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With no strapping U.S. Marine in sight to protect him from the rain, President Obama looked skyward to check for drops as he headed to the golf course Saturday. The president, dressed in khakis, a low-key blue jacket and sandals, was depicted by White House pool photographers emerging from the South Portico of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, glancing up and stretching out his hand to check if it was raining.  The images come just days after the commander-in-chief was roundly criticized for breaking protocol by having a two Marines hold umbrellas over him and a foreign dignitary during a press conference in the Rose Garden in violation of a soldiers' uniform dress code. Scroll down for video Rain check: President Barack Obama checks to see if it's raining alongside U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius as they depart the South Portico of the White House Soggy outing: The president, Secretary Sibelius (right), Transportation Secretary Ray La

The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process: _0"> APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS -- French insurer Sogecap, which is part of French bank Societe Generale, and Cardif Assurance Vie, which is a subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas, to jointly acquire a real estate developer (approved May 14) NEW LISTINGS -- U.S. group General Electric Co to buy the aviation business of Italian plane components maker Avio from private equity fund Cinven and Italian defence group Finmeccanica (notified May 13/deadline June 18)   -- U.S. media group Time Warner to acquire sole control of TV operator Central European Media Enterprises in which it currently holds a stake (notified May 8/deadline June 17) -- Private equity firm CVC to acquire sole control of German energy services company ista GmbH (notified May 8/deadline June 17/simplified) -- Private equity investor Nordic Capital to buy Unicorn which owns marine transport ser

Commerzbank is in intensive talks to divest the bulk of its 5.7 billion euros ($7.4 billion) in British property loans, Germany's second biggest lender said in the prospectus of its capital increase published on Tuesday. _0"> Commerzbank wants to sell the portfolio to private equity investor Lone Star and U.S. bank Wells Fargo, a source familiar with the transaction had said last month.   Commerzbank is hiving off the UK property loans business of its mortgage unit Hypothekenbank Frankfurt International, formerly known as Eurohypo as a way to cut down the size of its balance sheet.

The banks arranging the 3.3 billion euro loan backing the German investor Joh A Benckiser's (JAB) 7.5 billion euro ($9.74 billion) bid for Dutch coffee and tea company DE Master Blenders 1753 launched the deal to funds on Tuesday, banking sources said. The banks are looking to raise 1 billion euros from funds -- 60/40 in euros and dollars, respectively -- which will supplement funds raised from around 15 banks that were invited in the first phase of syndication.   The fully underwritten all-senior loan is being arranged by Bank of America, Citibank, Rabobank and Morgan Stanley. A series of five meetings were held on Tuesday with around 20 funds, which were asked to commit a minimum of 50 million euros each, bankers said. Funds will be offered a commitment fee to compensate them for their commitments until the acquisition closes and funds are drawn, which is expected in July. The deal is structured as a 1.25 billion euro, three-year term loan A at 350 bps over EURIBOR, a 1.7

The collapse of the bid by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to take Betfair private highlights how it has become increasingly difficult to pull off such deals.   CVC said on Tuesday that it had ended its 1 billion pound ($1.5 billion) attempt to buy the online gambling company after the two failed to agree on price and strategy. Public-to-private deals, where a company listed on a stock market is bought out by a private buyer, helped to drive the boom in private equity dealmaking in 2006 and 2007. About half of all private equity mergers and acquisitions (M&A) globally in those years were public-to-private deals, Thomson Reuters data show. Since then, however, the figure has dropped significantly. Last year it was only 12 percent. Private equity firms are interested in acquiring public companies they view as undervalued by the market and which they believe could improve performance significantly under private ownership. One of the main benefits of going private is th

Lenders to French plumbing group Frans Bonhomme are bracing for losses in an expected restructuring of its debt as the company prepares to default on its loan prepayments, banking sources said on Tuesday. Private equity firm Cinven bought Frans Bonhomme in 2005 for 893 million euros ($1.16 billion) backed with 735 million euros of debt, according to Thomson Reuters LPC data. The company had to reset its debt covenants in 2011 and has run into difficulty again amid difficult economic conditions, bankers said.   Bankers said the company sent a letter to lenders on Monday stating an event of default would occur as they are not able to make a payment to reduce their debt specified in the original agreement. Some debt agreements provide for companies to make agreed prepayments early on a portion of their loan. Frans Bonhomme's debt is also gaining attention from distressed debt investors looking to buy it cheaply in Europe's secondary loan market in the hope that they will ea

State-rescued German bank Hypo Real Estate is preparing to sell its public finance specialist Depfa, with Citi appointed to organise the sale, two people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. Hypo Real Estate has to sell Depfa by the end of 2014, and its pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank unit by 2015 as a condition for the European Commission's approval of its state bailout.   Germany nationalised the stricken real estate lender which collapsed in the aftermath of the Lehman Bros bankruptcy. Hypo Real Estate received a 10 billion euro capital injection in the wake of the financial crisis as well as 145 billion euros in liquidity guarantees. Depfa, which has not underwritten new business since 2009, last year posted a net profit of 59 million euros. Depfa currently has a balance sheet total of around 73 billion euros. Any buyer would get a large public finance portfolio. Of Depfa's borrowers, 26 percent are regional governments, 24 percent public sector enterprises a