Michel Barnier has picked a good battle to fight. Europe&rsquo;s audit industry is an oligopoly, dominated by the Big Four: KPMG, Ernst &amp; Young, Deloitte and PwC. In EU states, they audit 85 per cent of listed companies. But draft proposals from the European Commission&rsquo;s internal markets commissioner are not all they might be.

Called to account

Business Standard

Few companies embody the highs and lows of turbo-charged modern finance better than Ferretti. Once the luxury yachtmaker made a mint for private equity. Now a state-backed Chinese industrial conglomerate is buying it for at most a fifth of its peak value.

Sails and profits

UPS&rsquo; euro 4.9-billion ($6.4 billion) love letter validates TNT Express&rsquo; recent divorce. The US parcel service has admired its smaller Dutch peer for years and proposed just before Valentine&rsquo;s Day. TNT is thinking about it. But, clearly its 2011 split from PostNL, the dowdy domestic mail business, is finally achieving the desired effect.

Expressing interest

&lsquo;Project Apple&rsquo; makes a forced sale of some or all of News Corp's shares in British Sky Broadcasting look a little less remote. This is the task force specifically set up by UK media watchdog Ofcom to scrutinise whether BSkyB still meets its &lsquo;fit and proper&rsquo; test for broadcasters. A selloff would be a drastic and unprecedented outcome. But the heightened scrutiny suggests it's not impossible, in a scandal that's already taken plenty of unpredictable turns.

Bad apples

Corporate stragglers of Europe, beware. The $6.8-billion sale of Dutch courier TNT Express to US rival UPS is a good result for activist investors. The $2-billion buyout of British software firm Misys would be another. After a lean patch, these victories will embolden troublemakers.

Acting up

The diamond business is simply too small for the world&rsquo;s biggest miners. Despite solid industry fundamentals, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are both looking for ways out. That gives new opportunities to niche players or even private-equity firms.

Dropping stones

Nestle&rsquo;s baby food buy is surprisingly grown up. Following an M&amp;A tug-of-war with smaller rival Danone, the world&rsquo;s biggest food group will pay a punchy $11.85 billion in cash for Pfizer&rsquo;s infant-nutrition business. But opportunities to buy big, high-growth emerging markets businesses are rare, and Nestle should be able to generate a respectable return.

Formula won

Sara Lee&rsquo;s coffee spin-off must create its own buzz. Investors need to believe the unit, officially known as &lsquo;DE Master Blenders 1753&rsquo;, will benefit from a sharper focus and strong leadership.

Quentin Webb