VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Deutsche Bank has acquired the WestendDuo office tower in Frankfurt from CBRE Global Investors for about €240 million. The German lender also bought an office-development project in Paris, called In Situ, for around €104 million.

In an attempt to get their money back faster, creditors of Brazil-based Banco Cruzeiro do Sul, are looking for a debt-to-equity swap on an unsecured debt valued at 2.3 billion, Bloomberg reported.

The insurance unit of Portugal's Caixa Geral de Depositos SA will be acquired by China's Fosun International Ltd in a deal worth €1 billion, Reuters reported.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings is seeking a valuation of as much as $8.4 billion in its initial public offering. The auto loan company owned by Spain's Banco Santander as well as private equity firms expects to raise $1.56 billion in the listing.

The Municipal Securities Rule-making Board has released draft rules today aimed at tightening the standards that govern the conduct of firms that give advice to public officials regarding their municipal bonds.

A senior official from Thailand's state-owned petroleum company PTT on Thursday denied a media report saying that it was bidding for Royal Dutch Shell's service stations in Australia. Shell is selling its 900 petrol stations and an oil refinery in the country for A$3 billion.

Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd. recently launched a $100 million private equity fund to invest in onshore Chinese companies over the next five years. The said fund will managed by OCBC Capital Equity Investment Management Co. based in Shanghai.

US-based multinational banking and financial services firm JP Morgan Chase & Co purchased an equity stake in alternative trading systems operator Chi-X Global Holdings LLC for an undisclosed sum.

Investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to a $2.6 billion settlement with the US government and victims of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. Government prosecutors alleged that JPMorgan failed to share its suspicions of fraud at Madoff's fund with the US authorities.

GS Infrastructure Partners, controlled by investment bank Goldman Sachs Group, has sold its 49% stake in FRS Capital Corp., the ultimate parent company of SSA Marine. SSA Marine is one of the world's largest privately held port operators.

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. is reportedly looking to sell its asset management business Russell Investments, citing that it is not a core part of its business. Russell Investments has $247 billion in assets under management.

Citing sources, Bloomberg reported that Germany-based Deutsche Bank had hired Yusof Annuar Yaacob, Malaysia's Chairman for Corporate Finance of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, to become the lender's country head in Malaysia.

Sao Paulo-based investment bank and asset wealth manager Grupo BTG Pactual said Brazil's presidential elections scheduled in October 2014 will curtail the mergers and acquisitions activity this year, Bloomberg reported.

Some of LightSquared's lenders, including US Bank and MAST Capital Management,are against its decision to seek a new financing arrangement with Fortress Investment Group as part of its bankruptcy exit plan.

With activist investors amassing wealth because of their campaigns, investment banks are now providing clients investment advice that would enable companies to anticipate and foil the efforts of activist investors, Bloomberg reported.