The daily business briefing: October 24, 2016

1. TD Ameritrade, Toronto-Dominion buying Scottrade for $4 billion

TD Ameritrade and its largest stakeholder, Toronto-Dominion Bank, have agreed to buy Scottrade Financial Services for $4 billion, the firms said Monday. The deal, expected to be completed next September, would combine two of the largest online brokerages and continue recent consolidation in an industry struggling with lower trading volumes. Under the deal, TD Ameritrade is to acquire Scottrade's brokerage operations for $2.7 billion in cash and stock. Toronto-Dominion, which owns 42 percent of TD Ameritrade, is to buy Scottrade's banking business for $1.3 billion, helping Canada's second largest lender expand its U.S. operations.

MarketWatch

2. AT&T's $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner faces opposition

Republicans and Democrats alike said Sunday that they were skeptical about AT&T's $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner, suggesting that antitrust regulators are likely to closely scrutinize the proposed acquisition. Analysts interpreted the announcement of the deal just two weeks before the presidential election as a bet that Democrat Hillary Clinton will win and continue current antitrust policies. Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, has said he would block the deal. The merger is the biggest proposed so far this year, and it marks the most audacious push yet by a telecommunications giant to get streaming content.

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Reuters

3. Iraq balks at OPEC oil output cut

Iraq's oil minister, Jabber Al-Luaibi, said Sunday that his country should be exempt from the final version of OPEC's proposal to trim output to boost prices. Iraq says it should be allowed to keep producing at higher levels because it can't afford to lose oil revenue while it is battling the Islamic State. The resistance of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' second largest producer could complicate efforts to complete the deal, which is seen as an important step toward ending a global oil glut.

Bloomberg

4. Rockwell Collins buying B/E Aerospace in latest industry merger

Aircraft component maker Rockwell Collins has agreed to buy aircraft interior maker B/E Aerospace Inc. in a deal valued at $6.5 billion, the companies said Sunday. Rockwell Collins also will assume $1.9 billion in B/E debt. The deal, expected to close early next year, is the latest in a flurry of mergers occurring as aircraft makers, including Boeing and Airbus, have acquired suppliers as they brace for a period of slower growth. "It's an opportunity to build a smarter plane," said aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group. "Given the pricing pressure you'll probably see more deals like this."

Reuters

5. Banks preparing to leave U.K. ahead of Brexit, lobby group leader says

Banks will start leaving the U.K. and relocate to other countries by the end of this year, ahead of formal talks on Britain's exit from the European Union, the head of the British Bankers Association said in a newspaper commentary published Sunday. International banks' "hands are quivering over the relocate button," Anthony Browne, chief executive officer of the banking lobby group the BBA, wrote in the Observer newspaper. He didn't name banks looking to leave, but said: "Many smaller banks plan to start relocations before Christmas; bigger banks are expected to start in the first quarter of next year."

The Observer Bloomberg