BLACKSTONE, ICAHN VIE TO BUY DELL: SOURCES

Blackstone Group LP and activist investor Carl Icahn submitted proposals to buy Dell Inc. that would rival a US$24.4-billion buyout offer from Silver Lake Management LLC and company founder Michael Dell, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Blackstone, the world’s biggest private-equity firm, outlined an offer valued in excess of US$14.25 a share in cash, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private. Blackstone is working with Morgan Stanley, which is confident it can raise debt to finance the deal, according to the person. Mr. Icahn said he’d pay US$15 a share for a leveraged recapitalization with a 58% cap on the amount of cash used in the deal, the person said.

The proposals present unexpectedly serious challenges to Michael Dell’s effort to take private the Round Rock, Tex.based computer maker he created in 1984 as it struggles with competition from smartphones and tablets. Unlike the founder’s offer, both rival plans enable shareholders to participate in any potential upside, addressing criticism that the buyout offer of US$13.65 a share as too low.

“People are out today to let off steam,” he said. Unsold textile rolls, a metre for one euro, were stacked high outside on the cobbled street. Mr. Papapavlou said business was down 90%.

Cyprus has escaped the bouts of angry street violence that frequently erupt in Greece. But peaceful protests have become a daily occurrence. On Sunday, around 200 bank workers, some of whom face losing their jobs, gathered outside the presidential palace chanting “Troika out of Cyprus!” and “Cyprus not for sale!”

‘Troika’ has become a dirty word in the eurozone’s debt-laden southern states, referring as it does to the trio of lenders the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund — demanding strict austerity in return for economic salvation.

Many Greeks, Italians or Cypriots say the medicine is worse than the sickness.

Cypriots were outraged last weekend to learn that they would have to take a hit on their personal bank deposits to raise ¤5.8-billion in return for the country’s ¤10-billion bailout. They besieged bank machines.

“The banks will reopen on Tuesday, but will there be any money left in them for people to withdraw?” asked Vlasa Cyprian, a 35-year-old petrol pump attendant. “I don’t think so,” he said, “and if there is, there’ll be little, very little.”

The proposed levy, thrown out by lawmakers panicked by the visceral reaction of their voters, now targets big savers over ¤100,000, many of them Russians and other foreigners who squirreled their money away in the country’s over-sized banks on the kind of favorable terms unseen elsewhere in the EU.

Cyprus now faces a Monday deadline to seal the bailout, or the European Central Bank says it will sever emergency funding to the island’s stricken banks. Talks in Brussels were set to drag on late into the night.

Whatever the outcome, Cypriots will see little reason for cheer. Ms. Giorgali, the unemployed nursery teacher, joked that her family was so glued to the television news that there was a deep dent in the sofa.

“I think a solution will be found,” she said, “but it won’t be in the best interests of our country.”

GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades speaks on his phone in his car as he arrives at the airport in Brussels for talks on Sunday.