Stock Offerings

THE Julian Petroleum scandal stirs little recognition in Los Angeles today, but in the early years of the Great Depression, it was a matter of common knowledge, symbolizing not merely what President Franklin D. Roosevelt would later deplore as "a decade of debauchery and group selfishness," but also the failed hopes and dreams of the great boom of the 1920s.

China's biggest bank launched the world's largest initial public offering of stock Friday, underscoring the nation's powerful economic growth and the significant strides made in its long-troubled financial sector. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the largest of the country's big four state-owned banks, raised at least $19.1 billion in the first-ever dual listing on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. The previous record was an $18.

Time Warner Cable Inc., the nation's second-largest cable TV systems and the dominant player in Southern California, filed for an initial public stock offering Wednesday, potentially setting the stage for future acquisitions. The offering, which had been expected, is aimed chiefly at giving creditors in Adelphia Communications Corp. an opportunity to sell some of the shares they received when parent Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp.

Los Angeles developer Richard Meruelo is seeking to raise as much as $500 million by taking his real estate firm public. Meruelo Maddux Properties Inc. registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday for a stock offering. The firm said going public would help it fund development of its extensive commercial and residential real estate holdings. Meruelo is the largest land owner in downtown Los Angeles, controlling more than 100 parcels in the central city alone.

The world's largest producer of iron ore could trump two other players in the race for Canadian nickel giant Inco Ltd. with an all-cash offer worth C$19.9 billion ($17.6 billion), analysts said Friday. Companhia Vale do Rio Doce of Brazil launched its unsolicited bid of C$86 a share Friday. That's more than double the cash that Canadian zinc miner Teck Cominco Ltd. has offered in its cash-and-stock bid and more than four times the cash portion of a competing offer from U.S.

Investors in DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. had reason to celebrate after the Glendale-based film studio announced better-than-expected second-quarter profit late Thursday. But the champagne quickly ran out Friday. After months of declining share prices, the company's financial results pushed DreamWorks' stock up only 1.5% to $20.61 a share. Analysts and company executives expect the shares to continue to struggle over the coming weeks, regardless of how well DreamWorks performs.

Russian oil firm Rosneft said Friday that its initial public stock offering raised $10.4 billion, half of it from a handful of buyers including oil giant BP, but a British court challenge from rival Yukos Oil Co. threatened to delay its market debut. Russia is keen to make a splash with the share offering as it hosts its first summit of the Group of 8 leading industrialized nations this weekend. By selling shares of the state-controlled firm to the likes of BP, analysts say President Vladimir V.

Apollo Management, the buyout firm run by billionaire Leon Black, is seeking about $1.5 billion in an initial public offering for a private equity fund, three people with direct knowledge of the situation said. Apollo is following Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the world's largest buyout firm, which raised $5 billion three weeks ago in an IPO for a similar fund.

It would be one crazy iPod that would go straight from super-sensitive Dashboard Confessional to horror-rock (and film) auteur Rob Zombie. It would certainly be an abrupt segue for a radio station to make. But it was particularly jarring coming as it did Saturday at the annual KROQ-FM (106.7) Weenie Roast y Fiesta concert at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine.

Cherokee Inc. surprised rival clothing licensing company Mossimo Inc. on Monday with a $135-million buyout offer, hoping to scuttle the Santa Monica firm's tentative sale this month to Iconix Brand Group. In a letter to Chairman Mossimo Giannulli and his fellow board members, Cherokee called its bid of $8.50 a share "financially and strategically" superior to the Iconix deal.