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Cover story

What is a bank?

And other arcane questions about restructuring the financial system.

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Community

Regulatory

Pay for say

The proposed SEC rule banning certain political contributions could have a big impact on advisers' activities.


Industry Insight

Two steps back

Weakening the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.


Judgment Call

Extra credit

Acquisition financing in 2010: Trends from 2009


Editor's Note

Transactions: Feb. 8, 2010

Washington has succeeded in demonizing the financial markets.



Table of contents

Regulatory

Congress and banking meet the Volcker Rule

Congress and the banking industry, Meet the Volcker Rule, an eleventh-hour addition to financial reform.


Analysis

Just one more question

Article One Partners enlists any and all sleuths to probe for weaknesses in patents.


Dealmakers

Dealing from strength

An interview with Ken Hitchner, the co-head of global healthcare investment banking at Goldman Sachs.


Dealmakers

Healthcare bankers

A sampling of top financial advisers to healthcare and some of their signature deals.


Cover Story

Filling the pipes

For Comcast's corporate dealmaker Bob Pick, the complex NBC Universal deal with GE was business as usual. Don't call it transformational.


Bankruptcy

The bankruptcy routine

If 2009 was one of the biggest years for bankruptcies in U.S. history, it may have also showed just how interwoven it's become with other deal disciplines.


Bankruptcy

Bust and buy

Despite a straitened market for financing, bankruptcy M&A has boomed. Behind the surge, a confluence of factors.


Bankruptcy

The new DIPs

Debtors were able to secure a lot more financing than expected in 2009, but not without consenting to some highly unusual catches.


Bankruptcy

This way out

Exit financing was hard to come by at the beginning of 2009, but one year later, the market seems much improved.


Bankruptcy

Top billing

In New York and Delaware, fees continue to rise as bankruptcy booms. Why? Lots of cases and lots of complexity.


Cover Story

The sounds of silence

Financial reform legislation addresses some problems well, some not so well, and some not at all. How it will all work will only be apparent around the time of the next meltdown.


Regulatory

Delaware on defense

Once again the First State watches warily as the federal government wades into governance. Strine opines on what's at risk.


Regulatory

City traffic jam

The U.K. bonus battle threatens to push every other regulatory issue to the margin. Will it damage London's stature as a leading financial capital?


Regulatory

Plus ça change

If Washington is crawling with socialists, why does the Obama administration's antitrust record look a lot like that of the last regime?


Venture Capital

Unmoored melodies

Venture capitalists continue to pour money into dozens of music Web sites despite the melancholy fact that there's still no viable economic model.


Analysis

A reprieve, not a rescue

New restructuring laws have eased creditor anxiety. But transparency is elusive in Dubai, and critical issues remain unresolved.


Cover Story

We survived for now!

The best news about 2009? It's not 2008. Let's hope it continues that way.


Backstory

Why Hulu matters

Video over the Internet is coming, which may be the best justification of all for Comcast's big acquisition of NBCU.


Follow the Money

A light at the end of the loan tunnel

Things are looking up in the leveraged financing markets, though borrowers still have to figure out what to do with all their debt that's about to come due.


Private Equity

Patience has limits

Limited partners of buyout funds still feel singed by the downturn. They'll make their demands when the fundraising begins.


Private Equity

Digging out

Private equity finds itself in the abyss. But while it's dark down there, the future has begun to look brighter — if you can survive.


Analysis

Centrifugal markets

When the crisis began, emerging markets looked like they'd lead the globe into ­recovery. That's true in some cases, but after Dubai, that theory looks a little ragged.


Private Equity

Cast change

With 60% of EU private equity activity managed from London, Britain's rivals would like to see the City cut down to size. New EU rules may help them.


Analysis

Drilling deeper

Separating the political from the practical can be key to successful dealmaking with China. Australian miners have learned that lesson.


Analysis

No relief

Natural gas companies have weathered the credit crunch's severe pricing pressure. But more trouble is on the horizon.


Analysis

Fizzy math

The wireless business now resembles the battle between Coke and Pepsi. Can consolidation produce a healthy alternative?


Analysis

A nasty pileup

The auto industry's core problem is overcapacity. Bailouts make it worse, not better.


Safe Harbor

No uncertain terms

Two years after the collapse of the debt markets, a new standard for the treatment of financing risk in merger agreements has yet to emerge


Venture Capital

Another piece of the jigsaw puzzle

With hopes for a stronger IPO market next year comes the promise of a new crop of acquirers.


Regulatory

From flamethrower to sword swallower

As much of the GOP continues to practice slash and burn politics, a couple of notable exceptions may help guide financial reform to passage.


Dealmakers

Activist philanthropist

The nonprofit activities of Blum Capital Partners' Richard Blum aim for considerable geographic and socioeconomic reach.


Dealmakers

Structural questions

Jenny Hourihan and Penelope Christophorou are trying to steer microlender Pro Mujer through thickets of conflicting national regulations.


Dealmakers

Quick response team

Avenue Capital's Marc Lasry has funded urgent care in Liberia and projects closer to home.


Dealmakers

Cap, trade and persuade

Steven McNab, a partner at Travers Smith, has­­ ­created a nonprofit to help poor communities benefit from carbon credits.


Dealmakers

The micro view

Kimberly Summe turned her Lehman loss into a gain for microcap lending.


Deal Life

Fathers and sons

His intellectual offspring find weakening demand, but Andy Warhol continues to be the gold standard. A look at the state of the art market.


Private Equity

Future shock

The biggest megabuyout of all, the former TXU, now known as Energy Future Holdings, struggles under a massive amount of debt. It has a few years yet to deal with that burden, but its options are limited.


Postmortem

How the biggest buyout just got bigger

Energy Future Holdings' executive Paul Keglevic uses $48 billion.


Private Equity

The sun also rises

Distressed investor Sun Capital suffered 16 portfolio company failures during the worst of the crisis. But the outlook has improved, and it's made some big exits.


Dealmakers

And the winners are ...

In our second annual Most Admired Corporate Dealmakers survey, readers named Abbott Labs in pharma-biotech, Microsoft in information technology and Disney in media.


Dealmakers

Abbott's eye for value

The company's acquisition of an ophthalmic-care platform in January places it atop the pharma-biotech sector for the second straight year in The Deal's Most Admired Corporate Dealmakers survey.


Dealmakers

Disney's four funnels

Forget fairy dust. M&A in the Magic Kingdom is all about process.


Dealmakers

Microsoft's M&A machine

Not so long ago, deals were rare for the software giant. More recently, they've become a regular strategic tool.


Cover Story

The kids are all right

For the first time ever, the emerging markets of Brazil, India and China are expected to lead rather than follow a global recovery. But can these countries sustain their fast-paced growth long term?


Private Equity

The search for auspiciousness

Private equity firms scout for quality, reliability and smooth regulatory sailing in their China investments.


Deals

Be true to your school

As the economy swoons, for-profit education sizzles. There has been a string of deals in post-secondary education. Expect consolidation to continue.


Deals

Waiting to exhale

Middle-market M&A has come back from the abyss, but any sustained rebound depends on the banks.


Private Equity

What the sponsors saw

PE investors had to get creative during the worst of the credit crunch, but take-privates and IPOs have picked up.


Private Equity

Where have all the lenders gone?

Hobbled by the financial crisis, banks and nonbanks alike have all pulled back from funding middle-market deals. Here's a look at who might fill the void.


Dealmakers

Back channels

Steven Burrill lends his peripatetic presence to unusual cross-border deals in biotech.


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