3 Deals to Watch: BofA Pizza, Cracker Barrel Poison Pill

Merrill Lynch's appetite for everything pizza looks like it will deliver $800 million to a cash-hungry Bank of America (BAC), three years after its takeover.

Bank of America is in talks to sell its ownership of NPC International, the largest franchisee of Pizza Hut restaurants to The Carlyle Group for $800 million according to reports by Bloomberg. The largest U.S. bank by assets inherited the network of pizza selling stores when it purchased Merrill Lynch for $50 billion at the height of the financial crisis just over three years ago.The Charlotte, N.C.-based lender is looking to raise additional capital as its stock hovers near post crisis lows on worries it will face additional liability for mortgages sold to investors before the housing bust. Divestitures like the potential Pizza Hut restaurant sale are a way for the bank to add precious capital without issuing new stock or debt.On September 12, Bank of America released an initiative called "Project New BAC" where the bank would "become a more focused, leaner, and more efficient company," according to the press statement. To trim down, the bank announced it will cut nearly 30,000 jobs over a span of years. "The company continues to sell non-core business units and assets that don't support its strategy, thereby strengthening the balance sheet, and improving capital and liquidity," the company also said.Chief Executive Brian Moynihan recently sold a big piece of its stake in China Construction Bank for $8.3 billion, at a gain of $3.3 billion, and its Canadian credit card operations for $7.3 billion. In a September Barclays Capital conference Moynihan said, "We've been selling all the non-core assets that we've accumulated over the years." Pizza, while a staple food for many, appears to fit under Moynihan's definition of "non-core." DST Global and Silver Lake are buying a $1.6 billion piece of Alibaba Group previously owned by company insiders. The deal gives the Chinese e-commerce conglomerate, which is the largest online business trading market in the world and is partially owned by Yahoo!(YHOO) a $32 billion valuation. Temasek, the Singapore private wealth fund, Yunfeng, the private equity firm founded by Alibaba Chief Executive Jack Ma, and other shareholders are included in the investment group that is taking close to a 5% stake in the owner of premier Chinese online retail brands alibaba.com, Taobao, Taobao Mall and Alipay, its payment processing division.

Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder and CEO said in the statement announcing the deal that "This liquidity program will allow our people to focus on growing our business and continuing to create value."

The company is selling a stake to new investors so that existing owners and employees can cash out a portion of their holdings. All employees are going to keep a significant portion of their ownership in Alibaba when the sale, which is expected to close in four to six weeks, is completed according to a spokesperson familiar with the deal.The Financial Times reported that the private share sale makes any potential initial public offering for Alibaba unlikely.For Silver Lake, the Alibaba stake represents its third Chinese investment since 2010. Silver Lake managing director Ken Hao said in the deal announcement, "We have developed a strong relationship with Alibaba's management over several years, and this commitment reflects our confidence in the company's leadership position and the growth of the e-commerce market in China."It's also a deal that puts Silver Lake at odds with Yahoo!, a company it has been rumored to be interested in taking over. Yahoo currently over a 40% stake in Alibaba and has fought with CEO Ma over how to manage the Hangzhou, China- based company founded in 1999. Former Yahoo! Chief Executive Carol Bartz butted heads this year with Alibaba CEO Jack Ma for spinning Alipay without key investor approvals. The split put one of Alibaba's most valuable assets out of the reach of some investors like Yahoo!. All parties settled in July by agreeing that if Alipay were to do an IPO, it would transfer at least $2 billion and as much as $6 billion to the parent Alibaba. The deal may be good news for Yahoo! because the new investors are valuing its Alibaba stake at nearly $14 billion, not far below its overall market value of $17.7 billion. Shares rose when news broke on AllThingsD yesterday afternoon. In early trading, Yahoo! shares are up over 1.5% to $14.22.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) today said it will be using a poison pill to fend off its largest shareholder from increasing its stake. Sadar Bilgari, the activist investor who owns other restaurant chains Steak n Shake and Western Sizzlin applied with regulators to buy as much as 49.9% of the company's stock. The move prompted Cracker Barrel management to adopt a poison pill, which companies use to discourage hostile takeovers by diluting shares held by the acquirer.Currently, Bilgari owns 9.3 percent of the Lebanon, Tennessee old country store themed dining chain and retailer started in 1969.Bilgari is an aggressive player when making bids for companies in distress. In 2007, he clashed with Steak n Shake management and has also failed at previous takeover attempts. After taking the company over, Bilgari in 2010 changed the company name to Bilgari Holdings(BH) and its ticker on the New York Stock Exchange. Previously, Steak n Shake traded under "SNS."In a letter filed to regulators earlier this month, Bilgari wrote about Cracker Barrel management that "it has become increasingly clear to us that top leadership has shaped a culture that lacks, inter alia, accountability, transparency, and stock ownership." Shares of Cracker Barrel are down over 26% this year. Readers Also Like: >> 4 Resilient Tech Stocks for a Tough Economy >To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints