Wall Street Hubbub 8/03: Is Goldman Spinning Its PE Unit, Sanofi/Genzyme In a Standstill On Price Already, a Hedge Fund Merger

Rumors, buzz, and scuttlebutt swirl around Wall Street daily. Below is a run-down of some important talk today:

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) executives have started "serious discussions" about spinning off at least a part of its massive private equity division, Fox Business Network's Charlie Gasparino reported today.
  
  
• Reports Sanofi-Aventis' (NYSE: SNY) initial bid for Genzyme (Nasdaq: GENZ) was $69 per share, which would represent a take-under from the current share price of $70.39. Genzyme will not likely take less than $80/share, according to some.
  
  
• Range Resources Corporation (NYSE: RRC) has been mentioned as a takeover target in the natural gas sector. Shares are up 1.9 percent today.
  
  
• Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) unveiled their new BlackBerry 6 operating system (OS) today, along with their new device, the BlackBerry Torch 9800, which is a touch screen phone with a slide out QWERTY keyboard for those that don't enjoy "torching" their display to type. Some are already calling it a "flop."
  
  
• In hedge fund land, Dinakar Singh's TPG-Axon hedge fund is buying London's Montrica Investment Management, creating a firm with $9 billion in combined assets. Both firm's are led by former Goldman Sachs alumni. Singh and Montrica founder Andrew Metcalf.

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