Bid & Ask: The Deals of the Week

By Caroline Winter

1. Martin Marietta Materials made a hostile $4.8 billion bid for Vulcan Materials. Vulcan shares rose above the offer price, so the company may need to sweeten the proposal.

2. Sydney-based Whitehaven Coal will buy billionaire Nathan Tinkler?s Australian mining assets for at least $2.8 billion in stock, taking the total value of coal deals this year to a record.

3. China Gas Holdings, which pipes natural gas to the mainland from Hong Kong, rejected a $2 billion offer from ENN Energy Holdings and China Petroleum & Chemical.

4. MarkWest Energy Partners is buying the 49 percent of MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources it doesn?t own for $1 billion in cash and securities worth about $800 million.

5. An investor group led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo will purchase Internet-security software maker Blue Coat Systems for about $1.3 billion.

6. Canadian phone companies Rogers Communications and BCE will pay $1.3 billion for a controlling stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, gaining ownership of the National Hockey League?s most valuable team.

7. Jive Software raised $161.3 million in its IPO. That was 38 percent more than the Palo Alto-based social networking software maker first sought.

8. A necklace featuring a 50.6-carat pearl given to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton fetched $11.8 million at a Christie?s auction. The 16th century pearl was depicted in a painting by Vel�zquez.

9. A three-page contract that established Apple Computer, signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on Apr. 1, 1976, sold for $1.6 million at Sotheby?s.

10. A perfectly preserved 5-inch Tyrannosaurus rex tooth discovered in Montana late last summer sold for $56,250 at a Bonhams Natural History auction.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/bid-amp-ask-the-deals-of-the-week-12152011-gfx.html

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