Dollar Thrifty in merger talks with Vanguard: NYT
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Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc.   is in early talks to merge with Vanguard Car Rental,  owner of the National and Alamo chains, in a deal valued at  more than $3 billion, the New York Times reported on Wednesday,  citing people involved in the discussions.
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(InfoWorld) - The Nasdaq Stock Market's efforts to buy the London Stock Exchange PLC is another milestone in globalization, and touches the world of IT. As exchanges merge and increase the fluidity of funds globally, a new world of competitive options open. The Nasdaq's latest bid, launched Nov. 20, to buy the part of the LSE it doesn't already own for Â£2.7 billion ($5.1 billion) is poignant in its historic and political overtones. The Nasdaq tapped technology to match buyers and sellers -- starting with simple bulletin boards -- and helped revolutionize trading over the last 20 years. As world class IT companies like Microsoft and Oracle went public on the Nasdaq, the exchange rode the computerization of modern life to great success. Most exchanges have adopted some form of electronic trading, including Nasdaq archrival the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Group Inc.) and the LSE itself. Exchanges have unique advantages and retain distinct personalities, however. Linux vendor Red Hat Inc., for example, will move from the Nasdaq to the NYSE Tuesday. "The New York Stock Exchange has much stronger global recognition, and we're looking for a global branding image," said Linda Brewton, Red Hat manager of investor relations. She also noted that even though the NYSE has adopted electronic trading, trading is still done under live market specialists and that this reduces share-price volatility. The LSE, which traces its history back some 300 years, has rejected Nasdaq's bid, claiming it undervalues the exchange. The mercurial mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is also on the case. Last week he asked the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading to investigate, claiming that the acquisition would eliminate competition to U.S. markets for international company listings. Livingstone also echoed the concerns of many Europeans, that as U.S. exchanges merge with European markets, tighter U.S. regulations would hamper Europe's growing market competitiveness. This last issue has also caused bumps in the NYSE's deal to merge with the Euronext NV exchange. Nasdaq, having already bought about 29 percent of the LSE earlier this year, is appealing to shareholders. Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifield apparently believes the exchange needs the merger to compete. The merging of exchanges and the broader, growing numbers of mergers and acquisitions that IT companies are involved in are part of the same phenomenon, according to according to Eric Gebaide, managing director of Innovation Advisors, a New York investment firm. "It's a manifestation of the globalization of financial markets," Gebaide said. "That in turn is a precursor of the globalization of technology." When companies in Europe and Asia enjoy the same sort of availability of capital U.S. companies have, it can lead to greater competition for U.S. companies. However, U.S. companies can also take advantage of the new era of capital. For example, U.S. companies looking to efficiently use capital now have access to alternative local financing for offshore ventures, Gebaide notes. In the new global market, companies can even go public with offshore ventures, he suggests. The Nasdaq bid will probably play out into 2007. The offer to shareholders can be extended to 60 days, and the Nasdaq can still buy LSE shares on the open market. But no matter how it ends, the internationalization of capital markets will continue to have a profound impact.
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Does TD AMERITRADE thrive at E*Trade's expense?
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Charles Schwab (SCH), the biggest US discount brokerage, Monday said it will cut trading fees. Standard online commissions will go down to $19.
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CME Group, Inc. and NYMEX Holdings, Inc. said Monday they were conducting initial merger talks which could result in the Chicago-based exchange taking over the New York commodities bourse.
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Euronext  shareholders are  due to approve a $14 billion plan to merge with the New York  Stock Exchange  and create the first transatlantic  bourse. But some opponents may cause heated discussions at a  meeting on Tuesday.
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A lot of people got excited when Fidelity Investments said recently it was cutting fees on five index mutual funds. You heard talk about price wars with Vanguard Group, about a new ''low-cost leader&quot; in fund investing, and more.
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The exchanges were in talks about an $11 billion merger, a union that would be the latest in a wave of consolidation among financial markets.
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Private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.  said on Monday that it will acquire discount retailer Dollar General Corp.  for $22 a share in cash, or about $6.9 billion.
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Zeroing in on Vanguard's best bets.
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U.S. apartment owner Archstone-Smith  Trust  will have to pay a $235 million break-up fee plus  expenses to end a proposed deal to be acquired by affiliates of  Lehman Brothers  and Tishman Speyer for a total of $22.2  billion, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday.
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Dow Jones (DJ:NYSE - news - research) won the auction for MarketWatch.com (MKTW:Nasdaq - news - research), striking a definitive agreement to acquire the online financial news provider for $18 a share, or about $519 million.
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U.S. shares looked set to open lower  on Tuesday, with stock exchange operators Nasdaq  and  NYSE Group Inc.  in focus as a result of developments in  their respective transatlantic merger endeavors.
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A deal for Countrywide and airline consolidation had investors in a tizzy as trading closed in New York.
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By Larry Rulison, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.  Dec. 8--HALFMOON -- A potential financing deal between DayStar  Technologies Inc. and a New York City investment firm appears to have fallen  through in the past week.
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Dollar General (DG:NYSE - news - research) fell Thursday after reporting cost overruns that left first-quarter earnings a penny shy of Wall Street estimates.
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US investment fund Steel Partners II on Thursday offered to buy 90 percent of Gencorp Inc. (GY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) it does not already own for about $700 million