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Burkle to keep fighting Barnes & Noble poison pill

Billionaire investor Ron Burkle plans to appeal a Delaware court ruling that upheld a  “poison pill” put in place by bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc.

Burkle, Barnes & Noble’s second largest shareholder with 18.8 percent,  is locked in a proxy battle with the largest U.S. bookstore chain. He is seeking to install three directors, including himself, at the company’s annual meeting this month. Get the full story »

3G strikes $4B deal to buy Burger King

Burger King's Miami headquarters. (Joe Raedle/Getty)

Burger King Holdings Inc. confirmed that New York-based 3G Capital Management has signed a deal to buy the company for $24 a share.

The total deal, including both equity and debt, is around $4 billion and is expected to closed before the end of the year. Burger King said it may solicit better offers through mid-October. Banks are expected to finance about $2.8 billion of the total deal value. Get the full story »

Burger King in sale negotiations

Customers stop at a Burger King for lunch this week in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Burger King Holdings Inc. has been in talks with private-equity firms in recent weeks about a possible sale of the second-largest hamburger chain, people familiar with the matter said.

The status of the talks is unclear but one interested firm was 3i Group PLC, a British private-equity firm, these people said. It is uncertain whether these discussions will result in a sale. Get the full story »

Deere selling windpower unit to Exelon

Deere & Co. will sell its wind energy business to a subsidiary of Exelon Corp. for $900 million, the company said Tuesday, potentially signaling an active merger and acquisition period ahead for the power industry. Get the full story »

Chicago Social parent sold to Atlanta firm

From Crain’s Chicago Business | Chicago Social publisher Modern Luxury LLC, which targets wealthy individuals in Chicago and 11 other major U.S. markets has been sold to Dickey Publishing Inc., an Atlanta-based magazine and online publisher.

BHP denies plans to divest Potash Corp. assets

BHP Billiton denied on Monday that it would divest some of Potash Corp.’s assets if its $38.6 billion hostile bid for the world’s largest fertilizer producer proved successful. Get the full story »

Genzyme rejects Sanofi-Aventis’ $18.5B offer

Genzyme Corp. rejected an $18.5 billion takeover offer from French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis, saying it dramatically undervalues the company. The Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company said its board of directors met Sunday night and unanimously affirmed a previous rejection of Sanofi’s proposal. Get the full story »

Intel to buy Infineon’s mobile unit for $1.4B

Intel will buy German chipmaker Infineon’s wireless unit for $1.4 billion, enabling the U.S. chipmaker to boost its presence in the smartphone market. The cash transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011 and the mobile unit will remain as a standalone business, the companies said in a statement on Monday. Get the full story »

Justice Department OKs United-Continental merger

Passengers at the United and Continental kiosks at O'Hare International Airport, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The Justice Department approved the proposed merger of United and Continental airlines Friday, closing an unexpectedly speedy four-month investigation that paves the way for the mega-deal to close by Oct. 1.

To win the blessing of federal antitrust regulators, United and Continental agreed to lease slots for 18 round-trip flights to Southwest Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport, beginning in March 2011.

Justice officials said the slot transfer was struck in “response to the department’s principal concerns” regarding the merger, which critics have warned will speed consolidation and eventually leave the three largest U.S. carriers with a lion’s share of the market. Get the full story »

Icahn buys more Motorola shares, has 10.6% stake

Activist investor Carl Icahn has upped his stake in Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. to about 10.6 percent from a 9.99 stake he disclosed earlier this month, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Get the full story »

EU pushes back deadline on sale of Sara Lee unit

European Union competition regulators have set a new deadline of Oct. 22 to decide whether to clear Unilever’s $1.3 billion purchase of Sara Lee Corp.’s body care business, the European Commission said on Friday. Get the full story »

Dell plans offer to top HP’s for 3Par

Dell Inc. is planning to submit a more competitive bid for data storage firm 3Par Inc., challenging Hewlett-Packard Co.’s offer of $24 per share, a source familiar with the talks said Wednesday.

The source said Dell’s new bid was likely to be more “competitive” than HP’s last offer of $1.6 billion, but declined to comment on how much higher its bid would be. Get the full story »

Barnes & Noble says Burkle not fit for board

Barnes & Noble Co. said activist investor Ronald Burkle was unqualified to be on its board and accused the billionaire of trying to take over the bookseller through a proxy battle without rewarding shareholders. Get the full story »

BHP flush in profit but won’t overspend for Potash

BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, tried to dampen expectations it would substantially raise its hostile $39 billion bid for Potash Corp. as bumper results showed it has plenty of firepower.

“I will be as disciplined on this bid as I’ve been on every other endeavour,” Chief Executive Marius Kloppers told a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “The shareholders own the company and it’s my job to create more value for them, not to do any one thing at any cost.” Get the full story »

SEC charges 2 with insider trading on BHP-Potash

Federal regulators say two Spanish investors made illegal profits of $1.1 million by trading on secret information about BHP Billiton PLC’s bid to acquire Potash Corp. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Juan Jose Fernandez Garcia and Luis Martin Caro Sanchez bought investments that became valuable after the mining company offered $38.5 billion to take over fertilizer maker Potash. Garcia heads the research arm of a bank that was advising BHP on the deal.