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Don't Be Nice, Kick Her Twice

What shareholders would be the the mood for any deals in this environment? Really, it is damn ugly out there. No surprise then that Bank of America shareholders are about as interested in acquiring Merrill Lynch as a kick in the taco. Actually, though said kick has lingering effects, these are still smaller than the Merrill Lynch acquisition would be, meaning that a kick in the taco would be preferable to the Merrill Lynch acquisition. (At least according to a draft of the full page Wall Street Journal ad before the editing committee got a hold of it. Kicking is too mean to put in the Journal, it seems).
There is a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy aspect to this whole thing. Acquiring shareholders grow upset over the widening spread between current share price of the target and original offer. Shareholder approval looks less likely. Arbitrage players press spread wider, acquiring shareholders get even more upset over the widening spread between current share price of the target... etc. etc. etc.
I wonder what our government's financial supermen and superwomen will do if that deal begins to crumble too. Backstop funding perhaps? That seems to be the most popular arrow in the quiver these days.
Merrill Flinch [New York Post]

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Time was, Bank of America loved buying companies. Bonus points if there was a not-so-subtle suggestion by the target's CEO that BofA would one day be very sorry for doing so, or that they would've been better off picking up an asbestos manufacturer, or that they were looking at roughly $40 billion (and counting) in legal fees associated with fuck-ups that were to become Bank of America's problem, or that they would have night terrors for the rest of their lives about signing those papers. As it's been a while since BofA went shopping, some in the financial services industry have been wondering if we can expect any announcements re: big deals anytime soon or if Ken Lewis's unsolicited suggestions (Groupon, Sino Forest, The Thirsty Beaver, and most recently: "a P&C insurer with outsized exposure to the Northeast") are or have ever been under consideration? Sadly for fans of the Lewis Era/style of doing business, not so much. Mr. Moynihan said in response to an audience question [at the bank's two-day investor presentation conference for financial companies at the Plaza hotel] that the bank has "no acquisition plan at all." BofA's Moynihan Says Fiscal Cliff Impact Already Happening [WSJ]