The New York Fed suspended MF Global from conducting new business with the central ban today. Its shares were also suspended as the troubled brokerage nears a deal on its future. The tentative plan is for MF Global's holding company to file for bankruptcy, then derivatives trader Interactive Brokers would buy the asset. Interactive Brokers would likely make an initial bid of about $1bn during a court supervised auction for MF Global. To say that the brokerage, run by former Goldman Sachs chief executive Jon Corzine, had a difficult past week would be an understatement: in that span it posted a quarterly loss, its shares fell by two-thirds and its credit ratings were cut to junk. Its shares were suspended before trading opened in New York, pending a statement. MF Global clients in London said the company wasn't taking on new business and they were closing out positions. The company is suffering because of low interest rates and bets it made on European sovereign debt, making it possibly the most prominent U.S. casualty yet from the eurozone debt crisis. MF Global was in talks on Sunday with possible buyers, aiming "squarely" to do a deal, though all options remained on the table as the firm hired restructuring and bankruptcy advisers. By Sunday evening, the talks had narrowed to one bidder, Interactive Brokers. Sullivan & Cromwell's restructuring and mergers teams have joined the long roster of those advising MF Global, one source familiar with the situation said. Weil, Gotshal & Manges was also hired to prepare potential restructuring options, a second source familiar with the situation said. Corzine, who became CEO in March last year after a term as New Jersey's governor, has been trying to transform MF Global from a brokerage that mainly places customers' trades on exchanges into an investment bank that bets with its own capital. The plunge last week in MF Global's corporate bonds to distressed levels, and in its shares' drop to below $1 at one point on Friday, makes it all the more urgent for the company to come up with some sort of solution quickly. MF Global has given potential buyers limited information about its financials and has not set up a data room for bidders to conduct due diligence, a buy side source earlier said. That's because the company's positions are big and hard to value, especially the firm's sovereign risk exposure. [CNBC, 10/31/11]