A year unlike any other

In which we reappraise Deals of the Year from a very different time. How bad was the ABN-Amro deal?

The decision to send Lehman into bankruptcy marked the shift from a financial crisis to a market meltdown.

Ken Lewis thought he had a dream deal when he nabbed Merrill Lynch. By year's end he knew he had a nightmare.

A day after Lehman collapsed, the Federal Reserve rushed to save AIG. So far the de facto nationalization hasn't been a bargain.

Apollo Management rescued the ailing retailer but saddled it with debt.

In which we recall some of the year's biggest private equity busts.

When Mars signed a deal to buy Wrigley, it reserved the right to skip out. That has since become the industry standard.

The sale of Reed Business Information seemed like a sure thing. That proved to be a mistake.

The U.K. took control of Royal Bank of Scotland barely a year after it led the world's most expensive financial services takeover.

Rio Tinto rebuffed BHP at the top of the market but agreed to take Chinalco capital after the crash.

The BCE buyout was for a time the largest in history. It took a while, but the deal just couldn't survive the times.

Belgium's government has gone back and forth on Fortis' fate. Shareholders are steaming and lawyers are busy.

The breakup of the Hexion buyout of Huntsman was bitter indeed, not least for Apollo Management.

How the Hunt family managed to sell Hunt Petroleum at the peak of the boom.

InBev executed a pitch-perfect acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, which was no pushover either.

In the past, troubled targets have attracted restructuring specialists but few corporate dealmakers. That's likely to change in the current downturn.

During the boom, easy financings were the rage. Now it's payback time for lenders.

The year began with the AOL acquisition of Time Warner. That proved a harbinger in a variety of ways.

The media's decided that Wall Street is definitely kaput. Trying to figure what's there instead is more of a problem.

Among insolvency advisers, the Big Four dominate but smaller, nimbler names fight hard for market share.

Geithner is sticking with Paulson's flawed remedy. Or maybe he isn't. Stay tuned for details.

February brings three more biotech deals. Morgan Lewis' Navarro advised Lundbeck in its Ovation deal.

Roche and Genentech have a long history. This time around, Davis Polk's John Butler and others take the lead for Roche.

Quattrone's Qatalyst Partners tapped Jean Tardy-Joubert to head a new London office.

There's an opportunity for PE in the green economy.

Steven Sletten and Sean Royall were among Ticketmaster's advisers.

Rich Brail will coordinate PJSC's media and communications practice.

KKR has tapped Suzanne Donohoe from Goldman to help with global fundraising.

Robert Kindler is Morgan Stanley's new global head of M&A.

Despite a sour M&A climate, firms that advise sale-minded, venture-backed companies are in the sweet spot.

As the nexus of state and finance becomes tighter, the banks and the government that bought them become weaker.

The Democrats came to power with ambitious plans for the FCC. But how much of that agenda will fly in a deep recession?

A prescription for reforming the U.S.'s accounting mess.

Rethinking MAC clauses post-Tyson Foods and Huntsman-Hexion.

In Gantler v. Stephens, Delaware's Supreme Court reverses a decision from Chancery. Officers and directors had better watch out.

In D.C.'s suburbs, the FTC wins a skirmish for hospital competition but a bigger battle may be lost.

Proxy season's heating up.

Geithner gave a speech; a consensus formed: Banks are insolvent; nationalization looms. Self-fulfillment rarely works so fast.