M & A sideshow

• Goldman Sachs intends to stop putting its own money to fund hostile takeovers. This follows negative reaction to some of the deals it got involved in, in UK. The merger boom in Europe is near its end, with merger news forming a significant backdrop to daily market movements. I had posted earlier about the increasingly hostile reaction to some of the players involved. Will Goldman end up looking like Citi in Japan ? A few bows won't hurt and can work wonders on arrogance! Goldman played similarly uncomfortable roles on multiple sides of the NYSE/Arca deal, as I noted. Regulators in the US have largely ignored such involvement so far, but I just can't believe that these deals could be free of conflicts of interests.
  
• KKR goes to India! Flextronics's largely India-based software unit is being bought by KKR for $900 million, the first of its kind, software-LBO deal, in India. Will not be the last! I had noted increasing takeover activity in India here. Patni Systems (PTI) looks like a sitting duck now, given all the recent deals. And how long will Flextronics stay public - it now makes for a good private-equity takeout target, with the non-core business sold off.
  
• Indian interest rates remain unchanged, but reserve requirements have been tightened. This should cool the real-estate market, and the stock market too. Easy credit was partially responsible for the double-bubble.