This week on FT Alphaville,
- The big story was all about private equity and politics. We decamped to Portcullis House to blog live on private equity’s day of reckoning, reported on the aftermath – and then found out that the MPs on the Treasury select committee have put a colleague’s nose out of joint.
- Elsewhere – we revealed that Gordon Gekko is going global. The script-writer for Wall Street II hit London town to work up some story ideas.
- We unusually felt compelled to stick up for Goldman Sachs when Tower Hamlets council rejected their offer to back a city academy school in the borough. No bond maths for their children.
- Man Group moved forwards on the IPO of its brokerage business – with a mere 17 banks to hold its poor little hand…
- While Blackstone confounded doubters by getting its IPO away, on an accelerated timetable. Our concerns remain.
- The LSE, after years of flirting, actually looked like securing itself a date with Borsa Italiana. But will the deal be that simple, or might some troublesome rules get in the way?
- One former star of the European hedge fund world has hit a spot of bother…
- …and in the US, Bear Stearns had a shocker – with the prospect of wider knock-on effects. We picked through the ins and outs of what might be going on in Bear’s subprime, hedge fund meltdown.
- After seemingly endless months of rumour, counter-rumour, speculation and plain guess-work, Azko Nobel confirmed its interest in taking over ICI.
- Meanwhile the rumour mill has been busy with another tale. The new hot topic is BHP Billiton and its reported interest in Alcan, the Canadian aluminium group, and/or Alcoa, its US rival.
- New research suggests that hedge funds are (finally) hitting the mainstream.
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