Deal Of The Week

Canadian Pacific Railway's chief said this week ``the deck was stacked against'' his pursuit of Norfolk Southern. Shouldn't that have been obvious months ago? Bloomberg Gadfly columnist Brooke Sutherland and Deal of the Week host Alex Sherman examine the failed railroad merger. Plus, TSG Consumer Partners' Hadley Mullin discusses her career highlights, including a ``scary'' deal involving Yard House restaurants, and why she's perplexed by the lack of women in private equity.

Airline takeovers don't have a good track record. That didn't stop Alaska Air from agreeing this week to pony up in a big way for Virgin America. Yet the combined company will still have to deal with many of the industry woes that have dogged previous mergers, including high fixed costs, strong unions and passengers wary of paying too much for tickets. Even Virgin founder Richard Branson is concerned Virgin America's customer service will suffer. Bloomberg M&A reporter Matt Monks joins Deal of the Week host Alex Sherman to discuss why Alaska nevertheless was willing to bet big on Virgin.

Scott Rostan used to be a mergers & acquisitions banker for Merrill Lynch. Then he was a high school teacher. He eventually found a happy medium training bankers and business school students how to do their jobs. He founded Training The Street in 1999, signing up bulge-bracket banks and universities as clients and developing a 35-person global team to teach techniques on valuation, accounting and financial analysis. He explains some of his methods and shares his own experiences in boardrooms, including a tense bidding war between Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp. for Conrail Inc., and how that battle parallels today's hostile railroad consolidation talks. Plus, Bloomberg M&A reporter Ed Hammond stops by to update host Alex Sherman (back from paternity leave) on Virgin America's talks to be acquired by JetBlue Airways and Alaska Air.

Once again, big Asian companies are eyeing trophy U.S. companies. And once again, they're paying top dollar at what may prove the market's peak. But this time, it's China, not Japan, and the prize isn't just real estate. Join Bloomberg's Ed Hammond and Tara Lachapelle to find out why Chinese insurer Anbang has joined the ranks of ``homewreckers'' on U.S. M&A deals with its battle to wrest Starwood Hotels from Marriott International. Also, hear about M&A from inside the C-suite from Priceline's Susanne Greenfield, in conversation with Jeff McCracken.

Burger King. Pfizer. Name a major M&A deal in the past three decades and chances are Eileen Nugent played a part. Join us as the co-head of M&A at Skadden Arps explains what it was like to be a woman in the male-dominated world of the 1980s and how gender inequality is finally starting to change. Guest host Jeffrey McCracken also chats with Bloomberg M&A reporter Ed Hammond on China's growing multi-billion-dollar interest in hotel chains across the U.S.

Tom Burnett, Vice Chairman and Director of Research at Wall Street Access joins the show this week. But first, guest co-host Jeffrey McCracken kicks things off with Bloomberg M&A reporter Ed Hammond discussing the potential deal between BASF and DuPont.

Cate Ambrose, president of the Latin American Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, is bullish on private investments in nations including Mexico and Brazil. Still, she's seeing the largest global private equity firms hold on to investments for longer, aiming to boost returns as Latin American currencies slide against the dollar. Deal of the Week host Alex Sherman also chats with Bloomberg M&A reporter Matt Monks, who broke the news that Intercontinental Exchange and CME Group are both interested in challenging Deutsche Boerse's offer to buy London Stock Exchange Group, a move that may prompt a bidding war for the U.K. exchange.

Eric Zinterhofer, chairman of Charter Communications Inc. and co-founder of Searchlight Capital Partners, says Charter management was caught by surprise by Comcast Corp.'s behind-the-scenes attempt to usurp its $80 billion deal for Time Warner Cable. ``Blindsided is probably an understatement,'' he says. Zinterhofer reflects on Charter's journey from bankruptcy to potential cable giant and discusses why he left Apollo Management for Searchlight with Bloomberg's Alex Sherman and Kiel Porter. Plus, Bloomberg M&A reporter Ed Hammond chats about the likelihood of a merger between Honeywell International and United Technologies.

The Female Founders Fund is a venture capital firm that invests seed money in companies founded by women. But the firm's motive isn't to promote women's rights -- it's to make money. Partner Sutian Dong explains why the venture capital community undervalues companies founded by women and discusses some of her fund's most interesting and potentially lucrative investments. Plus, Google buying insurance giant American International Group? It sounds crazy. Maybe it is, Bloomberg reporter Sonali Basak tells Alex Sherman, but that's not stopping Citigroup analysts from proposing what would be a $100 billion deal.

He's worked side-by-side with George Steinbrenner and befriended Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. He sold the Charlotte Bobcats to Michael Jordan and helped transform the Golden State Warriors by pushing to sell the team to Joe Lacob instead of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Sal Galatioto is the man behind many of the biggest ownership switches in professional athletics, working as an M&A adviser for almost 20 years. He explains why he can identify a top-notch owner in just a few minutes and shares stories about working with some of the biggest names -- and egos -- in sports. Plus, Bloomberg reporter Brian Womack and host Alex Sherman discuss Bloomberg's latest scoop on Verizon's interest in buying Yahoo.

Kurt Simon, JPMorgan's global head of M&A, spends his days chatting with bosses of the world's biggest companies, fighting off corporate raiders like Carl Icahn and striking deals with the help of colleagues including Jamie Dimon. Simon shares his tales of a career that began during the Liars Poker era at Salomon Brothers on this episode of ``Deal of the Week.'' Plus, Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier explains to host Alex Sherman why there seems to be a new rumor about Twitter getting sold each and every week.

Carlyle Group's revision of its deal for Symantec Corp.'s Veritas last week made waves throughout the leveraged buyout industry. Bankers, lawyers and private equity partners are wondering whether other transactions, such as Vista Equity Partners' $6.5 billion acquisition of Solera Holdings Inc., may be rewritten with a lower price. Ropes & Gray partner Steven Rutkovsky explains why the market for deals with a lot of debt has suddenly become somewhat weak. In addition, Bloomberg reporters David Welch and Jennifer Surane take apart Johnson Controls's proposed takeover of Tyco International -- the latest deal that allows a company to shed its U.S. corporate citizenship in search of lower taxes overseas.

When the biggest companies prepare to announce mergers and acquisitions, they frequently hire specialized public relations firms. Steve Lipin, who heads the M&A practice at Brunswick Group, talks about what happens when M&A stories leak, how he handles anxious clients and how he helps companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Pfizer and Pepsi explain to both investors and reporters why they're buying and selling businesses. Plus, Bloomberg media reporter Gerry Smith tells us why Univision, known for its Spanish-language television, is buying a large stake in The Onion, the satirical news group. Deal of the Week host Alex Sherman and Smith also share their favorite Onion headlines.

This week we look at M&A through the lens of private equity, a $3 trillion-plus industry behind many of today's corporate takeovers. Our guest is Paul Levy, who since 1988 has led JLL Partners, a New York leveraged buyout firm. Levy, who's had a ringside seat for private equity's explosive growth and evolution, talks about the highs and lows of his colorful career. Even as he slams the buyout world's obsession with short-term profits, he stoutly defends it against the accusation that it slashes jobs and strips value from companies. We also examine the three-way merger talks involving Nexstar, Meredith and Media General.

(Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's three U.S. M&A reporters, Ed Hammond, Matt Monks and Alex Sherman, talk shop about their careers and shed light on the misperceptions about why sources talk and how they break stories. If you've ever been interested in how M&A news leaks, you'll want to listen to their conversation. Hammond also talks about this week's biggest deal news, and a story he helped break, Shire Plc's bid to acquire Baxalta Inc. for more than $32 billion.

(Bloomberg) -- Intralinks doesn't own a crystal ball, yet the company says its proprietary technology comes close to predicting the future for mergers and acquisitions. Companies use Intralinks to conduct due diligence on potential M&A targets. That means Intralinks has information on what sort of deals are coming about six months before they're announced. Intralinks' Matt Porzio joins Alex Sherman to spill the beans on what kind of deals we'll see in the first half of 2016. Plus, Bloomberg's Aaron Kirchfeld helped break the news on China National Chemical Corp.'s revised bid to acquire Swiss pesticide-maker Syngenta, valued at more than $35 billion. He explains why that deal -- or one between Syngenta and Monsanto Co. -- will probably happen in the coming weeks.

Greenhill & Co. Chief Executive Officer Scott Bok joins Alex to talk about his firm's decision to go public a decade ago and why he prefers to work on the corporate side amid the rise of activist investors such as Bill Ackman and Nelson Peltz. That's not all: Jeff McCracken, Bloomberg's managing editor for global MNA, rejoins the show after a two-week hiatus to discuss the latest megamerger in a year of megamergers.

(Bloomberg) – Bloomberg Gadfly columnist Brooke Sutherland joins Alex Sherman for a peek into the future of mergers after a record-setting year for M&A that spanned the globe and crossed every industry. What's next following a year that saw the biggest-ever deals for drugs, food and beer? Brooke lays out her top five predictions -– and some of the names may surprise you.

(Bloomberg) -- Rob Townsend, who co-chairs the global M&A business at Morrison & Foerster, has some gloomy news for folks chomping at the bit for more tech mergers: We may already have reached the peak. Townsend, who spent time in Tokyo working with billionaire Masayoshi Son, weighs in on whether the tech slowdown signals a slump in mergers overall. Some deals may be alive, though. We also grill Bloomberg's London-based Manuel Baigorri on his scoop that Orange SA might be considering a merger with other European telecom companies such as Telecom Italia SpA.

(Bloomberg) -- In this episode, Alex and Global M&A Managing Editor McCracken discuss the largest deal of the year and the biggest health care deal ever, Pfizer Inc. and Allergan Plc's $160 billion merger. They ponder whether the deal, constructed so that Pfizer will pay lower taxes by domiciling in Ireland, opens the door for more so-called inversions just as the U.S. Treasury tries to crack down on them. Frank Aquila, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, joins Alex and Jeff to compare M&A in the 1980s with the present day, crediting companies and their advisers for doing smarter deals now, while regretting one particular merger that never got done.