Monday Morning Outlook

Morning folks.  Between football and the onset of winter, here are some headlines to get your Monday into full gear:

Transactions:

• Three Tower Partners to acquire regional integrated communications provider NTS
• Great Point Partners exits payment effectiveness solutions provider The Reclaim Group
• Sun Capital makes its fourth consumer divestiture this year with the sale of Gerber Childrenswear
• Lower middle market PE fund High Road Capital acquires SMB Machinery via a recapitalization
• British bootmaker Dr. Martens on the verge of being acquired by European private equity shop Permira

Events:

• On Thursday, G. Jonathan Bernstein, Managing Member & Founder of Blackbern Partners, will be hosting a Roundtable Discussion on Distressed Turnaround

Other News:

• J.P. Morgan and the Justice Department continue to debate whether the bank must admit wrongdoing after reaching a tentative $13B settlement over MBS sales
• Apple plans to unveil a new line of iPads to fend off a growing list of competitors
• Drugmaker giant Eli Lilly announces that it intends to continue its heavy research and development spending despite cost cutting at rival businesses
• The Federal Trade Commission is set to approve a merger between Office Depot and OfficeMax without divestitures
• 5 reasons not to give up on emerging markets yet
• It’s a better time to sell your bank than you think

This week in history… the market lost 11% of its value at the opening bell on very heavy trading, marking the notorious Black Tuesday that would launch the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States (1929).