The news at a glance

Lehman Brothers: Selling off what’s left

It didn’t take long for global financial firms to snap up the remains of Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy last week, said Vinee Tong in the London Times. Britain’s Barclays bank this week bought Lehman’s investment banking unit for $1.35 billion, only days after Barclays refused to provide Lehman a financial lifeline, precipitating its tumble into bankruptcy. “Barclays had little competition to land the deal”—which was marked down from $1.75 billion because of continuing losses on Lehman’s inventory of stocks and bonds. The investment-banking unit, which trades securities and advises corporations, employs about 9,000 people in the U.S.

Japan’s Nomura Holdings then “waved the biggest check” of all the bidders for Lehman’s Asian business, said Vivian Wai-yin Kwok in Forbes.com. The $225 million deal encompasses a bond-trading unit in Tokyo, investment banking and trading operations in Hong Kong, and a commodities- and securities-trading team in Singapore. With Lehman in the fold, Nomura becomes Japan’s second-largest securities underwriter.

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Nuclear power: Buffett to the rescue

MidAmerican Energy this week paid $4.7 billion in cash for Constellation Energy, a nuclear-plant operator facing “an acute crisis of confidence” because of a cash shortage, said Lisa Rein in The Washington Post. With Constellation’s bankruptcy looming, MidAmerican, which is 80 percent owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, had a key advantage over rival bidders, including Électricité de France. Because MidAmerican is based in the U.S., it could buy Constellation’s nuclear assets without a lengthy national-security review.

Brewing: MillerCoors pulls a controversial brew

MillerCoors said last week that it is “putting on hold the introduction of Sparks Red,” after 25 state attorneys general raised objections to the caffeine-spiked alcoholic beverage, said Chad Bray in The Wall Street Journal. The state officials expressed “concerns about the drink’s high alcohol content”—8 percent, compared with 4 percent or 5 percent for most beers—and the way it was marketed to young people. The move follows Anheuser-Busch’s decision in June to discontinue selling similar drinks after 11 states raised objections.

Movies: Spielberg splits from Paramount

Steven Spielberg this week completed his “protracted exit” from Paramount Pictures, “after sealing a $1.2 billion deal with Reliance Big Entertainment of India to finance his future projects,” said Matthew Garrahan in the Financial Times. Under the deal, Spielberg will regain control of the DreamWorks brand, which he sold to Paramount in 2005 for $1.6 billion. The DreamWorks-Paramount relationship was financially successful, but Spielberg and partner David Geffen wanted out of the arrangement after clashing repeatedly with Paramount Chairman Brad Grey.

Autos: GM’s cash grab

With lenders shying away from even blue-chip U.S. corporations, General Motors last week tapped all but $1 billion of its $4.5 billion bank line of credit, said John D. Stoll in The Wall Street Journal. The cash injection reduces the likelihood that GM will “run into trouble meeting its financial obligations by the end of the year.” But the move stirred investor concerns about the automaker’s dwindling cash supply. The company needs $11 billion to $14 billion on hand each day to fund its operations.