Female Billionaire Urges BPI-BCP Merger to Thwart CaixaBank Takeover

Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the president of Angola and Africa’s sole female billionaire, is unhappy with CaixaBank’s takeover bid for BPI. As the second largest investor in BPI, Santos owns 18.6% of the Portuguese bank through her investment company Santoro Finance, just shy of the 20% benchmark at which BPI caps shareholder voting power. CaixaBank, a Spanish Bank that owns 44.1% of BPI, has offered €1.94 billion for the remaining 55.9% of BPI, or €1.329 per share. Unimpressed with this bid, Santos wrote a letter to BPI and Millennium BCP, a Portuguese rival to BPI, urging a merger. This attempt to thwart CaixaBank was followed by an 8% spike in BPI’s share price to €1.48 last Tuesday, while BCP rose 2.4%.

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Tension in the Wolf Pack: Marcato Capital Criticizes Sotheby’s Board of Directors

Richard (Mick) McGuire, founder of the San Francisco hedge fund Marcato Capital Management LP and holder of 7.4 percent of Sotheby’s shares, recently sent a letter to the company’s board of directors, accusing the management of “willful neglect” and demanding an immediate $500 million share repurchase and replacement of the chief financial officer.

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Hedge Fund Accuses U.S. of Misconduct

In November 2010, the FBI executed a search warrant related to insider trading allegations at David Ganek’s Level Global hedge fund offices. Although Mr. Ganek was never charged with a crime, clients fearful of being linked to misconduct quickly withdrew funds, and the fund was promptly closed.

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Citigroup Sells Subprime Lender to Springleaf

Citigroup has announced the sale of its consumer lending unit, OneMain Financial, to Springleaf Holdings for $4.25 billion. Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat has called OneMain “a terrific business” after the subprime lending unit turned profitable after difficult times throughout the global financial crisis (GFC). However, Mr. Corbat felt the business did not fit “the Citi model,” as the firm wants to focus on providing banking services to more affluent customers in the United States.

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Valeant Triumphs Over Rivals in Pharmaceutical M&A Battle

The year 2014 saw $3.5 trillion in merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions, the most since 2008, and according to KPMG data, this year could be even bigger. The highly acquisitive Canadian pharmaceutical company, Valeant (VRX), recently added to 2015’s already growing total by entering a deal to purchase Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP) for a total value of $14.6 billion. (more…)

A 587 Million Dollar Stake

At the start of the month, Sunac China Holdings Limited took a risk and bought 2.54 billion shares giving them a 49.3 percent stake in the struggling Chinese developer, Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. The large stake cost Sunac over $587 million, with shares at roughly $1.80, according to the Hong Kong stock exchange. This deal has made Sunac the largest shareholder in Kaisa.

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Insider Trading Requirements: Second Circuit Case could have Major Consequences for Prosecutors

In the context of insider trading cases involving tippers, the personal benefit test is most controversial. To hold a tippee liable, prosecutors are required to prove the tippee’s knowledge of the personal benefit of the tipper when revealing the tip. On December 10, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heightened the benefit requirement, which could have a major impact on insider trading cases to come.

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FDA Approves First Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Test After Year-Long Ban

Last week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to the personal genetic testing company, 23andMe, to sell a genetic carrier test for Bloom Syndrome directly to consumers. Bloom Syndrome is a rare inherited disorder associated with short stature and an elevated risk of cancer. This marks the first FDA authorization of a direct-to-consumer genetic test and creates a path towards regulatory approval for future related genetic tests.

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