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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Aon Corp (AOC), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Gap Inc (GPS), Verizon Communications (VZ), Oil, Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Federal Reserve

Filed under: Deals, Aon Corp (AOC)

Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), the third largest insurance broker, is about to become much bigger. Yes, the company has announced a $2.1 billion acquisition of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs (NYSE: HRH). The transaction is half cash and half stock. Although, Willis plans a $1 billion buyback to sop up the shares.

Based on the financials, the deal looks smart. Willis plans to realize annualized synergies of about $140 million by 2012. What's more, the transaction should be accretive to cash earnings on the close (which is expected in the Q4).

New S&P Equity Research 4 STARS (buy) or 5 STARS (strong buy); Stocks with those rankings are expected to outperform the broader market over the next 12 months, and S&P says that stocks in these categories have substantially outperformed the S&P 500 over the past 10+ years:

4 STARS

Aon Corporation (AOC)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV)

Track other S&P 4 STAR picks at:

http://www.trackthepros.com/categories.php?category_id=924

5 STARS

Banco Santander (STD)

Shanda Interactive Entertainment (SNDA)

Desarrolladora Homex (HXM

Huaneng Power International (HNP)

Track other 5 STAR picks at:

Filed under: Analyst reports, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Aon Corp (AOC), Analyst initiations

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Google, Boyd Gaming and Microsoft were today's noteworthy initiations: