Friday Papers: Bain Capital eyes Micro Focus - tips, comment and bids

Financial Times

* Bain Capital is poised to bid for Micro Focus with an offer worth up to £890 million.

* The chief executives of Deutsche Börse and NYSE have rebuffed calls to reconsider the terms of their merger plans while giving more details of the costs they intend to save through their deal.

The Lex Column

* Exelon/Constellation: star-crossed deal? Exelon has seen three acquisitions go poof and multiple sets of regulators need to be mollified. The stars will have to line up just right this time.

* Berkshire Hathaway: sage advice - the Sokol affair should remind investors that Mr Buffett not only buys other companies, but also runs one himself. He must be fit enough to do both.

* Deutsche Bank: capital certainty is share price key - until the chief executive delivers capital certainty, Deutsche’s share price looks set to hug 0.8 times book value.

* Bernanke: dollar story loses the plot - Americans are eroding the global confidence they desperately need, and the Fed’s isolationist enthusiasm for a weak dollar contributes to this.

* Nomura: the only way is up - the latest results seem to confirm an immutable law of investment banking: a good deal for bankers is a bad one for investors.

Lombard

* BP comparison now flatters cautious, stately Shell - the only uncertainty hanging over the business is how it will dispose of a financial gusher reflected in first-quarter operating cash flow that was 80% higher than last year at $8.6 billion.

The Times