It's been a bleak year on Wall Street for fees from M&A activity, but Goldman Sachs has still managed to win fees from a pair of deals involving the acquisition of at least two iconic American brands. The investment bank earned $40 million from its role in Inbev's $52 billion deal to acquire Anheuser-Busch. It's also raked in another $46 million from its role in Wrigley's acquisition by Mars. Citigroup also got a piece of the Anheuser-Busch acquisition, picking up $30 million in fees.
The news wasn't all good for Goldman. Its $12.1 billion bid to take over the Pennsylvania Turnpike along with Australian toll road operator Transurban was beaten out by Albertis Infraestructuras of Barcelona, which partnered with Citigroup to bid nearly $13 billion.
Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell says the Albertis/Citi duo will increase spending on roads, bridges and tunnels along the highways that link Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton. Tolls will likely also increase about 25 percent over the next year.
Officers of the State Bank of India and seven associate banks went on a daylong nationwide strike in early August to protest the merger of State Bank of Saurashtra with SBI, the country's largest lender. More than 80,000 officers-or those most likely to be affected by redundancies created by the merger-walked off the job, interrupting the operations of more than 15,000 branches across the country. Rank-and-file workers also were expected to walk off the job in a one-day protest later that month.(c) 2008 U.S. Banker and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.americanbanker.com/usb.html/ http://www.sourcemedia.com/
