With a projected valuation of as much as $100 billion, Facebook’s imminent IPO may portend great things for social media. But many planners feel less bullish about its prospects for delivering investment returns.

Antitrust regulators in Europe stopped the merger of Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext on Wednesday, saying the combined group would have a stranglehold on the listed European futures market and would thwart new entrants.

NYSE Euronext said it would focus on its “standalone strategy,’’ while Deutsche Boerse declared this a ‘black day’ after the European Commission prohibited the merger of the two exchange operators.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has joined the U.S. Department of Justice in approving the merger of NYSE Euronext with Deutsche Boerse.

Morgan Keegan's brokerage force has stayed in wait-and-see mode as parent firm Regions Financial looks to sell that business, but that could all change if uncertainty about the firm's future persists or if a new deal presents unfavorable terms, experts say.

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext have decided to push back the deadline for completing their merger until March 31.

Federated Investors has reached an agreement to acquire Prime Rate Capital Management of London, a specialist in cash management and fixed income products. The company also has a family of UCITS, including the Prime Rate Sterling Liquidity Fund, Prime Rate Euro Liquidity Fund and Prime Rate U.S. Dollar Liquidity Fund.

With approval from the U.S. Justice Department in hand and approval from the European Commission still to be achieved, NYSE Euronext is looking for a period of relative quiet through the end of the year on its quest to merge with Deutsche Boerse.

The merger of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse has been cleared on the New York side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext have offered to cap fees on trading in their European derivatives contracts for three years in their last-ditch effort to get their $9 billion merger cleared by the European Union.

inShareWells Fargo & Co. has signed a deal to acquire investment boutique EverKey Global Partners.

Goldman Sachs' asset management division has agreed to purchase the mutual fund division of Dividend Growth Advisors, in a push to offer more income-generating funds.

Strategic Insight parent Asset International has completed its anticipated acquisition of certain FRC products—and says it will make “significant investments to strengthen, enhance and expand acquired FRC products.”

Corporate acquisitions using overpriced shares of stock rarely do much to cushion the decline the shares eventually suffer, according to a new study.

BOSTON—The largest, and most successful, asset managers are structured as partnerships, Bob Pozen, chairman emeritus of MFS Investment Management, told Fund Forum USA’s Global Fund Distribution Summit here Monday.

The owners of Standard & Poor’s Indices and Dow Jones Indices will create a joint venture in index services.

U.S. firms were the most active acquirers of emerging markets companies in the first half of 2011, according to KPMG International, closing 144 deals. This was nearly twice the 82 acquisitions by Canada. The U.K. made 62 deals, followed by Japan, with 61.

Sales of asset managers slowed in the most recent quarter after an 18-month surge as fewer independent and foreign-owned firms changed hands, according to Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP.

Having gone into bankruptcy, Financial Research Corp. is now being evaluated by Strategic Insight parent Asset International for potential purchase. Asset International, however, is only interested in purchasing certain FRC research products: those covering 529 college savings plans, alternative investments, target-date funds, industry assets under management by company and distribution channel, sub-advised funds and its “Monitor” research.

Touchstone Investments and Old Mutual Asset Management have entered into an agreement whereby Touchstone will acquire the $2 billion U.S. mutual fund business of Old Mutual, bringing Touchstone’s assets to nearly $10 billion. The deal will also add several new sub-advisors to Touchstone’s roster of fund managers.