CDW to be bought by Madison Dearborn for $7.3 bln
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Computer retailer CDW Corp.  became the latest company to be swallowed up by a private equity firm, announcing on Tuesday it had agreed to be bought by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC for $7.3 billion.
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Continental Airlines said after the bell Wednesday that it has placed the first US orders for Boeing&#39;s 7E7 passenger jet in a deal worth $1.3 billion at current list prices.
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CDW Corp. on Tuesday announced that the distributor of hardware, software and technology accessories has agreed to be acquired by a private equity company in a $7.3 billion deal.
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Morgan Stanley's  real estate unit said on Thursday it would buy Australia's Investa Properties Ltd.  for A$4.7 billion (US$3.9 billion), the latest in a string of property takeovers by the U.S. investment bank.
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Nasdaq Stock Market  has agreed to buy Nordic bourse owner OMX  for $3.7 billion, they said on Friday, as Nasdaq seeks to expand abroad following a series of rival stock market mergers.
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The Carlyle Group, the District private-equity giant, continued its recent acquisition spree yesterday with a $2.7 billion deal for Sequa, a manufacturer of as diverse a group of products as pumps that inflate automobile airbags and After Six tuxedos.
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Another of Greater Baltimore&#39;s marquee companies will soon have out-of-state ownership, as Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. announced Friday morning it will buy the Rouse Co. for $7.2 billion.
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Deutsche Bank AG is buying Air Canada convertible debt with a face value of C$850 million ($761 million) for C$124.3 million, speculating the airline&#39;s shares will rise when they resume
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Cypress Group and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners have agreed to pay $1.17 billion to acquire Cooper-Standard Automotive by the end of the year.
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Management leads a $4.7 billion buyout bid. Are other bids on the way?
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In the deal announced Friday Verizon Wireless is buying the remaining cellular capacity from NextWave Telecom for $3 billion in cash.
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IMG, the sports and celebrity management group that lists Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and golfer Tiger Woods among its clients, was yesterday sold for $700m (Â£390m).
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Verizon Wireless said it has reached a deal to buy all of NextWave&#39;s remaining spectrum licenses for US$3 billion in cash, just the latest instance of consolidation in the wireless industry
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(InfoWorld) - The specter of moderate global IT growth continues to hang over vendors' financial news, which this week includes IBM's stock buyback, distributorÂ CDW's plan to go private, andÂ layoff news from Motorola. These moves are examples of how tech companies are dealing with global IT growth that most analysts say will be moderate -- somewhere in the 6 percent to 7 percent range. That's not a bad growth rate for a mature industry but nowhere near the double-digit growth rates that IT saw in the late 1990s. In this climate, organic sales alone are often not enough to achieve the kind of growth that inspires investors and instills confidence in volume buyers. The types of moves announced this week often provide temporary excitement but leave questions about long-term consequences. IBM announced Tuesday it completed part of its previously announced stock buyback program, purchasing 118.8 million shares for $105.18 per share. That equals about $12.5 billion. IBM shares closed the day of the announcement at $105.91, up by $0.73. One reason investors like this sort of news is that with fewer outstanding shares on the market, companies find it easier to report robust per share growth. The long-term question, though, is whether companies would be better off spending money on product development, equipment, acquisitions, or other investments. IBM is considered an R&D leader, so in this case, the stock purchase was not criticized. Another way of dealing with the pressure of having to show steady growth quarter after quarter is to simply get out of the public stock market altogether. CDW's announcement this week that it entered into a pact to be acquired by private-equity investment firm Madison Dearborn PartnersÂ for $7.3 billion is one such move. With the announcement, on Tuesday, CDW followed in the footsteps of similar moves to go private by companies, such as electronic payments companyÂ First DataÂ and customer information management software developerÂ Acxiom. The advantage of going private is that it's easier to focus on long-term strategy when company managers have to deal with a small cadre of investors. But new owners sometimes strip company assets and sell them off or enact drastic cost cutting measures. To assuage customers (and employees) John Edwardson, CDW chairman and CEO, said in a conference call Wednesday that he didn't expect layoffs and that CDW management would stick around. CDW shares jumped to $83.11 on the day of the announcement, up from $75.56 the day earlier. Cost cuts are another way of dealing with a tight market and falling profits. On Wednesday, Motorola said it will lay off 4,000 workers, expanding previous plans for layoffs. The company, which lost money last quarter, said the latest move would save $600 million annually. While investors often applaud cost control measures, staff reductions ultimately do nothing for the central issue facing tech companies: product development and marketing. Addressing this issue Wednesday in an investors meeting, CEO Ed Zander said the company willÂ increase profits by developing an array of multimedia mobile devices rather than rely on single blockbuster products like its Razr phones. Investors took a "show-me" stance. Company shares lost ground on the day of the announcements. Dell fared better after it announced, late Thursday, thatÂ it will cut its 78,800-strong workforce by 10 percent. Within 30 minutes of the announcement, made as part of its quarterly report, Dell shares jumped in after-hours trading by $1.63. Dell profits have slipped over the past year, and it is still embroiled in an accounting inquiry, but investors have applauded cost-cutting moves by Dell over the last few months, especially because they have been accompanied by complementary plans to break with tradition and start selling through retail.ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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Great Plains Energy has agreed to buy the crosstown utility operator Aquila for about $1.7 billion.
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he Rouse Company, the mall developer and manager that has helped reshape the nation&#39;s landscape, agreed yesterday to be acquired by General Growth Properties, the big owner of shopping centers, for $7.
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