Welcome to Deal Stocks. In the news Thursday are Panasonic Corp. (NYSE:PC), Sanyo Electric Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS), Daiwa Securities SMBC, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Transurban Group, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Telefónica SAGVT Holding SA,GVT Holding SA, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), Skype SA, American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACAS), Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE:H) and Ancestry.com Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOM).
Stocks rallied Thursday as jobless claims and worker productivity beat forecasts and the Fed promised to keep interest rates low for an extended period of time, according to Bloomberg. The Dow closed up 203.82, or 2.08%, to 10,005.96 while the Nasdaq moved up 49.80, or 2.42%, to 2,105.32.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) chief executive of financial retail services Charlie Scharf said at a conference organized by the BancAnalysts Association of Boston it's possibly open to more deals. What does he want? "If there is a specific area that we know next year, and the year after, and the year after that, we want to build 20 branches a year, if we can go and buy a bank with 25, 30 branches at the right price, with the right protection we would consider doing that," Scharf said.
Cox Communications, Inc. has sold a 64% stake in Travel Channel Media to Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. (NYSE:SNI) in a deal that values the cable television network at $975 million. Scripps will inject $181 million into a new partnership and take on $878 million in third-party debt, which will be guaranteed by Scripps and indemnified by Cox.
Shares of Sanyo Electric Co. tumbled in Japan Thursday morning as Panasonic Corp. (NYSE:PC) launched a tender offer and said it will pay at least ¥402.3 billion ($4.4 billion) for more than 50% of the electronics makers. The tender offer is planned for Nov. 5 through Dec. 7 at the price of ¥131 per share, a 39% discount to its Wednesday closing price. Sanyo's three major shareholders -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS), Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. -- have already agreed to sell at least 3.07 billion shares to Panasonic at that price, guaranteeing it will have a majority stake. The three shareholders together control about 70% of Sanyo's total outstanding shares.
Australia's biggest toll-road operator, Transurban Group, has rejected a A$6.77 billion ($6.2 billion) bid from two Canadian pension funds but left the door open for an improved offer. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan made a cash and stock offer of A$5.25 per share, a 20% premium to the target's closing price on Wednesday. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read the full story here.)
Fearing its previous offer wasn't enough to fend off competitors, Spain's Telefónica SAGVT Holding SA raised its offer for Brazil's GVT Holding SA just a day after the target agreed to do away with a poison pill. Telefónica increased its offer to 50.5 reais per GVT share, valuing the company at R$6.95 billion ($4 billion). (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read the full story here.)
EBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) may be close to settling with the founders of Skype SA, clearing the way for sale of a majority stake in the telephony company to Silver Lake Partners, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan for $2.12 billion, according to All Things Digital. A deal could be announced as early as Thursday.
Midmarket lender American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACAS) announced a debt restructuring agreement in principle with creditors, while reporting a net unrealized quarterly appreciation of portfolio investments, the first in the past nine quarters. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read the full story here.)
Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE:H) priced its initial public offering of 38 million shares at $25 per share on Wednesday, the middle of its expected range. The proceeds of the $950 million IPO would go to the Pritzker family, which controls the company, but minority stakeholders Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) and Madrone Capital Partners will likely suffer significant paper losses on their investments in the hotel chain. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read that story here.)
Ancestry.com Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOM), a portfolio company of buyout shop Spectrum Equity Investors, has priced its initial public offering at $13.50, the midpoint of the price range, meaning the offering will raise about $100 million. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read the full story here.)
"Microsoft announced more layoffs today, and I was one of them," wrote Don Dodge, in a blog post Wednesday. A veteran of five startups -- Forte Software, AltaVista, Napster, Bowstreet, and Groove Networks -- Dodge was director of business development for Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) emerging business team, the goal of which is "to help VCs and start-ups be successful with Microsoft."
Welcome to Deal Stocks. In the news Thursday are Panasonic Corp. (NYSE:PC), Sanyo Electric Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS), Daiwa Securities SMBC, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Transurban Group, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Telefónica SAGVT Holding SA, GVT Holding SA, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), Skype SA, American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACAS), Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE:H) and Ancestry.com Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOM). 
