Aetna Trying to Sell Its PBM Business

Aetna is reportedly shopping around its pharmacy-benefit management business. Although Aetna has been contacted by several companies it will be awhile before it reaches a deal or even announces negotiations. Aetna expects to earn approximately $2billion from the sale.

CIT Group Inc Considers Selling Assets

CIT Groups is reportedly considering selling off more of its assets. It is believed that they will be selling its aviation and rail-financed operations. The Group has already been approached by buyers, but has rejected all bids.

BYD Acquires Bus Manufacturer

The Chinese battery and electric car manufacturer BYD in which Warren Buffett's Bershire Hathaway has invested will acquire bus manufacturer Hunan Midea Coach for RMB 60 million. It also plans to build a new plant with a capacity of 400,000 units annually.

US Dollar Will Maintain Dominance

Despite China's efforts to create a new international trade currency so as to no longer rely on the weakening US dollar, Zhang XiaoMing of the Bank of Communications Co. has stated that the Chinese Yuan will not be able to overtake the US Dollar in the marketplace for at least another decade. Zhang notes that the Chinese will have to increase the ability to use the Yuan outside of China if the Yuan is to become dominant, which will take quite some time.

BRIC Nation's Growing Power

The BRIC nations' (Brazil, Russia, India, China) have shown tremendous IPO growth over the past year. The four countries currently have the best performing stock market values and trends show that the nations will continue to grow.

SinoChem May Overtake Nufarm

Australia's Nufarm announced on July 24th that it was recently approached by SinoChem. SinoChem hopes to take over Nufarm so as to increase the company's market share as they attempt to expand into North and South America.

Why Beijing Failed to Acquire GM

Beijing Auto's Opel bid was recently rejected and sources now believe that this is due in part to fear that by selling to Beijing, GM would instead strengthen a rival and further harm themselves.

Global Stock Improvement

Stocks improved globally on the 22nd, reaching new highs for 2009. The Dow increased to over 9000 for the first time since January. This is due in part to the stabilization of the United States housing market and greater than expected corporate earnings. This gives signs of hope that consumers are developing more faith in the market.

Decline in Venture Capital Investing

During the second quarter we saw that International Venture Capital Investments took a sharp decline in comparison with last quarter and last year. This quarter fewer deals have been made, with a lower average investment. Europe seems to be getting the worst of it, with the lowest investment rates it has had in decades. There were some improvements from last quarter though as invested capital increased but it is still far from where it was in 2008.

Acquisition Limitations

According to a new European Union rule, some European banks that have been hit hard by the recession will have to limit the number of acquisitions they make each year.