VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Private equity firm Carlyle Group had put up for sale its specialty chemicals business PQ Corp. for $3 billion. Carlyle has tapped investment bank Credit Suisse to explore an outright sale or IPO of PQ.

Wall Street banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have been calling on private equity firm Ares Management to go public soon. Ares, however, does not see the need for a public offering in the near future.

Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing has picked Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and HSBC to manage the proposed listing of A.S. Watson in Hong Kong and London.

American firearms maker Freedom Group plans to raise $175 million from Wall Street financial institutions, according to a Reuters report. Cerberus Capital Management, which tried to exit the company last year, earlier opted for a $200 million mezzanine debt to pay off Freedom Group's investors.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is sticking with Bank of America's Merrill Lynch unit to run its 401(k) program with $18 billion in assets, Wal-Mart confirmed on Tuesday.

Bis Industries on Wednesday announced that it has scrapped its planned initial public offering. The KKR-backed Australian logistics company had been looking to raise AUD500 million (USD456 million) in the IPO.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has bought a small package of loans from Spain's so-called 'bad bank' Sareb, helping the vehicle to surpass year-end sales targets, two sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

A Saturday announcement revealed that Pfizer Ltd, Pfizer Inc's Indian unit, would be merging with its local affiliate Wyeth Ltd after both pharmaceutical firms' boards approved the deal.

China Cinda Asset Management Co. Ltd. is looking to raise USD2.45 billion in an initial public offering at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Cinda will sell 5.3 billion shares priced at HKD3.00 to HKD3.58 per share.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch or BofAML has topped Citibank and Morgan Stanley in executing deals in India for the past 11 months, completing transactions worth USD 7.96 billion.

Maryland-based health care lender MidCap Financial LLC was acquired by an entity managed by alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management LLC for an undisclosed amount.

Seattle-based online clothes retailer Zulily Inc raised its initial public offering (IPO) price to USD22 per share above the previously expected range of USD18 to USD20 per share.

Private equity firm Liberty Hall Capital Partners announced today its acquisition of Tulsa-based aerospace engineered parts supplier Precise Machining & Manufacturing for an undisclosed amount.

Vivendi, a French mass media company, said it would acquire USD2.7 billion of its U.S. dollar-denominated debt after it received payment for its stake sale in Activision Blizzard.

An internal memo news agency Reuters had obtained revealed that Bank of America Merrill Lynch had reassigned its co-heads of its Asia Pacific investment banking business.