Stock Swaps

Ameralia Inc. of Santa Barbara has acquired all the common stock outstanding of Denison Resources Ltd. of Brisbane, Australia, in a stock swap, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Expanding its foothold in the European television production market, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. said it had struck an agreement to buy daughter Elisabeth Murdoch's London production company Shine Group in a stock swap valued at about $674 million. The acquisition thrusts a third Murdoch into a senior management role at the global media giant and could prompt scrutiny of the Murdoch-controlled News Corp. entering into a transaction that benefits one of the mogul's family members.

Comerica Inc. said Monday that it will absorb cross-town rival Manufacturers National Corp. in a stock merger valued at about $1.1 billion that would create one of the nation's biggest banks. The deal is the latest in a wave of consolidations to sweep the banking industry in the past few months. It would create a banking company with about $26.8 billion in assets, putting it among the 30 biggest banks in the nation.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner says the government "remains optimistic that taxpayers will get back every dollar of their investment in AIG. " Bailed-out insurance giant American International Group Inc. moved closer to repaying the government for its rescue by completing a stock-conversion deal with the Treasury Department on Friday ? a key to unwinding the federal stake in the company. Treasury converted the preferred shares in AIG it received as part of the complex bailout into 1.655 billion shares of common stock, increasing the government's ownership stake to 92% from 80%. The department plans to sell the shares over time to recoup its investment, now estimated at $68 billion, and end taxpayer support of the company.

BCE Inc. said it will offer to buy the remaining 77% of Teleglobe Inc., owner of the world's third-largest international telecommunications network, in a share-swap deal it valued at $6.65 billion. Montreal-based BCE said its president and chief executive, Jean Monty, would become Teleglobe chairman immediately, replacing Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Sirois, who would remain as an advisor. Paolo Guidi, president and chief executive of Teleglobe Communications Corp.

Privately owned Laparomed Corp. said it has agreed to be acquired by Advanced Surgical Inc. of New Jersey in an all-stock deal that will give Laparomed shareholders a 26.5% stake in the combined companies. Terms were not disclosed, but the deal appears to be worth $10 million to $11 million based on Friday's $3.75 per share closing price for Advanced Surgical stock in the Nasdaq Small-Cap market. Both companies make and market instruments for so-called less-invasive, or laparoscopic, surgery.

Ford Motor Co. said Friday that it will launch a massive stock-swap plan and pay shareholders up to $10 billion in cash to bolster its stock price and to share profit from a booming automotive market with investors who have not been rewarded on Wall Street. The move, on a day the stock market plummeted, weakened the standing of the world's No.

Cybernetics Products Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to a stock swap to acquire a controlling interest in Vision Ten Inc., a maker of X-ray equipment. Cybernetics said a big shareholder agreed to exchange a 51% stake in Torrance-based Vision Ten for 160,000 Cybernetics shares. At Thursday's closing price of $1.187 a share, the deal has a value of $190,000 for Cybernetics.

Ivax Corp., a Miami company that makes chemical and generic drugs, has completed its acquisition of McGaw Inc. in a stock swap valued at about $440 million, the companies said Monday. McGaw shareholders will receive $16 worth of Ivax stock for each McGaw share. About half a share of Ivax common stock will be exchanged for each of McGaw's 27.4 million shares. Shares of McGaw, an Irvine-based intravenous-solution maker, stopped trading Friday. Ivax stock closed Monday at $27.375, down $1.

AmeriQuest Technologies Inc., a distributor of computer hardware, has traded 1.1 million newly issued common shares for 3.3 million shares, or 51%, of Kenfil Inc. common stock held by its principal shareholders. The stock swap, first announced in April, is part of AmeriQuest's proposed acquisition of Kenfil, a Van Nuys-based software distributor. Subject to the approvals of both companies' shareholders, the remaining Kenfil shares would be exchanged in a merger at the same conversion ratio of 0.

A deadline for General Motors Corp. bondholders to accept a revised debt-for-stock offer that could speed the carmaker's ride through Chapter 11 passed Saturday without any word on whether there was enough participation to satisfy the company and the Obama administration. The offer would give holders of about $27 billion in bonds as much as 25% of a new, post-bankruptcy GM while wiping out most of the bond debt.

Attempting to break the credit logjam that is threatening the already weakened economy, the Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced a new program to pump massive sums into the financial system. The battered stock market, which on Monday had fallen to its lowest levels in at least 18 months, responded with its biggest one-day rally in five years. The Dow Jones industrial average rocketed 416.66 points, or 3.6%, to 12,156.81.

News Corp. shareholders approved an $11-billion asset swap that increases Rupert Murdoch's control over the company and transfers DirecTV Group Inc. to John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. The transaction was approved by 99.8% of Class B shareholders, who voted by proxy, Murdoch told investors at a special meeting in New York. Under the agreement signed in December, News Corp. will buy back the 16.3% stake held by Liberty in the company.

Media investor John Malone took the latest step to streamline Liberty Media Corp. by swapping a 1% stake in CBS Corp. for a television station in Wisconsin and $170 million in cash. It marked the latest move by Malone to simplify Liberty's corporate structure by swapping passive investments in other media companies for operating businesses. The day before, Liberty finalized a deal with Time Warner to exchange a block of Time Warner Inc. shares for the Atlanta Braves and other consideration.

A long-awaited agreement reached Friday in which News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch gains a bigger stake in his own company by trading his satellite TV interests to former cable kingpin John Malone frees each man to pursue broader ambitions in his medium of choice. Murdoch expects faster growth in the Internet business than he does in U.S. satellite TV distribution. By solidifying control of News Corp., Murdoch can more easily seek out deals like the 2005 acquisition of the MySpace.

Internap Network Services Corp. said Thursday that it agreed to buy Irvine-based VitalStream Holdings Inc. for $217 million in stock, expanding Internap's line of products for Web broadcasting. Internap, based in Atlanta, would swap 0.5132 of a share for each VitalStream share. The offer values VitalStream at $8.75 a share based on Internap's closing price Wednesday of $17.05. VitalStream shares soared $1.27, or 20%, on Thursday to $7.67. Internap fell $1.64, or 9.6%, to $15.41.

Tokos Medical Corp., the nation's leading manufacturer and provider of in-home pregnancy monitors and services, said Friday that it has signed an agreement to take over competitor CareLink Corp. in Irvine in a stock swap valued at $40.2 million. Craig Davenport, Tokos' president, said his company will acquire all privately held CareLink's shares in exchange for 1.2 million newly issued shares of Tokos stock.

General Motors Corp. Thursday set an exchange rate that analysts called generous for its planned repurchase of as much as 14% of its common stock in exchange for about $9 billion of GM Hughes stock. The world's largest auto maker said it will issue 1.065 shares of stock in its Hughes Electronics Corp. communications unit--best known for its DirecTV pay-TV system--for each share of GM common stock shareholders offer to swap. GM's stock closed up 25 cents to $88.

Tribune Co. and California's Chandler family are close to unwinding two controversial partnerships at the heart of a boardroom battle that has roiled the company since early June, several sources close to the situation said.

Alcatel and Lucent Technologies Inc. said Sunday that the French telecom equipment maker would acquire its smaller U.S. rival in a $13.4-billion stock swap that would form a major new global player. About 8,800 jobs would be cut. The company, to be based in Paris, would have annual sales of $25 billion -- close to the 2005 revenue posted by the world's largest network provider, Cisco Systems Inc. of San Jose. The combined Alcatel and Lucent would generate $1.