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Welcome to the Morning Meeting, a look at some key stories from overnight from the world of deals and dealmakers:

The road down under The CPPIB bid for Intoll gets muted reviews down under, with The Australian newspaper calling it "on the cheap side." According to The Australian, that leaves an opening for another bidder, and guess who the newspaper thinks it might be? Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, which was CPPIB's partner in another bid for an Australian toll road operator in the past year. Here's the story

Here's a link to Intoll's release, which contains a copy of the letter CPPIB sent to Intoll.

Old-fashioned banking boosts JPMorgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. posts better than anticipated profits. The bank increased net earnings by 76 per cent in the second quarter as it reduced loan loss reserves. The quarter wasn't so great for the investment banking division of the company, where net income fell 6 per cent to $1.4-billion (U.S.) on lower revenue and higher expenses. Revenue fell to $6.3-billion from $7.3-billion for the division. Fee revenue slumped by 37 per cent, led by a huge slide in equity underwriting fees and a smaller drop in debt underwriting and advisory fees. Fixed income trading declined. The only notable increase was in equity trading.

The other big story in the results is the bank took a 14 cent a share charge to cover the U.K. bonus tax, a big hit for a company that made $1.09 a share in the quarter. Here's the company's release

Once burned, but not twice shy The Financial Times reports that banks are hiring again for traders that specialize in U.S. mortgage-backed securities. European banks such as Paribas are leading the push, the paper said.

AgBank IPO a snoozer Agricultural Bank of China, which just did a huge IPO, had a snoozer of a debut. That's a sharp contrast to the pop that some investors and analysts were betting on.

Smart enough Smart Technologies Inc. found enough investor demand to upsize its initial public offering to $660-million by selling 10 per cent more shares than anticipated, and leaving the price at $17 (U.S) apiece, the middle of the range that investors were told to expect. Shares of the Calgary-based maker of interactive whiteboards will begin trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange Thursday, as well as on the Nasdaq. Here's Smart's press release

Carlyle does big deal Carlyle Group agreed to buy NBTY Inc., a maker of nutritional supplements, in a deal valued at $3.8-billion (U.S.). Bank of America, Barclay's Capital and Credit Suisse have committed debt financing.

Now, that's entertainment Lion's Gate Entertainment is turning up the volume on its attempt to merge with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. After earlier dropping a bid to try to by MGM, Lion's Gate is back with a sequel, approaching the creditors of MGM and making a pitch to put the two companies together, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
BAC-N
Bank of America Corp
+0.29%37.92
CG-Q
The Carlyle Group
+0.28%46.91

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