Welcome to the Streetwise's Morning Meeting, a wrap-up of news on deals and deal makers for what appears to be a quiet summer Friday.
RBS Makes Money
More good news for the British government as another of its bailed-out banks returns to profitability. Royal Bank of Scotland Plc recorded its first profitable quarter since 2007. As one analyst told Bloomberg News, they were the "world's worst bank" in the crisis, so the profit is a milestone. Here's the Bloomberg story.
Australian coal IPO struggles
The Wall St. Journal reports that Australia's biggest initial public offering this year is struggling, as underwriters had to slash the price on shares of coal producer Aston Resources Ltd. by 27 per cent to get the deal moving.
KKR and Bain show how not to profit from an LBO
KKR & Co. and Bain Capital, two of the biggest buyout firms, took a huge discount to sell one of the companies they bought at the top of the market. The firms sold shares of NXP for 46 per cent less than they paid, according to Bloomberg.
European Central Bank says bans on naked CDS shorts should be limited
The ECB wants any outright bans on naked short positions in credit default swaps to be limited to crisis periods, Reuters reports (via the New York Times).
This item has been corrected to reflect that Bain Capital is the seller of NXP.