CHINA’S Sinosteel has all but won control of iron ore miner Midwest after four of the takeover target’s directors agreed to sell their shares.

Midwest chairman Jesse Taylor and directors Francis Ng, Steven Chong and Stephen de Belle said they would accept the $6.38 cash a share offer from Sinosteel for their collective 4.1 per cent holding in the company.

This will give Sinosteel, China’s second largest iron ore trader, a 49.68 per cent stake in Midwest.

The Chinese metals trader was also rumoured to have bought an additional 1 per cent of Midwest on market, taking it close to controlling more than 50 per cent of the company.

However, a compulsory takeover may still be a battle with Murchison Metals vowing to hang on to its 10 per cent stake in Midwest.

Murchison’s largest shareholder – Harbinger Capital Partners – also holds 9.11 per cent of Midwest’s share register, while two Midwest directors remain

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By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor After months of tumultuous shareholder temperament, Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) is giving its board and product line a makeover to convince traders of its value after turning down Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT) $47.5 billion offer, according to reports. President Susan Decker is pushing a plan to roll several product groups under one roof (such as mail, search and home-page divisions), The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources close to the matter. Four executives - Brad Garlinghouse (who oversees e-mail and instant messaging), Vish Makhijani (general manager of web search), Qi Lu (top engineer for search marketing) and Joshua Schachter (founder of social bookmarking site, delicious) are leaving the company, according to TechCrunch. Early last week, Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of the network division, left the company to work in venture capital. Story continues ...

A Virginia employee benefits firm with a major presence in Central Ohio on Monday announced a buyout deal with global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd. (WSH).

Richmond, Va.-based Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. (HRH) said it will be acquired by London-based Willis Group in a deal valued at $2.1 billion. Willis will buy all outstanding Hilb Rogal stock for $46 a share, representing a 49-percent premium over the firm’s Friday close of $30.89.

Hilb Rogal entered the Central Ohio market in 2001 with the purchase of Berwanger Overmyer Associates. The company, ranked last year as Central Ohio’s largest independent insurance agency, in 2007 recorded about $304 million in area-written premiums.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending Hilb Rogal shareholder and regulatory approval. Willis said the deal will more than double its North American revenue in its employee benefits sector, an area it has targeted

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Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Jorge Beristain wrote that 2008 guidance “remains on track” and upbeat. Beristain maintained his Buy rating on Cleveland-Cliffs and raised his target price to $115.

Track Beristain and other Deutche Bank analyst picks at:

http://www.trackthepros.com/categories.php?category_id=420

The stock has almost tripled in the past 12 months on the demand for steel and its rising price. However, a major shareholder just plunked down $102 million, an average of $92.75 a share. Harbinger Capital now owns 13.9 million shares of Cleveland-Cliffs, a 15.3% stake. Harbinger has nvested more than $275 million in Cleveland-Cliffs.

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Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE:CC) goes down for the count. On Friday they announced it would open its books to Blockbuster Inc. and Blockbuster's largest shareholder, Carl Icahn. So short term investors playing the stock, its time to bail. Circuit City said Icahn's letter answered some questions related to the potential transaction, and that it would allow the video-rental chain to conduct due diligence in its takeover bid of just over $1 billion with plans for creating a huge chain that would sell electronic gadgets and rent movies and games. Friday's moves by the Richmond company, including hiring Goldman Sachs & Co. to explore strategic alternatives, eased some lingering concerns over Circuit City's financial future, helping its stock climb in trading. Shares of Circuit City jumped 28 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $5.07, while Blockbuster's stock fell 2 cents to $2.66. "The board is taking its fiduciary responsibility to ...

The more I think about it the angrier I get (if I were a Bear Stearns shareholder).  Forced into a firesale, Bear executives sold the firm for a reported $2 per share last weekend.  And that came on the heals of Bear estimating that firm’s book value being worth at least $80 per share.  Now that’s a serious disconnect.  My first question: Mr. Dimon (JPM CEO), could you do us all a favor and reconcile the $72 difference?

My next question: why didn’t the Fed allow other firms to potentially bid for the firm.  I’m sure with all the firepower and deep pockets that Goldman has, they would have submitted an offer.  Instead they allowed JPM to do a deal with virtually no downside risk (to the extent that the Fed would allow for emergency funding) plus

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