McGraw-Hill Cos. agreed to sell its education unit to Apollo Global Management LLC for $2.5 billion as CEO Harold (Terry) McGraw III remakes his family's 124-year-old company around financial services. The transaction is expected to close by early 2013, the company said Monday in a statement. After the sale, McGraw Hill Financial, as the new company will be called, will have at its core Standard & Poor's, the world's largest credit-rating company.
UBS fined for failure to stop rogue traderBritain's Financial Services Authority fined UBS 29.7 million pounds on Monday for failing to prevent a $2.3 billion loss caused by a former trader. The fine, the equivalent of $47.5 million, was one of the largest penalties ever issued by the British regulator. UBS was found to have had serious weaknesses in the internal controls of its investment banking unit. The failings allowed Kweku M. Adoboli, a former trader at the bank, to rack up a multibillion-dollar trading loss last year in a series of unauthorized trades. Adoboli, 32, received a seven-year jail sentence last week on two counts of fraud.
Buffett urges Congress to raise taxes on richBillionaire Warren Buffett is again calling for higher taxes on the "ultrarich" and he's urging Congress to compromise on spending cuts and tax increases. Buffett expressed his views on fiscal policy Monday in an opinion article in the New York Times. Buffett mocked the idea that investors would pull back if capital gains taxes increase. "Let's forget about the rich and ultrarich going on strike and stuffing their ample funds under their mattresses if -- gasp -- capital gains rates and ordinary income rates are increased," Buffett said. "The ultrarich, including me, will forever pursue investment opportunities."
Eurozone, IMF reach deal on Greek debtThe 17 European Union nations that use the euro have struck an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a program to reduce Greek debt. It was the third time in the last two weeks that finance ministers from the eurozone tried to hammer out a deal on the next installment of bailout money -- some 44.6 billion euros, or $57.8 billion. The first disbursement is set to take place Dec. 13, said Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurogroup of finance ministers, after Tuesday's decision.
Former BlackRock strategist to join NuveenNuveen Asset Management in Chicago hired Robert Doll, 58, as chief equity strategist, less than six months after he announced his retirement from the same role at BlackRock Inc., where he was known for his bullish stance on stocks.
ConocoPhillips to sell Kashagan stake for $5BConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. independent oil producer, intends to sell its 8.4 percent interest in Kazakhstan's Kashagan project for about $5 billion to Oil & Natural Gas, India's biggest energy explorer. The companies expect to close the deal for a stake in the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement in the first half of next year, according to a statement Monday.
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