WSF Headline Roundup - 12/29/08 - Rohm & Haas deal in trouble $ROH; IndyMac finally sold?; Pound drops to record low vs euro; Unions looking for payback from Obama for their support; Steel industry production gloom; Retail gloom

• Rohm & Haas Stock Falls As Dow Chem Deal in Kuwait Scuttled
• IndyMac Is Set to Be Sold to Private Investors
• Dune Capital Is Potential Buyer for IndyMac
• Pound drops to fresh record low against euro
• Unions Look for New Life in World of Obama
• GM, Chrysler to Thin Dealer Ranks as U.S. Gives Aid
• KBC Says Writedowns to Cut Results by EU900 Million
• Steel output set for historic drop
• Mitsui Sumitomo, Aioi, Nissay Said to Discuss Merger
• Holiday Sales Slump to Force U.S. Store Closings, Bankruptcies
• Music industry looks to internet for revival

Rohm & Haas Stock Falls As Dow Chem Deal in Kuwait Scuttled - DJ via CNNMoney

Rohm & Haas Co. (ROH) stock price tumbled before the opening bell after Kuwait scuttled a multibillion-dollar joint-venture deal with Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) that was set to take effect Thursday, potentially complicating the $15.3 billion acquisition of the specialty chemical maker.

Rohm & Haas shares were down 16% to $53.55 in pre-market trading. Dow Chemical was off 0.4% to $18.85.

Analysts have said for some time that if the Kuwait deal was canceled, it would call into question Dow's Rohm & Haas acquisition, which is slated to close in early 2009. But Rohm & Haas said in a statement Sunday that a deal between Dow and Kuwait "is not a closing condition" for Dow's acquisition of the company. It said Rohm & Haas "continues to work diligently towards completing the proposed transaction with Dow in early 2009.".....

IndyMac Is Set to Be Sold to Private Investors - NY Times

IndyMac Bancorp, one of the largest banks to fail as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis, is close to being sold to a consortium of private equity and hedge fund firms, people briefed on the matter told DealBook.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, along with a team of former Lehman Brothers bankers who are now with Deutsche Bank and Barclays Capital, have been engaged in the sale process since federal regulators declared IndyMac insolvent in July and seized the company. The deal could be announced as soon as Monday, these people said....

The buyers include private equity firms J.C. Flowers & Company and Dune Capital Management and the hedge fund firm Paulson & Company, these people said.....

Dune Capital Is Potential Buyer for IndyMac - Wall Street Journal

New York private-equity firm Dune Capital Management L.P. has emerged as a potential buyer of the failed IndyMac Bank, according to people familiar with the situation.

An announcement could come as soon as Monday.

The new owner is expected to have a federal thrift charter, someone familiar with the matter said.

Founded in 2004, Dune is led by two former Goldman Sachs & Co. executives, Steve Mnuchin and Dan Neidich. Its general counsel declined comment Sunday and referred inquiries to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which seized control of IndyMac in July and has been seeking a buyer ever since....

Pound drops to fresh record low against euro - Financial Times

The pound dropped to a fresh record low against the euro on Monday, falling closer to parity against the single currency on expectations that UK interest rates are heading lower. 

The pound has suffered against the euro – dropping a record 17 per cent this month alone – as investors bet that the Bank of England will slash interest rates, which currently at 2 per cent, at its policy meeting next month...

Unions Look for New Life in World of Obama - NY Times

Unions are looking to Barack Obama and rising economic anxiety to reverse organized labor’s long slide.

Through three decades of decline, union leaders have been predicting a renaissance that has not come. But labor invested more than $300 million to help elect Mr. Obama and enlarge the Democratic majority in Congress, and it expects both to enact legislation that will make it easier for millions of workers to unionize. 

Skeptics say the outlook for labor is as bleak as ever.....

GM, Chrysler to Thin Dealer Ranks as U.S. Gives Aid - Bloomberg

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are due to get $4 billion each in U.S. loans today to keep them from running out of cash. They’re still looking for help with one of their biggest challenges. 

A U.S. dealership glut is damping the retailers’ profits, crimping spending on marketing, facilities and vehicles, GM and Chrysler say. GM set a goal of closing 1,750 showrooms, or 27 percent, over four years while Chrysler said it wants to thin its 3,300 dealerships, without setting a target. 

Franchise laws and possible legal action by dealers may make it difficult to achieve the cuts, which were a pillar of the survival plans the automakers gave Congress on Dec. 2. GM had to spend more than $1 billion on its 2000 plan to shut its Oldsmobile unit, in part due to lawsuits over forced closures....

KBC Says Writedowns to Cut Results by EU900 Million - Bloomberg

KBC Group NV, Belgium’s biggest financial-services company by market value, said writedowns on structured investments will cut fourth-quarter earnings by 900 million euros ($1.28 billion). 

The markdowns follow Moody’s Investors Service’s downgrade of some collateralized debt obligations held by KBC “amid the deteriorating outlook for the global economy,” the Brussels- based financial-services company said today in a statement. 

KBC, which got a 3.5 billion-euro injection from the Belgian government to help it weather the credit crunch, reported in November the first quarterly loss since its creation in a 1998 merger. Financial institutions worldwide have posted more than $1 trillion of credit losses and markdowns since the start of last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.....

Steel output set for historic drop - Financial Times

The steel business faces a fall in production in 2009 of at least 10 per cent, analysts say. This would be the biggest year-on-year fall for more than 60 years.

According to the gloomiest projections, it could be at least four years before output returns to the levels of 2007.

This would make the period of the expected downturn only the fifth occasion in the past century, leaving aside times of world war, when a slump in the steel industry has lasted four years or longer...

Mitsui Sumitomo, Aioi, Nissay Said to Discuss Merger - Bloomberg

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings Inc., Aioi Insurance Co. and Nissay Dowa General Insurance Co. are in talks to create Japan’s largest non-life insurer, two people familiar with the negotiations said. 

The three companies, with a combined market value of about 1.8 trillion yen ($20 billion), may merge as early as the second half of 2009, one of the people said. Both declined to be identified because a final decision hasn’t been made. 

The insurers are under pressure to cut costs as premiums fell at all three companies in the fiscal first half. Demand for auto insurance, which accounts for 55 percent of premium revenue at Mitsui Sumitomo, is falling as vehicle sales in Japan head for the lowest this year since 1974 amid a declining population and the nation’s first recession since 2001......

Holiday Sales Slump to Force U.S. Store Closings, Bankruptcies - Bloomberg

U.S. retailers face a wave of store closings, bankruptcies and takeovers starting next month as holiday sales are shaping up to be the worst in 40 years. 

Retailers will close 12,000 stores in 2009, according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of retail consulting and investment- banking firm Davidowitz & Associates Inc. in New York. AnnTaylor Stores Corp., Talbots Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp. are among chains shuttering underperforming locations. 

More than a dozen retailers, including Circuit City Stores Inc., Linens ‘n Things Inc., Sharper Image Corp. and Steve & Barry’s LLC, have sought bankruptcy protection this year as the credit squeeze and recession drained sales. The holiday results indicate possible consolidation and further bankruptcy filings, according to Gilbert Harrison, chief executive officer of retail advisory firm Financo Inc....

Music industry looks to internet for revival - Financial Times

A generation after the launch of MTV, major record labels are hoping to revive the music video business online by creating a single digital destination for their artists’ output.

Plans under discussion include: a partnership with Hulu, the online television and film joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal; the creation of a premium service on YouTube, Google’s video sharing site; or, a standalone venture between some or all of the four largest recorded music groups....