over the last year because of the fear associated with mortgage companies -- especially subprime lenders -- tax preparer H&R Block Inc. finally sold its subprime mortgage unit Option One for $1.07 billion to AH Mortgage Acquisition Co. and WL Ross & Co. LLC. - Gerald Magpily

Top 10 Announced Deals with U.S. Targets* March 17 - 21, 2008
Date deal announced The Deal's coverage	Acquirer	Target	Deal value ($mill.)	Type of deal
Mar. 17 IP pays $6B for Weyerhaeuser unit	International Paper Co.	Weyerhaeuser Co. (Containerboard, Packaging and Recycling business)	$6,000	Divestment; Acquisition of assets
Mar. 17 Ross buys H&R Block subprime unit	AH Mortgage Acquisition Co.; WL Ross & Co. LLC	Option One Mortgage Corp. (the mortgage loan servicing business)	1,070	Divestment; Acquisition of assets
Mar. 17 BMC lands BladeLogic after long courtship	BMC Software Inc.	BladeLogic Inc.	775	Tender offer
Mar. 17	Loews Corp.	Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (15.59%)	700	Share placement
Mar. 18 Misys to buy Allscripts stake	Misys plc	Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.	416	Public offer
Mar. 19	Valley National Bancorp	Greater Community Bancorp	279	Stock swap
Mar. 17 J.P. Morgan to buy Bear Stearns	J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.	Bear Stearns Companies Inc.	236	Public offer; Stock swap
Mar. 17 Walgreen spends $275M on wellness	Walgreen Co.	I-Trax Inc.	228	Tender offer
Mar. 19 SBA clinches big tower purchase	SBA Communications Corp.	TowerCo LLC (430 Wireless Communications Towers)	194	Divestment; Acquisition of assets
Mar. 19	Noble Energy Inc.	Oil & Gas Assets (15 deepwater lease blocks in the Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 206, 1st bid)	167	Auction
* Excludes buybacks and withdrawn deals Source: Dealogic

See Deals of the week: March 24
See Deals of the week subchannel
See TheDeal.com: IP pays $6B for Weyerhaeuser unit
See TheDeal.com: Ross buys H&R Block subprime unit
See TheDeal.com: J.P. Morgan to buy Bear Stearns

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