| Alliance Boots bidding nears $22 billion
Until the check clears, it's really not a done deal. That's definitely the case with the buyout of Alliance Boots, the UK's largest drugstore chain.Originally, it looked like KKR would be the buyer, along with Stefano Pessina (who is the chairman of Alliance and owns 15% of the company). But, private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners has a better offer: $21.8 billion. The firm also has the financial support of the Wellcome Trust and HBOS PLC.Interestingly enough, a few hours before this bid, KKR and Pessina upped its own bid. Yes, it must be nice for Alliance shareholders. In fact, based on the activity in the stock, the betting is that there will be even more bids.Alliance does have a serious footprint, with about 3,100 stores, as well as a thriving wholesale business. Oh, and yes, there are opportunities to cut costs.
King Corn puts used equipment in hotter demand
Bob Rottier had little idea what bids to expect for the assortment of equipment at his first big farm auction of the year last weekend in Grant. But he was pretty certain a 1950s-era John Deere 290 two-row corn planter would not bring much. So the co-owner of Fremont-based Auction Connection Inc. was surprised when a man planning to grow corn on the east side of Michigan bought the planter for $550. "Five years ago, you couldn't get $100 out of them," Rottier said. Times have changed in farming, with $4 per bushel corn prices fueling optimism and pushing corn acreage nationwide up 15 percent from 2006. A U.S. Department of Agriculture study forecasts farmers will plant more than 90 million acres of corn this year, the most since 1944.
Brackets don't just hold up shelves
Take it, Mark: "Bracketology -- the practice of parsing people, places and things into discrete one-on-one matchups to determine which of the two is superior or preferable." While sports fans use it to predict which team will prevail, bracketology has busted out into pop culture. The Morning News, an online magazine, sponsors a yearly "Tournament of Books," in which guest judges (including The Decemberists' Colin Meloy) oversee matchups between books. The volume that makes it through various voting rounds without getting eliminated emerges victorious. The Web is also packed with other totally trivial, but fun, matchups devoted to finding the best band, best car, worst company, best beer and so on. But the most complete bracketology roundup is undoubtedly "The Enlightened Bracketologist," edited by Reiter and Richard Sandomir, New York Times sports TV columnist.
Flags Announce "Salute to Season Two" with Jersey Auction
(PORT HURON, MICH.) - With last night's conclusion of the Port Huron Flags' second season, the organization has planned a post-season event for Saturday, April 21, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the downstairs lounge of McMorran Arena. Salute to Season Two offers fans a chance to mingle with the team one last time, as well as enjoy light hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. The feature event of the evening will be the conclusion of the black jersey auction, which began online at the beginning of the week. A live auction will pick up with the high bids on each jersey and is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The front office staff is asking for RSVPs from those who plan to attend, by telephone at (810) 982-3524 or through email to rebekahp@porthuronflags.net The Port Huron Flags are a community owned, non-profit member club of the United Hockey League.
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