The new song of Broadway

From Vodafone's groundbreaking takeover of Mannesmann to Fortis' disastrous deal for ABN-Amro, the past decade in European dealmaking featured both increased economic integration and fierce protectionism. What's next is anybody's guess.

Law firms are deferring new associates, paying them a reduced salary to work for nonprofits. The practice presents some serious challenges.

A public announcement that it had hired Citigroup to seek strategic alternatives helped Irish drugmaker Elan Corp. plc spark the process that led to its $1.5 billion deal with J&J.

PartnerRe Ltd. agreed to acquire Paris Re Holdings Ltd. for $2 billion, and four days later IPC Holdings Ltd. agreed to sell to Validus Holdings Ltd. for $1.65 billion in cash and stock.

IPC Holdings' agreement to sell to Validus Holdings concludes a Byzantine battle that began March 2, when IPC agreed to acquire Max Capital Group Ltd. for $912 million in stock.

Enterprise Products Partners agreed to buy Teppco Partners for a sweetened $3.3 billion in stock, creating, the largest publicly traded energy partnership in the U.S.

As if Ned Hooper wasn't busy enough already managing Cisco Systems Inc.'s well-oiled M&A and corporate investment mechanisms, the 42-year-old senior vice president has now taken on the role of chief strategy officer.

As chairman and CEO of Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España SA, Antonio Vázquez Romero mission is to wrap up its stop-and-go merger talks with British Airways plc.

MJ Moltenbrey has moved around and recently was hired by Howrey LLP.

To smooth a reorganization, senior creditors may offer part of their recovery to out-of-the-money creditors. Is this like buying votes?

Even for a company the size of Amgen, investors are scrutinizing new drug partnership terms.

Provincial governments come to the aid of a crisis in venture capital. Canadian VCs have cheered the development, so far unable to create a thriving environment that mirrors that in the U.S.

The U.K. Treasury calls for the end of light-touch banking regulation. Tories would be even tougher.

Despite a zombie hangover, Clive Cowdery continues to stake out insurers who must wonder if he's friend or foe.

Despite an obvious need for fewer players, consolidation in the struggling PC industry is difficult and unlikely. The CEO of Taiwan's Acer argued that the market is too small for the eight or so biggest players and that the number should be closer to four or five.

If you think bondholders have had a rough time of it, consider the loan-investing crowd. Both have had historically low recovery rates on their investments, but leveraged loans have performed worse than bonds.

Forsys claims that the deal with GFI is on track.

News reports suggest that the rational market has died but it's hard to invest based on behavioral economics. Now we're left to our own devices.

Matt Taibbi's takedown of Goldman Sachs has generated wide comment, just not from the folks at The Audit. Could it be because of a backer named, well, Goldman?

Why would three tech rainmakers leave a Silicon Valley stalwart for a midtier New York firm? Here's some informed speculation.

PE firms react against proposed regulations from the FDIC that put limits on how they might buy banks.

Environmental issues in Chapter 11 reorganizations.

Few sellers actually engage a firm to perform due diligence in advance, instead leaving the buyer to take charge, but providing buyers and lenders a comprehensive due diligence report in addition to the offering memorandums inspires confidence in the financial results.

Private equity boomed, driving M&A. The world was still risky, it was just masked by torrents of liquidity.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is the top debtor-in-possession lender.

IBM is suing its former corp dev chief for moving to Dell. David Johnson repeatedly sought to move into general management, but despite assurances was never given the nod. He eventually jumped to rival Dell.

A new book explores the music industry's past to recast its future.