Notable Mergers and Acquisitions of the Day 7/24: FIG, ANR/FCL

July 24, 2009 9:34 AM EDT

• Daniel Mudd, the newly appointed CEO of Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) is already in the news this week. He and Fortress founder, Wes Edens, plan to go an acquisition spree that could see FIG buying up other financial companies including banks, insurers, traditional money management groups and other hedge funds, according to the Financial Times.
  
  Wes Edens, Fortress main founder, told employees this week that FIG could buy up smaller rivals by buying other hedge funds and the assets of funds that are being wound down.
  
  "Did you make last year’s losses back? If you are still down by the end of the year, it is all over for you," Mr Edens said of those hedge funds.
  
  Fortress is absorbing $2 billion in assets from DB Zwirn, a credit fund that announced it was closing last year. Fortress is also expected to join the group of investors extending $3 billion in rescue funding to CIT (NYSE: CIT), according to the FT.
  
  Wes did tell the FT that Mudd would lead the group’s acquisition strategy.
  
  Any acquisition we decide to do is better tomorrow than it was yesterday because we now have the ability to focus," Mr Edens said at an internal meeting, referring to the addition of Mr Mudd. "You need the right team to do that."
  
  It is difficult for PE shops to buy banks because of the regulatory framework, but Fortress is exploring ways of buying struggling banks with the regulator’s blessing.
  
  
• Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE: ANR) confirms commitment to merge with Foundation Coal Holdings (NYSE: FCL).
  
  Statement:
  
  We have seen Duquesne Capital Management's most recent press release and disagree strongly with its assessment of our pending merger with Foundation Coal. As the U.S.'s largest producer and exporter of metallurgical coal and a leading supplier of thermal coal, we have both real-time insight and an informed view on the short, medium and long-term outlook for this industry and the markets we are in every day.
  
  Given our industry experience we remain convinced that the merger with Foundation will create significant, long-term value for shareholders. To date we've received outstanding support from our base of long-term investors who fully understand the strategic logic behind the transaction.

To see all the Mergers & Acquisitions for today in real-time go to http://www.streetinsider.com/Mergers+and+Acquisitions

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• Duquesne Capital
• Notable Mergers and Acquisitions
• Hedge Funds

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