Buyout pop for Wall St.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wall Street was poised to start Monday's session in positive territory after a Texas utility giant said it agreed to be taken private in a $32 billion deal.

At 7:58 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures pointed to a higher open.

The Dallas-based electric utility TXU announced prior to Monday's opening bell that a group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Texas Pacific Group had agreed to buy utility TXU for $32.3 billion, plus another $12 billion in assumed debt. The $45 billion total would set a record for a private equity transaction.

TXU (Charts) shares jumped more than 13 percent in pre-market trading on the news.

The $70 a share purchase price would be a premium of about 17 percent, and the additional debt could make the deal the largest private equity acquisition ever.

In related news, Station Casinos Inc. (Charts) announced Monday it agreed to a $5.4 billion cash buyout offer from the privately-held Fertitta Colony Partners, for $90 per share.

Oil prices resumed their recent runup. U.S. light crude was up 25 cents to $61.39 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices gained. The yield on the U.S. 10-year note eased to 4.65 percent from 4.67 percent late Friday. The dollar was little changed against the euro and lower versus the yen in early trading.

Stocks in Asia closed mixed, with Japan's Nikkei rising slightly to a seven-year high and Australia and Seoul hitting record highs, but Hong Kong stocks falling sharply. Major indexes in Europe were up in early trading.

In other corporate news, financial services firm Citi (Charts) announced that it had hired American Express Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden as its new CFO, succeeding Sallie Krawcheck, who is shifting to become head of its Global Wealth Management division in a move announced a month ago.

There were also reports in Japan that Citi was eyeing a $3 billion deal for a one-third stake in Nikko, Japan's No. 3 securities firm that has been hit by a scandal over accounting problems at its merchant banking unit and faces the risk of delisting.

Media conglomerate Time Warner (Charts) saw its move "The Departed" win four Oscars, including one for best picture, which could provide a lift for both DVD and ticket sales. The company, which owns CNNMoney.com, saw films it invested in win five other awards, including "Happy Feet," which won best animated film.

JetBlue (Charts), which took a $30 million hit to earnings when passengers were stranded for hours at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 14, moved quickly to cancel 68 flights to and from JFK Monday as a new storm hit the New York area.

The Financial Times reported that DaimlerChrysler (Charts) is thinking about taking a minority stake in General Motors (Charts) as payment for Chrysler if a deal between the automakers takes place.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing (Charts) is offering to install advanced antijamming technology on some future commercial satellites for the first time as protection against terrorists and hostile governments.

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