NEWS AT A GLANCE
ABN sale nears finish line
A group led by Royal Bank of Scotland emerged on top in the months-long battle for ABN Amro. If ABN accept the $101 billion offer, it will be the biggest banking merger in history. Rival bidder Barclays conceded defeat this morning, and is requesting a break fee of about $280 million. (Reuters) Royal Bank’s partners are Spain’s Banco Santander and Dutch-Belgium bank Fortis. (MarketWatch) The recent credit market upheaval helped sink Barclays’ mostly stock bid, but it could also make ABN less valuable. “ABN Amro may not turn out to be the prize that both parties thought six months ago,” said Panmure Gordon analyst Sandy Chen. (Bloomberg)
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Meeting the new neighbors
RainbowVision—a year-old, majority-gay retirement community on the outskirts of Santa Fe, N.M.—is facing a problem common to condos in this real estate slump: about half of the 120 units are unoccupied. But along with the usual concerns this prompts, some of the 80 percent of current residents who are gay or lesbian are leery of being overrun by straight retirees. As straight couples and singles trickle in, however, wary residents are finding that these newcomers can be good neighbors. “It’s kind of like the opposite direction,” said gay resident Roger Bergstrom, 77. “When you get to know them, you love them.” (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)
