Siemens has reportedly spoken to buyout firms TPG, Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) about buying the entire company. As a publicly traded company, NSN could be worth as much as $9.4 billion, including debt.

The chief financial officer of Siemens has said that making networking equipment is not a business that Siemens sees itself as part of for the long haul, and that the company would like to exit this year.

Whether or not Nokia could put together an offer for the other half of NSN is questionable. But the networking venture has been good to Nokia’s bottom line in the past couple of quarters, and that is not something the company can say about most of its business. Operating profit at NSN rose 200% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2012 and was up 78% sequentially. First-quarter results were lower, but still positive.

Shares of Siemens are down about 1.1% in premarket trading this morning, at $105.45 in a 52-week range of $77.88 to $113.16.

Shares of Nokia are up 3.7%, at $3.66 in a 52-week range of $1.63 to $4.90.

According to its most recent annual filing with the SEC, Nokia had $4.6 billion in cash and $8.4 billion in short-term investments at the end of 2012. Buying Siemens’ share of NSN does not appear to be a good use of that liquidity. Siemens might want to see if it can interest a Chinese buyer, say, Huawei, already a competitor of NSN.

Blackstone is reported to be among five or six bidders for the 59% stake in Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) currently owned by Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO). Rio Tinto put its stake in IOC up for sale earlier this year as the mining giant tries to get back in the good graces of investors and to reduce its debt of about $19 billion.

Rio Tinto’s stake in IOC is estimated to be worth about $4 billion. Recently merged Glencore Xstrata PLC is also said have bid on IOC although Glencore will have its hands full rationalizing its just-completed merger with Xstrata.

Other possible suitors include steel-making giants like ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) and India’s Essar Steel and Tata. But the market for iron ore assets is decidedly cool due to declining prices as a side effect of lower demand for steel. ArcelorMittal, for example, earlier this year sold a 15% stake in a Canadian mine for $1.1 billion as the steelmaker also seeks to reduce roughly $23 billion debt.

Exactly how the private equity firms stand to turn a profit from buying Rio’s stake in IOC is a bit unclear. Most private equity mining takeovers involve a junior mining company that is then spotted by a major. The big mining firm then buys the small firm and the private equity firm makes a profit.

In this case, IOC has been a producing asset for nearly 60 years. Its ore body is less rich than Rio’s Pilbara operations in Australia and the ore quality is not likely to improve markedly in the future.

A PE buyout could still happen, but given the climate among the big miners today, the wait could be longer than a PE firm might be willing to sit still for.

So, what’s up? One possibility is that at a price of $4 billion none of the big private equity firms is really interested, but if other bidders drop out, perhaps one of the PE firms can pick up the asset cheaply. Another possibility is that Rio is keeping Blackstone in the bidding in an effort to draw out some Asian bidders.

Rio’s stock is up 3.4% in the early afternoon today, at $44.18 in a 52-week range of $41.59 to $60.45.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) makes a $4.40 per share offer for Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR), topping one by Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S). (Reuters)

Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Motorola division will try to improve its difficult fortunes with a new phone called Moto X. (Reuters)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s (NYSE: BRK-A) MidAmerican Energy will acquire NV Energy Inc. (NYSE: NVE) for $5.6 billion. (WSJ)

Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) may withdraw as much as $800 million from troubled hedge fund SAC Capital. (WSJ)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) begins to use supplier Foxconn less. (WSJ)

General Electric Co.’s (NYSE: GE) GE Capital CEO Michael A. Neal will leave the company. (WSJ)

Americans begin to drop home broadband service in favor of public WiFi. (WSJ)

The European Central Bank reports that soar loans could badly hurt the fortunes of some of the region’s banks. (NYT)

Regulators in the European Union and United States have different views over the regulation of derivatives. (FT)

Fiat prepares $10 billion in financing to buy the part of Chrysler it does not own. (Bloomberg)

Despite the Carl Icahn efforts to force a higher price, Dell’s buyout now looks capped at $13.65 rather than floored at $13.65. You have to assume that the earnings results are going to be very weak on Thursday. Still, Michael Dell will face a serious fight on his hands if he were to lower his $13.65 share price buyout offer. His board has been in support of his offer from the start, but pulling out would almost certainly force his board of directors to stage a coup.   That being said, investors just do not expect that a higher buyout is coming here.

Carl Icahn looks like he wet the bed here thinking he could just muscle his way into Dell to force a higher buyout or to force a recapitalization that would leave a large portion of the company public. Remember when we warned you about the activist investor bubble? Now it looks like holders of the Icahn Enterprises, L.P. (NASDAQ: IEP) units under Carl Icahn could lose some of those big profits if Icahn remains unable to shake Michael Dell into working a better deal.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is still tentatively involved in a preferred share of sorts, but The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) backed away when it witnessed the decline of the trends in the PC business.

Dell shares are trading at $13.47, some 1.33% under the $13.65 per share buyout price. That leaves very little room for the so-called merger arbitrage investors who take the risk that a deal cannot close.

Dell shares are up 33% in 2013. Rival shares in Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) are up by 48% so far in 2013. H-P is in a turnaround and is too large to be acquired, yet Dell’s turnaround and buyout only have the stock up by about two-thirds as much as that of H-P.

The IQ Merger Arbitrage ETF (NYSE: MNA) is betting on the Dell buyout and has about 7% of its assets in the fund. Its investors are hoping that all remains well with the Dell buyout after earnings. With a discount of only 1.3% or so, Wall Street’s vote is that Michael Dell is going to close the deal originally proposed and not for a single cent higher.

Citigroup will act as sole underwriter of the offering. General Growth Properties will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares in this secondary offering. What investors need to know here is that this entirely cleans out the portfolio ownership by Blackstone. General Growth gets to be its own show without influence from Blackstone now.

General Growth Properties is seeing a drop of 2.4% to $22.76 on the news. Its 52-week trading range is $15.85 to $23.33, and its market cap is almost $21.4 billion. Investors probably feel lucky that an offering of more than $500 million is not hitting shares harder.

Note that General Growth is a real estate investment trust (REIT). That means that it distributes almost all of its income via dividends to its shareholders. The REIT’s dividend yield is only 2.1%. Blackstone must be looking to redirect client funds for new investments, probably ones with more value and likely to pay more than just a 2.1% dividend.

Many REITs have performed incredibly well, and many of the dividends have gone from high-yield to simply expensive. Investors buying General Growth Properties may want to consider that there are many other REIT alternatives out there that pay well over 2.1% in yield.

Some observers view the move as a vote of confidence in new CEO Myron Ullman, who replaced Ron Johnson, who was fired earlier this month. Johnson had tried to eliminate the company’s long-time strategy of offering coupons and sales. J.C. Penney customers stayed away in droves and sales plunged more than 25%. Ullman already has begun a return to the old discount strategy.

Soros joins William Ackman and his Pershing Square Capital Management as a major holder of J.C. Penney stock. Ackman owns about 17.8% of the company’s shares.

J.C. Penney has borrowed $850 million on its revolving credit facility to implement the discount strategy and also has hired financial advisory firm Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) to help it figure out how to turn the ailing retailer around. Finding more investors like Soros is not a bad place to start.

Shares of J.C. Penney are up nearly 7.5% in premarket trading this morning at $16.37 in a 52-week range of $13.55 to $36.89.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 00.22% today, now at 82.736. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.8% at 606.01. WTI crude oil closed up 0.3% today, at $88.01 a barrel, but closed the week down 3.6%, a third consecutive weekly loss. Brent crude trades up 0.2% at $99.69 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.2% today at about $4.40 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.2% today at $1,395.60 an ounce, but posted a loss of 7% for the week, the fourth week in a row that the yellow metal has dropped.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 10 points to 14,547.51 (0.07%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 40 points (1.25%) to 3,206.06, and the S&P 500 rose 0.88% or nearly 14 points to 1,555.25.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Varian Medical Systems Inc. (NYSE: VAR) cut to ‘sell’ at Citigroup; Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) raised to ‘buy’ at Keefe Bruyette & Woods; Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) raised to ‘market perform’ at BMO Capital Markets; Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) cut to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James; and Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) cut to ‘neutral’ at R.W. Baird.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is down 2.3% at $2.45; Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) is up 6.7% at $56.31; Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is up 10.9% at $364.03; E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) is up 3.1% at $9.84; Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is up 4.5% at $800.35 (more coverage here); International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is down 8% at $190.54 (more coverage here); Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up 3.4% at $29.76 (more coverage here); General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is down 4% at $21.78 (more coverage here); Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) is up 3.8% at $74.17; McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is down 2.1% at $99.73 (more coverage here and our ‘Company of the Week’ story here); Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) is up 2.4% at $61.08, and Schlumberger NV (NYSE: SLB) is down 2.1% at $69.51 (more coverage here).

Before markets open Monday morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), Check Point Software Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CHKP), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL), Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), and NVR Corp. (NYSE: NVR).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) is up 58.9% at $84.00 after posting a new 52-week high of $85.90 earlier today. The biopharmaceuticals maker reported positive mid-stage data on a treatment for cystic fibrosis.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) is up 25% at $33.76. The theme park company held its IPO today, going out at $27 a share for 26 million shares. More coverage here.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is down 3.7% at $13.44. The PC maker’s share price fell below the offer price from Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners after Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) announced that it would not make a bid for the company. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index
• 10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Have a safe weekend!

Private equity firm Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) was the sole owner of SeaWorld and will maintain a stake of about 72% after the IPO. Of the shares on offer, 10 million are being offered by SeaWorld and 16 million by Blackstone.

The IPO will raise $702 million, far above the $100 million expected when the IPO was first announced in December. SeaWorld will receive net proceeds of approximately $245.4 million, and it intends to use the funds to redeem $140 million in senior notes. Another $47 million will be paid out to Blackstone to terminate a 2009 advisory agreement, and the rest will be applied to other debt.

Shares opened at $30.56 and are trading at about $30.70 in the first half hour of this morning’s session, up 13.7% above the offering price.

The company’s full filing is available here.

Carl Icahn owns Dell shares, but he may have neither the capital nor inclination to take over the company. He has said he would set a proxy fight, which means he will try to gain seats on the board. However, if Michael Dell remains chief executive officer and keeps his 14% ownership, Icahn’s efforts might be useless.

Without Blackstone, the way may be open for the Michael Dell group to close a buyout deal quickly.

The Financial Times wrote about the Blackstone bid for Dell:

Blackstone has abandoned its $25bn offer for Dell after weeks of due diligence, people familiar with the matter said.

The withdrawal follows reservations expressed by Blackstone’s private equity fund investors on the merits of the deal, and concerns that the stock market had already valued Dell fairly, these people said.

There were also concerns among Blackstone management about the ability to withdraw from a Dell investment profitably, they added. Dell shares last night closed at $13.95, valuing the group at $24.4bn.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) may be able to put its 787 Dreamliner back in service shortly. The problems with a battery on the plane that had caused fires and smoke have been resolved. Boeing’s airline partners have had to take the plane off of their routes and use alternative aircraft, which they claim has cost them money. Boeing may have to pay these carriers penalties. More importantly, the flying public may be afraid that the 787 is unsafe, and that belief may take some time to overcome. The Wall Street Journal said about the Dreamliner’s return to service:

The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to move as soon as Friday to end a three-month grounding of Boeing Co.’s BA -0.66% 787 Dreamliner jet, according to people familiar with the matter.

Barring some last minute delay, these people said, the FAA will announce Boeing has demonstrated that the 787′s redesigned batteries are safe, convincing regulators in the process that various internal enhancements and a new protective metal container will prevent fires and automatically suck smoke or toxic fumes out of the cutting-edge plane.

Blackstone’s Bid for Dell

Several news sources report that Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) has dropped its bid to buy out Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL). This may leave the offer of Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners as the only alternative. Carl Icahn owns Dell shares, but he may have neither the capital nor inclination to take over the company. He has said he would set a proxy fight, which means he will try to gain seats on the board. However, if Michael Dell remains chief executive officer and keeps his 14% ownership, Icahn’s efforts might be useless. Without Blackstone, the way may be open for the Michael Dell group to close a buyout deal quickly. The Financial Times wrote about the Blackstone bid for Dell:

Blackstone has abandoned its $25bn offer for Dell after weeks of due diligence, people familiar with the matter said.

The withdrawal follows reservations expressed by Blackstone’s private equity fund investors on the merits of the deal, and concerns that the stock market had already valued Dell fairly, these people said.

There were also concerns among Blackstone management about the ability to withdraw from a Dell investment profitably, they added. Dell shares last night closed at $13.95, valuing the group at $24.4bn.

The Best Green Car

Kelly Blue Book, the auto research firm, named the Nissan Leaf as its best green car. Since Nissan is a second-tier car company, its larger rivals will be annoyed. Cars that run on electricity have become a larger part of the market, as the number of consumers who want to part with gas-powered automobiles continues to grow. But gas prices are falling, and shale discoveries may drive the price lower. That eventually could erode the advantages of green car ownership. KBB reports about the best green cars:

Just in time for Earth Day, eco-friendly drivers in the market for a new car can see which models the experts recommend in the list of 10 Best Green Cars of 2013 by the editors of Kelley Blue Book http://www.kbb.com, the leading provider of new and used car information.

Regarding the Leaf:

You won’t find an all-electric car that offers a better balance of range, practicality, refinement and value than the Leaf.  Nissan reduced the Leaf’s starting price by $6,000 for 2013, so after the $7,500 federal tax savings, you can go all-electric for about $22,000.