Confectioner Darrell Lea Enters Administration

Sweet tooths, take note.

After more than 75 years of selling much-loved sweets like Rocky Road to celebrities including Nicole Kidman and thousands of customers worldwide, Australian confectioner Darrell Lea has called in administrators following a cash flow crisis.

PPB Advisory has been appointed to find a buyer for Sydney-based Darrell Lea, which has 69 owned and licensed stores and 1,800 retail outlets across Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. It also has a presence in Europe, the U.K., Canada and South Africa.

Continue reading on Deal Journal Australia.

Forest Labs CEO Won’t Stand for Icahn Disparaging His Son

Forest Laboratories Chairman and CEO Howard Solomon has had enough of Carl Icahn’s mudslinging.

One of Icahn’s main sticking points has been the lack of clarity on succession at Forest and that Howard Solomon’s son, David Solomon, might be among the candidates. In a letter earlier this month, Icahn alleged Solomon was trying to set up a “dynasty” at Forest Labs with his son, who is an executive at the company.

Howard Solomon in a letter today defended himself against several of Icahn allegations, including that he had dumped a large number shares over the years and about his compensation.  But he devotes the most interesting part of the letter to a defense of his son.

Solomon writes that he “did not anticipate that my son David would be publicly disparaged and caricatured by someone utterly ignorant of even the slightest information about his qualifications or performance.” He adds he is proud of his son and lists several highlights of his career and education the way any proud father would, (“He was a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal.”)

Private Equity’s Smoothie Path

A South Korean cultural wave is sweeping the world, with interest surging in areas ranging from the country’s pop music to cosmetics to television dramas. Now, smoothies could be next.

At least that is what Standard Chartered PLC’s private-equity unit is banking on with a $45.5 million joint investment with Korea’s National Pension Service for a 48% stake in Smoothies Korea Inc.

Carlyle Offers Earnings Sneak Peek

Carlyle Group LP saw the combined value of the funds from which it shares a portion of the profits dip 2% during the second quarter, the private-equity firm said Monday in a sneak peek of its quarterly results.

Called “carry” funds, these funds include pools of cash from which Carlyle finances corporate buyouts and makes investments in distressed companies, real estate and energy. They are so named because Carlyle collects a slice of the profits, called carried interest, from each fund’s investments.

WellPoint-Amerigroup: Other Medicaid-Focused Insurers Soar

The big premium WellPoint agreed to pay for its Medicaid expansion sparked a big rally across other Medicaid-focused insurance companies Monday.

WellPoint is coughing up a 43% premium for Amerigroup and that has investors wondering if other big pay days may be around the corner.

Centene Corp. jumped 20% to $34.80; Moline Healthcare added 18% to $27.12; and Wellcare Health Plans also gained 18% to $62.56.

Still, even with the gains, each stock remained off their 52-week highs set earlier this year.

Wells Fargo Gets Bullish Buy Recommendation

Wells Fargo is among the few bank stocks trading higher Monday as Jefferies jumps on board the stage-coach bank with a ringing buy recommendation.

“Wells is one of the strongest, most respected U.S. banks, which has led it to be a core portfolio holding for investors,” Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin writes in his initiation. “The company enjoys a benevolent combination of offensive (dividend growth/buybacks, market share gains, portfolio acquisitions) and defensive (less exposure to headline/revenue risks vs. bigger bank peers, cost control program) characteristics. While investors have recently flocked to quality names like Wells, we still see directional upside in addition to relative downside support.”

Deal Profile: WellPoint to Buy Amerigroup

Health-benefits provider WellPoint agreed to acquire the managed-care company Amerigroup in a roughly $4.46 billion cash deal in an effort to expand its presence in the Medicaid space.

Amerigroup holders will receive $92 a share, a 43% premium to Friday’s closing price.

WellPoint said that after the deal closes, which is expected in the first quarter of 2013, it will serve more than 4.5 million beneficiaries of state-sponsored health programs and its Medicaid footprint will include 19 states and a presence in 13 states with significant dual eligibility opportunities.

WellPoint expects the acquisition will add to its per-share earnings next year, with the accretion expected to exceed $1 a share by 2105.

Here’s a profile of the deal from Dealogic:

WellPoint Shares Up as Analysts Like Amerigroup Deal

WellPoint has made a splash with its nearly $4.5 billion purchase of Medicaid insurance company Amerigroup.

Coming on the heels of the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed much of the health-care law changes, though raised some questions about the expansion plans for Medicaid, the acquisition was applauded by WellPoint shareholders.

Shares rose 3.2% to $61.80 in recent action, putting it in line for its first day of gains since the Supreme Court’s ruling. Its shares fell 5.2% on that day and lost 14% through last week following the ruling.

But concerns about the impact of the law on WellPoint were mitigated by its purchase of Amerigroup.

Here are some reactions from Wall Street analysts:

Who Else Is Under Investigation for Libor Manipulation?

Barclays was the first bank to pay for its role in the manipulation of interest rates during the financial crisis, but given the criminal and civil investigations under way on three continents, it probably won’t be the last.

It raises the obvious question: Who’s next?

Patience, grasshopper. Additional settlements are expected in the coming months, and the Barclays mea culpa sets up an interesting wrinkle: Typically in civil settlements with U.S. regulators, a company “neither admits nor denies” wrongdoing. Will the next bank to settle also be forced to own up? How will the fine it pays stack up to Barclays’s record-setting $453 million settlement?

There’s a list of 15 financial institutions, in alphabetical order, currently under investigation in connection with the rate-setting scandal, according to regulatory filings and regulators’ statements, after the jump.

Who Are the Most Influential People in Europe’s Capital Markets?

Our colleagues over at Financial News are out with their annual FN100 list:

For the second year running, Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, has topped the FN100 list of the most influential people in the European capital markets.

As president of the ECB, the highest level non-governmental EU body, he is front and centre of the eurozone crisis, and in his role as chairman of the European Systemic Risk Board, he influences financial regulation across the region.

The overhaul of financial regulation since the crisis of 2008, not to mention scandals since then, is approaching a crescendo as transformative pieces of legislation reach the final stages of implementation. So, it is not surprising that this year’s FN100, the eighth annual list, is dominated by regulators and those negotiating with rulemakers on behalf of their industries.

While the overall list is not ranked, we have assessed the relative levels of influence in the 10 categories: regulators, investment bank chiefs, investment banking, capital markets and advisory, sales and trading, market infrastructure, asset management, pensions, hedge funds and private equity.

We have also drawn up an overall top 10. As well as Draghi, there are another three regulators in the top 10: Stefan Ingves, the chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision; Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England who is preparing the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street for its new role overseeing financial institutions; and Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for internal market and services under whose watch a slew of new rules are being implemented.