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The co-founder of German online retailer Zalando said the firm will focus this year on getting its core markets to profitability amid mounting speculation the fashion site could be ready for a listing as early as 2014, writes Reuters. Zalando is backed by JP Morgan Asset Management and Quadrant Capital.

Reuters – The co-founder of German online retailer Zalando said on Wednesday the firm will focus this year on getting its core markets to profitability amid mounting speculation the fashion site could be ready for a listing as early as 2014.

Online retailers have been giving their brick-and-mortar rivals in Europe a run for their money, taking advantage of what has been a slow shift by high street shops to the Internet.

Zalando has been extending its lead over British rival ASOS Plc as Europe’s largest online fashion site, expanding from shoes to clothes and now selling over 1,000 brands. It doubled 2012 net sales to 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion).

But the growth-oriented fashion site, founded in 2008, is still loss-making as it spends to boost brand awareness to get its name out on television shows like Germany’s Next Top Model.

ASOS, which mostly targets young women, had sales of 538 million pounds ($870 million) in the year through August. Pre-tax profit was 40 million pounds.

Zalando co-founder Robert Gentz said margins were stabilising and that the firm was working to get its core DACH region – Germany, Austria and Switzerland – to profitability.

“The DACH area broke even last year and is working on a profitable path for this year,” he told Reuters at an investor day for Zalando’s biggest owner, Swedish investment firm Kinnevik.

Kinnevik holds a 35 percent stake, of which 26 percent is held directly and 9 percent indirectly through venture capital firm Rocket Internet.

Kinnevik, which has been raising its exposure to e-commerce, last year bought an additional 10 percent of Zalando at a price that valued the total company at 2.8 billion euros.

Despite Zalando not being profitable, there has been much speculation amongst bankers and in the media about a possible listing of the firm as early as next year.

Banks have started to contact Zalando in the hope of winning any mandate, banking sources have told Reuters.

Gentz said there were currently no IPO plans in the works and that the focus would be on building up its presence in its 14 existing European markets.

That may mean more investments in the year ahead.

“It seems Zalando follows a similar approach to Amazon – they focus more on growing sales rather than profits for now,” said Christodoulos Chaviaras, a Barclays analyst.

So while some may hope for an IPO which, a float may be a ways off. Based on Kinnevik’s investment, it would be Western Europe’s biggest tech offering since German internet service provider T-Online listed in 2000.

“Zalando has great potential to become a successful IPO candidate, but in a first step the company must show it can make money,” said one banker.

Zalando offers a free, but what analysts say is a costly, return policy in all markets. Gentz said an average of 50 percent of goods were returned, but that it was well worked into its business models.

Zalando has no plans to launch in new countries this year and said it is backing off in Britain where competition has been fierce.

“We’ve launched a UK website, but we do not focus on that market because it is an extremely different market from continental Europe,” Gentz said. “As long as we do not see very good (performance) in UK, we would not focus that much on getting that market. It is quite hard to compete if you are a new entrant coming from continental Europe.”

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GlaxoSmithKline is to sell soft drink brands Lucozade and Ribena in a move analysts believe will raise over 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) and focus its consumer health business on global products, writes Reuters. The plan was announced alongside first-quarter results that saw sales at Britain’s biggest drugmaker drop a slightly smaller-than-expected 3 percent from a year ago.

Reuters – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) is to sell soft drink brands Lucozade and Ribena in a move analysts believe will raise over 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) and focus its consumer health business on global products.

The plan was announced on Wednesday alongside first-quarter results that saw sales at Britain’s biggest drugmaker drop a slightly smaller-than-expected 3 percent from a year ago.

GSK launched a strategic review of the two drink brands earlier this year, ruling nothing in or out for their future. Most analysts had focused on the idea of a sale, which is likely to attract interest from private equity and trade buyers.

Chief Executive Andrew Witty told reporters there had been significant interest in the products, though the decision to pursue a sale was “subject to appropriate value realisation”.

Japan’s Suntory Holdings SUNTH.UL has been tipped as a possible buyer after previously buying soft drinks maker Orangina Schweppes for more than 300 billion yen ($3.0 billion) and New Zealand’s No. 2 beverage firm Funcor Group in 2009.

A Suntory spokeswoman declined to comment on the company’s potential interest but, when asked about a recent report that it was in talks with banks about assembling a knockout bid, said: “We don’t acknowledge this report as factual.”

Private equity firms are also hungry for deals and the strong cashflows generated by Lucozade and Ribena could attract the likes of Blackstone (BX.N), BC Partners BCPRT.UL, PAI, Lion Capital, Bain Capital, CVC Capital Partners CVC.UL and KKR (KKR.N).

Officials at the private equity houses declined to comment.

Lucozade and Ribena no longer fit well in GSK’s portfolio, since the company is focusing its consumer health operations increasingly on emerging markets, where both brands are relatively weak.

Although GSK does not break out detailed sales for the two products, they bring in nearly 600 million pounds a year, with much of that generated in Britain.

Both are veteran products – Lucozade was launched in 1927 and Ribena introduced just 10 years later – but remain popular. Assuming potential buyers are prepared to pay two times sales, that would point to a valuation of some 1.2 billion pounds.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank said they believed the two brands should bring in more than 1.5 billion pounds.

MATURE PRODUCTS SPIN-OFF?

GSK also said it was creating a new global established products portfolio, consisting of around 50 medicines with annual sales of some 3 billion pounds, including stomach acid treatments Tagamet and Zantac, Imitrex for migraine, and anti-nausea treatment Zofran.

Witty said placing these so-called “tail” products in a division that would report separately from next January opened various options, but he declined to say if the division might be sold off at a later stage.

Jefferies analysts, however, said the formation of the portfolio “looks like a precursor to a spin-off to us”.

GSK’s group sales in the first quarter fell 3 percent to 6.47 billion pounds, generating flat core earnings per share (EPS) of 26.9 pence.

Analysts, on average, had forecast sales of 6.40 billion pounds and core EPS, which excludes certain items, of 25.0p, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The three months to end-March were always going to be tough, due to a difficult comparison with a year earlier when GSK booked revenue from over-the-counter products and an incontinence drug that have since been sold.

GSK is expecting better times ahead as its pipeline starts to deliver – and it reiterated its 2013 expectations for sales growth, at constant exchange rates, of around 1 percent and core EPS growth of 3-4 percent.

Witty is banking on a number of new drugs to revive its fortunes in the next few years, including six that have already been submitted for approval in lung disease, melanoma, diabetes and HIV/AIDS.

Hopes for its new drug pipeline received a boost last week when a U.S. advisory panel recommended approval of Breo for smoking-related lung damage. The Food and Drug Administration is due to decide on the drug – a follow-on to GSK’s top-seller Advair – by May 12.

At 1230 GMT, GSK shares were little changed at 1,681 pence.

(Additional reporting by Anjuli Davies and James Topham; Editing by Kate Kelland and Mark Potter)

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Private equity groups are paying themselves and their investors by getting the European firms they own to raise cash by issuing debt in volumes not seen since before the financial crisis, writes Reuters. This is common when the economy is healthy because companies can use profits to meet repayments but is controversial at a time when the economic environment in Europe is poor, writes Reuters.

Reuters – Private equity groups are paying themselves and their investors by getting the European firms they own to raise cash by issuing debt in volumes not seen since before the financial crisis.

This is common when the economy is healthy because companies can use profits to meet repayments but is controversial at a time when the economic environment in Europe is poor.

Some European companies have even started issuing high-risk bonds known as payment-in-kind, or PIK notes to pay dividends to their private equity backers. They allow borrowers to defer interest payments, creating a major problem if they cannot repay in full when the bonds are due.

The practice, known as dividend recapitalisation, has been widespread in the United States but data shows it has now taken off in Europe because debt markets are liquid and private equity groups have been unable to raise cash in more traditional ways, for example by selling stakes in a company.

“You’ve had the perfect environment to get deals done…When the debt markets are so hot, you have to take advantage of the liquidity,” said David Parker, a partner at Marlborough Partners, which advises private equity companies.

“Given the state of the market, it’s inevitable a few more will get done.”

According to S&P Leveraged Commentary and Data, private equity owners have extracted 2.3 billion euros from their European businessesin the first quarter of 2013 through high-yield bonds and loans.

Dividend recapitalisation volumes this year are on track to match the 10 billion euros seen on the eve of the financial crisis in 2007, the S&P data shows, and compare with just 1.9 billion euros for 2012 and 800 million euros in 2011.

Firms to have made dividend recaps in 2013 include Advent and Bain’s WorldPay, KKR’s Pets at Home and Blackstone’s Spanish metal packaging firm Mivisa.

Bridgepoint has also said it wants to raise additional debt for its German chemicals maker CABB and banking sources told Reuters LPC last week this would be used partly to fund a dividend payment. Shopping firm Global Blue’s owner Silver Lake is among others mulling a dividend recap.

Orange Switzerland, owned by Apax Partners, and CVC Capital Partners-owned Sunrise Communications have issued euro-denominated PIK notes this year, to pay their private equity backers, and more are expected to follow.

UNPOPULAR

Existing company bondholders and bankers dislike dividend recapitalisations because it adds to a firm’s debt and reduces the private equity group’s exposure.

PIKs are particularly controversial, even when used to raise general company debt rather than to pay private equity owners. For example, they contributed to the collapse of British clothing chain Peacocks last year.

Using the debt markets for dividend recapitalisations is more common in the United States, where volumes hit $41.9 billion last year. High-yield bond markets are deeper and more developed in the U.S., and investors there have been hungry for the better returns high-yield and PIK notes offer over standard bonds.

Loading companies with more, and riskier, debt is likely to spark criticism of the private equity industry if firms get into financial difficulties in future. But buyout houses will likely push ahead with recaps as long as the mergers and acquisitions and initial public offering markets remain shut.

“Deals take much longer to get done than they have in the past. Investors want much more detail before committing and are still very nervous about the macro environment,” Adrian Balcombe, a partner at advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal, said.

Industry executives say criticism of today’s dividend recap deals is unwarranted because the firms they own spent the recession paying down debt, leaving them in a stronger position to borrow more now.

“We’ve considered a dividend recap for a couple of our companies which could certainly get one away. In many cases the recaps are taking leverage to 3 or 4 times (earnings) and not the 6 or 7 times before the crisis,” said one private equity executive at a London-based firm, asking not to be named.

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With a day job dedicated to preaching the virtues of education – and how it should improve, I recently felt obliged to get my hands ‘dirty’ once more and enrolled on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to see what all the fuss was about. If Khadijaah Niazi, an 11 year old girl from Lahore could enroll and pass a Udacity Physics course (a Stanford University spin-off), what was I afraid of?

Random control trials and the behaviour of the poor sounded interesting, so without cost or hassle I quickly enrolled on the MOOC: The Challenges of Global Poverty run by the edX consortium of MOOC’s, with ‘celebrity’ professors Duflo and Banerjee (authors of Poor Economics) from the Jameel Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) leading the course.

With a fairly slow broadband connection at home, I found myself staying up late 1 or 2 evenings a week to read the fascinating online material (e.g. Why do some people starve themselves to buy TVs or not bother to get kids vaccinated?), watch YouTube videos (complete with script) and attempt quizzes that pass for homework in collaboration with 35,000 other students around the globe. Not having to write essays was a big plus, but the multiple choice questions set were searching and the bulletin boards posted showed fellow student’s desperate pleas for help and occasional hints. I presume the moderators stop obvious cheating – I haven’t encountered any answer sharing online!

Despite conflicting international travel and some tired early mornings I’m over the hump and should finish in a few weeks. In theory I will have 12 credits to a degree, although this is where the business model will kick-in as the MOOC organizers try to convert mass online activity into profit, for example by charging for accreditation and certificates that accumulate to recognized qualifications.

Will MOOCs revolutionise the delivery of tertiary education in developing countries like Tanzania? This is a question of great interest, can they bypass the financial and bureaucratic challenges faced by poor but capable, intelligent students? I hope so! This is the sort of initiative that DFID may support in the future, internally we’re crystal ball gazing to understand the trends across the whole spectrum of development and ensure we have the necessary ideas, tools and skills to respond to such challenges in the future.

In Tanzania COSTECH the government technology and innovation agency is partnering with the World Bank to launch a MOOC using content from 1 of the major new providers Coursera. It will focus on IT skills and knowledge, seeking to support college students to become employable – a common complaint is that current Tanzanian school and college graduates lack the rounded skill-set that employers seek.

I feel it is likely that there will need to be a lot more adaption of content, delivery models and support mechanism to realize these benefits. Internet access is erratic and expensive, but perhaps more of a barrier will be language and cultural issues for students who may be unaccustomed to student centred, but independent and at the same time collaborative, learning.

Dynamic Yield has secured $2 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded in 2012, Dynamic Yield is a developer of yield optimization products for websites.

PRESS RELEASE

Dynamic Yield, a developer of real-time audience personalization software that increases revenue yield and key engagement metrics for online publishers and e-commerce websites, today announced that it has secured $2 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The New York Times Company and investment fund Innovation Endeavors also participated in the round. Self-funded to date, the company plans to use the proceeds to expand its global footprint by opening a New York City office and support the growth of its expanding customer base.
In today’s complex business environment, publishers and e-commerce sites face increased pressure to more effectively monetize their visiting user traffic. Dynamic Yield solves this problem by providing website owners with an automated SaaS solution that measures the revenue impact of each page layout and individual in-page components. Subsequently, its real-time personalization algorithms can be directed to increase overall revenue yield by increasing user engagement, ad clicks, product purchases, social sharing and page-views.
Dynamic Yield also provides a comprehensive Audience module that helps website owners understand who are their most valuable users, why they are valuable and how to increase reach, engagement and revenues from existing and new traffic channels. With an understanding that publishers lack the time and resources to go through complex integration projects, Dynamic Yield has focused on making the product easy to deploy and manage.
Dynamic Yield is currently powering nearly a billion monthly page-views.
“We supposedly live in an era of dynamic, personalized web experiences, yet data loads and algorithmic capacity have kept the vast majority of websites largely static,” said Liad Agmon, co-founder and CEO of Dynamic Yield. “We have shown in the past twelve months that our low-touch SaaS solution has significant and far reaching effect on our clients’ bottom-lines.”
“There are a lot of tools and services in the market to optimize discreet components of a website,” said Adam Fisher of Bessemer, “but nothing that takes a holistic view of how to maximize revenue across revenue sources and yet improve user engagement and satisfaction at the same time. With its big data approach, Dynamic Yield helps website owners achieve this difficult balance, while still allowing for editorial control. We are excited for the opportunity to support Liad, a former Bessemer EIR, and believe that Dynamic Yield has come up with an innovative solution to a global market challenge.”
About Dynamic Yield
Founded in 2012, Dynamic Yield is a developer of yield optimization products for websites. Its algorithmic tools help website owners measure revenue yield and serve personalized user experiences, boosting engagement, ad clicks, product purchases and overall user value. The company has offices in Tel-Aviv.

About Bessemer Venture Partners
With $4.0 billion under management, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) (www.bvp.com) is a global venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Mass., New York, Mumbai, Bangalore and Herzliya, Israel. BVP delivers a broad platform in venture capital spanning industries, geographies, and stages of company growth. From Staples to Skype, VeriSign to Yelp, LinkedIn to Pinterest, BVP has helped incubate and support companies that have anchored significant shifts in the economy. More than 100 BVP-funded companies have gone public on exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia.

Contact Information
Media Contact:
For press inquiries, contact
Dynamic Yield
Email Contact

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Rare Element Resources has appointed Lowell A. Shonk, a financial professional with more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry, to its board of directors. He will also serve as the board’s audit committee chair. Shonk is the vice chairman of Cupric Canyon Capital, a private equity company in partnership with Barclays Capital focused on investing in early stage copper projects worldwide.

PRESS RELEASE

Rare Element Resources Ltd. (NYSE Amex:REE)(NYSE MKT:REE)(TSX:RES) (the “Company”) announced today that Lowell A. Shonk, a financial professional with more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry, has joined its Board of Directors as of April 23, 2013 and will serve as the Board’s Audit Committee Chair. At the same time, Paul H. Zink, a director since early 2012, has tendered his resignation in order to devote his time to his new position as Chief Executive Officer of Americas Bullion Royalty Corp.
Mr. Shonk has held numerous financial-related positions in the last 30 years in companies in the copper, molybdenum, gold, coal, iron ore, industrial minerals and lithium extractive and processing industries, both domestically and internationally. Mr. Shonk served as Vice President of Financial Operations and Analysis at Phelps Dodge Corporation and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold from 1999 through 2009. Prior to that, he spent 20 years in finance roles, including Controller/Chief Financial Officer for various divisions of Cyprus Amax and its predecessor mining companies. Mr. Shonk is the Vice Chairman of Cupric Canyon Capital LP/LLC (“Cupric”), a private equity company in partnership with Barclays Capital focused on investing in early-stage copper projects worldwide. He served as CEO in 2012 and early 2013 and serves as a director for Hana Mining Co. Ltd., a formerly TSX-listed company that Cupric acquired in 2013. He also serves as Chairman of Eiseb Exploration and Mining, Ltd., a privately owned company 55% owned by Cupric, conducting copper and silver exploration in Namibia. Mr. Shonk has a Masters degree from Colorado School of Mines in Mineral Economics and an MBA from the University of Colorado in Finance and Accounting. He is currently the chairman of the audit committee of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME).
“Lowell is the definition of the modern miner – well versed in geology but, equally important, possessing the financial background to understand what it takes to develop and operate a profitable mine,” said Donald E. Ranta, Rare Element’s Chairman of the Board. “With his high-level executive mining experience, especially in financing, strategic planning and valuation, we believe he is an excellent addition to the team as we bring the Bear Lodge rare earth project into production.”
Mr. Zink tendered his resignation to the Board on April 23, 2013 in order to focus his attention on developing Americas Bullion Royalty Corp., the mining industry’s newest royalty company. “We are excited for Paul and the opportunity before him. He has been a valuable contributor to the Board in the past year, and we expect that Americas Bullion will benefit as we did from his experience and insights,” concluded Mr. Ranta.
Rare Element Resources Ltd. is a publicly traded mineral resource company focused on exploration and development of rare-earth elements (REEs), with a significant distribution of critical rare earths (CREEs). In addition to the REE exploration and evaluation efforts, the Company controls the Sundance gold project, which is located on the same property in Wyoming.
Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contact Information
Rare Element Resources Ltd.
Robbin Lee
720-278-2462

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State Street Corporation has appointed Dr. Markus Steiner as head of State Street Global Services’ business in Switzerland. Dr. Steiner will assume his new role on July 1, 2013.

PRESS RELEASE

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) today announced the appointment of Dr. Markus Steiner to head of State Street Global Services’ business in Switzerland.

Dr. Steiner will assume his new role on July 1, 2013. To ensure a seamless transition and as part of a planned succession, a handover phase with current managing director René Charrière, will take place between now and July. Following the transition, Mr. Charrière will assume a senior relationship management role for select Swiss-based accounts.
Dr. Steiner has more than 22 years of professional experience in the asset management and investment fund industry, and he has held leading positions in fund management and product development in the Swiss and European fund markets. He also possesses extensive regulatory expertise from his active participation in the Swiss regulatory landscape. Most recently, he served as head of UBS Fund Management Switzerland AG for more than 13 years.
Commenting on the appointment, Jörg Ambrosius, senior vice president of State Street said, “We’re privileged to welcome Markus Steiner to State Street’s management team in Zurich as he brings a wealth of experience to the role. We look forward to working with him. With Dr. Steiner’s appointment and René Charrière taking on a key relationship management role, we are well positioned to further expand our business in Switzerland.”
About State Street Corporation
State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is one of the world’s leading providers of financial services to institutional investors including investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading. With $25.4 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $2.2 trillion in assets under management at March 31, 2013, State Street operates in more than 100 geographic markets worldwide, including the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. For more information, visit State Street’s web site at www.statestreet.com.

This AUM includes the assets of the SPDR Gold Trust (approx. $62.7 billion as of March 31, 2013), for which State Street Global Markets, LLC, an affiliate of State Street Global Advisors, serves as the marketing agent.

Lydia Cambata
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Account Manager
Phone | 020 7282 1082 | 07939 153 721
E-Mail | [email protected]
Address | 3 London Wall Buildings | London Wall | EC2M 5SY
www.citigatedewerogerson.co.uk

Citigate Dewe Rogerson Ltd is registered in England NO 2184041. Registered office is 15-17 Huntsworth Mews, London, NW1 6DD.

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LKQ Corporation has agreed to acquire Sator Beheer, a distributor of auto parts, tools and equipment headquartered in Schiedam, the Netherlands, for approximately $268 million. Baird acted as the sole financial advisor to LKQ on the deal, which is still subject to customary closing conditions. The sellers were H2 Equity Partners, a private equity firm, and Sator management.

PRESS RELEASE

Today’s announcement that LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ: LKQX) has agreed to acquire Sator Beheer BV (“Sator”), a leading distributor of auto parts, tools and equipment headquartered in Schiedam, the Netherlands, for approximately $268 million marks another successful transatlantic M&A deal for Baird, an employee-owned, international financial services firm. Baird acted as the sole financial advisor to LKQ on the deal, which is still subject to customary closing conditions. The sellers were H2 Equity Partners, a private equity firm, and Sator management.

The transaction underscores Baird’s expertise in the automotive aftermarket parts distribution space and the global reach of its M&A platform. In late 2011, Baird acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Euro Car Parts Limited, the leading U.K. aftermarket distributor of parts for cars and light commercial vehicles, in its sale to LKQ for up to $435 million. Today’s deal also marks the 14th Baird-advised M&A transaction involving a Netherlands-based firm.

Baird’s fully-integrated, international deal team was led by David Silver, Head of European Investment Banking, and Adam Czaia, Director.

“We are pleased to continue our partnership with LKQ on this acquisition,” said Czaia. “Baird’s Investment Banking group has worked with the company several times over the past few years in different capacities, and we are delighted to have provided a great outcome.

Silver added, “This transaction illustrates what we believe to be the early stages of European consolidation in the automotive aftermarket parts distribution sector. The deal builds nicely on LKQ’s 2011 acquisition of Euro Car Parts.”

Established in 1998, LKQ Corporation is the largest North American source for quality recycled auto parts and the largest U.S. distributor of alternative collision replacement auto parts, with 2012 sales of more than $4.1 billion. Sator is the market-leading distributor of spare parts for the automotive aftermarket industry in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Northern France, and the parent company of eight operating subsidiaries. H2 Equity Partners is an independent private equity firm founded in 1991, with offices in Amsterdam, Cologne and London. H2 Equity Partners and Management acquired Sator in July 2009.

###

About Baird’s Investment Banking group
Recognized as the 2011 “Investment Banking Firm of the Year” by The M&A Advisor, Baird is a leading global investment bank focused on the middle market. Approximately 230 investment banking professionals in the U.S., Europe and Asia provide corporations, private equity and venture capital firms with in-depth market knowledge and extensive experience in merger and acquisition and equity financing transactions. Since 2008, Baird has advised on nearly 250 M&A transactions representing approximately $50 billion in transaction value and has served as lead or co-manager on 335 equity offerings raising approximately $98 billion. Baird has received “Deal of the Year” recognitions from The M&A Advisor for eight years running, demonstrating commitment to attaining great outcomes for clients.

About Baird
Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1919, Baird has approximately 2,800 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Baird had more than $99 billion in client assets on Dec. 31, 2012. Committed to being a great place to work, Baird ranked No. 14 on FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2013 – its tenth consecutive year on the list. Baird’s principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird’s investment banking and private equity operations.

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And lo, the Verizon-Vodafone rumor mill rumbles on. Just weeks after Verizon scotched rumors that it was planning a $245 billion takeover of its British counterpart, we have a new report, coming out of Reuters, that suggests Verizon is now preparing to buy out Voda’s share in their joint venture, Verizon Wireless.

Verizon owns 55 percent of the cellular enterprise, and – according to Reuters’s unnamed sources – it now thinks it can pick up the rest for $100 billion, half of which would come from bank financing and half of which would take the form of Verizon’s own shares. The U.S. firm apparently wants amicable discussions with Vodafone over this, but is willing to “take a bid public” if Voda doesn’t play ball.

I’ve asked Voda for comment on this latest notion, and am interested to see how any potential acceptance of the potential offer would overcome the hurdles faced in the past. The problem there, as another unnamed Vodafone investor previously explained, is that a sale of its share would hit Voda with an enormous capital gains tax bill – which is why a merger seemed more attractive.

As those in the U.K. know all too well, Vodafone is allergic to big tax bills, so let’s see how this latest outbreak of whispering pans out in reality.

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