MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Comcast-NBC Deal Wins Federal Approval The proposed combination of Comcast and NBC Universal was approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department on Tuesday, emerging from a lengthy review with a list of conditions, the most important aimed at preventing the new media conglomerate from thwarting competition in online video. But at the end of that process, which regulators described as the most intense scrutiny ever for a planned media merger, Comcast said it believed it faced few onerous restrictions.

In its successful bid to acquire NBC Universal, Comcast was not forced to sell off any assets. It did agree, however, to give up NBC’s management role in Hulu, the premier online TV Web site, while retaining a financial stake.

Embedded in the rules that the government is imposing on the deal is one that specifically benefits Bloomberg L.P., the financial news giant that owns Bloomberg Television. NEW YORK TIMES | MEDIA DECODER | MEDIA DECODER

Making Property Into Ready Money C1000, the Dutch food retailer, has agreed to a $208.6 million deal to a sell and lease-back transfer of all its logistics facilities to W.P. Carey. The agreement demonstrates how European companies are taking advantage of their property for use in alternative financing. WALL STREET JOURNAL

Bel Eyes Yoplait in Business Dairy Tale The French cheese maker Bel is looking into buying private equity group PAI Partners’ 50 percent stake in Yoplait, Le Figaro newspaper reported Wednesday, without identifying its sources. REUTERS | LE FIGARO

INVESTMENT BANKS

Citigroup to Name Havens as President John Havens, the head of Citi’s investment bank and longtime adviser to the bank’s chief executive, Vikram Pandit, is expected to be named president and chief operating officer of the bank, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move will help relieve Mr. Pandit of some his front-office duties and allow him to focus on growth, as Citi tries to put the financial crisis behind it, the newspaper said. WALL STREET JOURNAL

Nomura Said to Hunt Buyer for U.S. Loan Unit The Japanese bank that has been expanding in the United States is seeking a buyer for a management arm that has about $2.5 billion in assets, according to two people familiar with the talks. BLOOMBERG

Big Banks Should Still Be Afraid John Vickers, the man appointed to head Britain’s government-formed Commission on Banking, has warned large banks that they are mistaken if they think his upcoming speech on Saturday will not address the “too big to fail” agenda. FINANCIAL TIMES

Goldman’s Forex Sales Co-Head Set to Depart Kevin Connors, co-head of the investment bank’s global foreign-exchange sales for Group of 10 currencies, is leaving the firm, a person with knowledge of the situation said. BLOOMBERG

R.B.S. Chairman Blames ‘Gangmaster Culture’ for Payouts The chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, Philip Hampton, said that a large number of bankers had been paid more than they were worth, blaming high remuneration on a “gangmaster” culture in investment banking, where the bankers move in teams and the payouts to “journeyman players” were not significantly different than those handed out to the stars.

“The star quality, as it were, seems to filter down to people who don’t seem so star quality. There is, if I can use the expression, a sort of gangmaster cultural phenomenon in this.” BBC

Is Citi’s Fourth Quarter Worse Than It Looks? Citigroup’s subpar fourth quarter is even more disappointing than it looks. Taking away the help the bank got from the taxman and its own reserves, the meager return in the final three months of the year swings to a small loss. It’s a timely reminder to shareholders that Citi still faces a hard slog back to decent profitability, Reuters Breakingviews says. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

PRIVATE EQUITY

Encouraging Signs for Apollo As Apollo Global Management gets ready to move from the dark corners of a private Goldman Sachs exchange, where it trades at a steep discount, to the public market’s bright lights, the private equity firm’s I.P.O. plans have aged well, Breakingviews says.

The latest filing from Leon D. Black’s buyout shop contains signs that there’s a lot more valuation in Apollo than Mr. Black and his partners could have hoped for over the last couple of years. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS | S.E.C. FILING

Singleton Steps Down as MediaNews Chief MediaNews Group, the owner of The San Jose Mercury News in California, The Denver Post and more than 50 other newspapers, plans to replace William Dean Singleton as its chief so that he can focus on exploring possible combinations with other publishers.

Although Mr. Singleton hasn’t publicly mentioned any potential targets, The Wall Street Journal reported that the group is looking at a merger with Freedom Communications and several other newspaper companies. ASSOCIATED PRESS | WALL STREET JOURNAL

Buyout Group Raises Bid for Ireland’s EBS A private equity consortium that includes Wilbur Ross and Carlyle has reportedly increased the amount of cash it is willing to invest in the Irish building society to over 600 million euros, as final bids for the troubled lender closed.

The group, led by Cardinal Asset Management, is vying with Irish Life & Permanent for EBS. Both submitted final bids for the state-owned lender by Tuesday’s deadline. IRISH TIMES | REUTERS

Avolon Lands $650 Million The aircraft leasing firm said it had raised $650 million to fund the purchase of 11 new aircraft to expand its fleet, including $250 million from its backers Cinven, CVC and Oak Hill Capital Partners, taking the private equity firms’ investment in Avolon to $1 billion. REUTERS

HEDGE FUNDS

Blockbuster Said to Ask Bondholders for More Cash The video rental chain said it had received an additional three weeks from its lenders to file a bankruptcy reorganization plan. Blockbuster disclosed the extension after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company had asked its bondholders, led by Carl C. Icahn and the hedge fund Monarch Alternative Capital, for an additional $200 million to $250 million to help fund its exit from bankruptcy.

The request has prompted a debate over whether to provide the funds or put the Dallas-based company up for sale, the report said. WALL STREET JOURNAL | REUTERS

Posner Said to Leave D.E. Shaw for Golub The ex-head of D.E. Shaw’s distressed investment arm has left the hedge fund. Daniel Posner, whose reputation in the business is as a specialist investor in distressed debt, has joined Golub Capital, the credit specialists, to set up a new hedge fund business. FINANCIAL TIMES

I.P.O.’S & OFFERINGS

Taobao Does Not Intend to Go Public A unit of the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group has no plans for an initial public offering for now, its chief financial officer said Wednesday. REUTERS

Phoenix Wants to List Unit in U.S. Phoenix Satellite Television, a Chinese firm listed in Hong Kong, said it aims to seek a separate listing for its new media business on the Nasdaq Global Market or the New York Stock Exchange. REUTERS

VENTURE CAPITAL

Adobe Beefs Up Its Ad-Targeting Adobe, best-known for its media creation software like Photoshop and Flash Builder, continues to show increased interest in the advertising market, on Tuesday announcing its acquisition of Demdex, a data start-up backed by Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital, and Genacast Ventures, among others.

The move comes after Adobe bought Omniture for $1.8 billion in September 2009. As of July last year, the analytics company was already accounting for 10 percent of its revenue. VENTUREBEAT

LEGAL

S.E.C. Ready to Pounce on Possible Wikileaks Revelations The Securities and Exchange Commission is said to be paying close attention to Bank of America after Wikileaks suggested that it has damning information on the company. The regulator is keen to establish if any of the information that the Web site has said it will release should have already been turned over in light of previous investigations. FOX BUSINESS

Russia Seeks to Distance Business From Other Policies After Western criticism over a new verdict against jailed ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia’s big oil deal with BP sends just the message the Kremlin wants the world to hear: business is business. REUTERS