Business news with words amid+billion+credit. 47 news.

CARPETRIGHT Plc, the UK's largest carpet retailer, dropped to a four-year low in London trading after managers led by Chairman Philip Harris scrapped their 630 million-pound (US$1.2 billion) plan to buy the company. The shares fell as much as 11 percent to 785 pence in London, heading for the lowest close since December 15, 2003. They slid 18 percent on December 21 after the Rainham, England-based company said discussions had ceased, citing deteriorating credit markets. The announcement was made about two minutes before trading ended. Turmoil in the credit markets hampered the executives' ability to secure funding, Harris said. Bloomberg News reported the pace of takeovers worldwide had fallen by about a third since the end of the second quarter, with companies such as Virgin Media Inc and Cadbury Schweppes Plc delaying asset sales amid signs economic growth in countries from the US to Britain is ebbing. "The prospects for the group are undiminished given its market leading

UNITED Rentals Inc, the largest construction-equipment rental company in the United States, lost a bid to force a US$4-billion takeover by Cerberus Capital Management LP when a judge ruled the agreement allowed the buyer to withdraw its offer. Delaware Chancery Court Judge William Chandler ruled on Friday that United Rentals officials should have known that Cerberus executives believed they had a right to pull out of the deal at any time as long as they paid a US$100 million fee. United alleged that Cerberus's RAM Holdings buyout entities agreed in July to pay US$34.50 per share for United Rentals' stock, and reneged on the deal in November amid weakened US credit markets. The stock has been trading in the low-US$20 range. United Rentals fell US$3.69 to US$17.91 on Friday. "The board of directors and management team of United Rentals will consider its alternatives under the circumstances, and they continue to believe strongly in United Rentals' future prospects,"

LEHMAN Brothers Holdings Inc, the largest US underwriter of mortgage-backed bonds, faces legal action by Australian municipal governments after the value of their subprime-related investments dropped as much as 86 percent. Wingecarribee Shire Council, in the Southern Highlands in New South Wales, is suing Lehman for "deceptive and misleading conduct" in selling A$3 million (US$2.6 million) of subprime-linked collateralized debt obligations, the council's managing director Mike Hyde said in a media statement yesterday. New York-based Lehman, which manages up to A$1 billion on behalf of 35 councils in New South Wales and Western Australia, may face further action as the assets in its US mortgage-linked product have declined amid a shakeout in global credit markets, Bloomberg News said. "We strongly deny the claims made in the press statement that we have not acted in their best interests, or that we have engaged in any misleading or deceptive conduct," Sinead

Singapore's state-owned investment fund is mulling a $5 billion investment in Merrill Lynch & Co., according to a report Friday, potentially providing the nation's biggest brokerage with badly needed cash amid billions of dollars in credit losses.

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of newspaper publisher and broadcaster Tribune Co. were down nearly 6% at $31.40 in Wednesday morning trading after a published report indicated that real estate mogul Sam Zell's $8.2 billion deal to take the company private could be in jeopardy. According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, certain bankers are hesitant to fund the last portion of the transaction on worries that weakening credit markets will prevent them from selling the remaining $4.2 billion in loans and bonds to debt investors. Tribune's weak revenue results over the last several months, indicative of the difficulty facing the entire newspaper industry, only makes the situation worse, the report said. The transaction had been expected to close on Thursday. A Tribune spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Late Tuesday, Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Paul Ginocchio downgraded Tribune stock to hold from buy, saying that the current stock price "leaves limited upside." He said in the "remote chance" that the deal does not close, the shares could plunge to around $15.

MORE THAN ?2 billion was wiped off Irish shares yesterday as fears over inflation and the global credit crisis continued to undermine the markets.

Washington Mutual Inc. has become the latest lender to resort to a massive stock sale to shore up its finances amid turmoil in the mortgage and credit markets.

WASHINGTON Mutual Inc, the biggest United States savings and loan company, will write down the value of its home-lending unit by US$1.6 billion in the fourth quarter and cut about six percent of its workforce as mortgage-market losses increase. WaMu, led by Chief Executive Officer Kerry Killinger, also slashed its quarterly dividend to 15 cents a share from 56 cents and forecast a loss for the quarter, according to a statement on Monday from the Seattle-based bank. Provisions for bad loans will be US$1.5 billion to US$1.6 billion, more than the US$1.3 billion the company previously predicted. It plans to shutter 190 of 336 home-loan centers. Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service Inc lowered WaMu's credit rating, citing the firm's deteriorating mortgage assets. The bank has lost 56 percent of its market value this year, the worst performance in the 24-member KBW Bank index, amid declining US housing prices and record home loan delinquencies. WaMu said it plans to sell

Turmoil in the debt market may be catching up to the red-hot sales market for apartment buildings in Chicago. CB Richard Ellis Inc. forecasts that sales of Chicago-area apartment high-rises will reach a record $2.6 billion this year. Some deals are being delayed amid the recent credit crunch. ...

EUROPEAN stocks have risen for a second week, boosted by expectations the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates and after the United States government moved to avert further defaults in the housing industry. Royal Bank of Scotland Plc led gains in banks after the lender wrote down 1.5 billion pounds (US$3 billion) of credit assets, in line with analysts' estimates. Xstrata Plc paced mining stocks higher amid takeover speculation in the industry. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.7 percent to 372.88 last week. The measure rose to its highest in a month as investors speculated the Fed will lower its benchmark lending rate this week and after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time in two years, Bloomberg News said. "Investors have been cheered in recent days by signs that the authorities recognize the downside risks to their economies and are acting decisively to address them," said Richard Scott, who helps oversee about US$2.4 billion at Iimia

ZOE Cruz, co-president of Morgan Stanley and Wall Street's highest-paid female executive, has been ousted three weeks after the firm disclosed US$3.7 billion of losses on mortgage-related securities at the division she oversaw. Cruz, 52, was viewed by analysts as a leading candidate to succeed Chief Executive Officer John Mack, Bloomberg News reported. Her departure adds to the list of banking executives who have lost their jobs amid more than US$50 billion of credit losses tied to subprime home loans. Warren Spector, the former co-president of Bear Stearns Cos, was forced out in August, followed by Merrill Lynch & Co CEO Stan O'Neal and Citigroup Inc chief Charles O. "Chuck" Prince III. "In this environment, if things happen on your watch, then the door is where you are pointed," said Ken Crawford, who helps oversee US$950 million at St Louis-based Argent Capital Management, which holds Morgan Stanley shares. "At investment banks of late, it's hard to say

With investment banks forced to write down some $80 billion (euro54 billion) of losses amid a growing credit crisis, more top executives are getting the ax as Wall Street moves to shore up its damaged image.

NEW YORK -- With investment banks forced to write down some $80 billion of losses amid a growing credit crisis, more top executives are getting the ax as Wall Street moves to shore up its damaged image.

With investment banks forced to write down some $80 billion of losses amid a growing credit crisis, more top executives are getting the ax as Wall Street moves to shore up its damaged image.

Wall Street rebounded Tuesday after the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority said it will invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup Inc. --a vote of confidence for the nation's largest bank, which has suffered severe losses amid the ongoing crisis in the mortgage market. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 200 points in yet another volatile session as investors were hopeful the financial sector can remain healthy despite the ongoing credit crisis. The banking industry has been battered in recent months as defaults on home loans have risen and rendered some mortgage-backed securities essentially worthless. Major financial institutions, including Citi and its competitors, have had to book some $80 billion of writedowns on those holdings -- a trend that has left the markets nervous about the full extent of the damage from soured loans. Citi's ability to secure a capital injection raised hope others might be able to do the same. "The Citi deal is certainly a relief after a series of negative news on Monday with respect to the financials," said Todd Salamone, director of trading at Schaeffer's Investment Research. Funds like Abu Dhabi's "that have plenty of cash may be viewed as a potential rescuer given the balance sheet troubles the banks are having. A weak dollar makes it that much more possible." Still, the market showed some vulnerability to anyone raising the specter of a sagging economy, and that caused another day of big swings for major indexes. Concerns about further writedowns caused the Dow to fall 240 points Monday, bringing the blue chip index, along with the Standard & Poor's 500 index, down 10 percent from recent highs, a decline that signifies a correction.

WALL Street rebounded yesterday after the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority said it will invest US$7.5 billion in Citigroup Inc., a vote of confidence for the largest US bank, which has suffered severe losses amid the ongoing crisis in the mortgage market. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 200 points in yet another volatile session as investors were hopeful the financial sector can remain healthy despite the ongoing credit crisis. The banking industry has been battered in recent months as defaults on home loans have risen and rendered some mortgage-backed securities essentially worthless. Major financial institutions, including Citi and its competitors, have had to book some US$80 billion of writedowns on those holdings, a trend that has left the markets nervous about the full extent of the damage from soured loans. Citi's ability to secure a capital injection raised hope others might be able to do the same. "The Citi deal is certainly a relief after a series of

Seeking to reassure banks amid the continuing credit crisis, the U.S. Federal Reserve is making the year-end injection to help alleviate market anxiety.

UNITED States stocks posted their third weekly drop this month last Friday after the Federal Reserve reduced its economic growth outlook, Freddie Mac reported a record loss and Lowe's Cos slashed its profit forecast. Freddie Mac plunged the most since going public in 1988 and led financial shares lower after losses on mortgage securities prompted it to seek a capital infusion. Lowe's, the second-largest home-improvement retailer, fell the most in five years after same-store sales slipped for the fifth straight quarter. Miners and computer-related companies also fell amid speculation that tighter credit and weak consumer spending will slow the world's largest economy through next year. The Fed cut its 2008 growth forecast to as low as 1.8 percent, down from the 2.5 percent to 2.75 percent anticipated in June, Bloomberg News said. "The housing overhang continues to be a major problem for the economy," said Barry James, who helps manage about US$2.1 billion as president

WASHINGTON Freddie Mac set aside $1.2 billion in the third quarter to account for bad home loans and the company posted a $2 billion loss Tuesday amid a worsening mortgage crisis. Losses for the nation's second largest guarantor of home mortgages widened from $715 million last year during the same period. Freddie Mac said it made the provision for credit losses in the July-September period because of defaults on home loans, which "reflects the significant deterioration of mortgage credit." The $2 billion loss for McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac worked out to $3.29 a share, compared with $

BARCLAYS Capital said yesterday it will write down 1.3 billion pounds (US$2.7 billion) amid the turmoil in credit markets, but that profit is running ahead of last year's strong performance. Barclays Capital, a unit of Barclays Group PLC, said in a trading update that it wrote down 500 million pounds in the third quarter - the three months through September 30 - and a further 800 million pounds in October. The writedown figures are "significantly less than rumors last week of as much as five billion pounds," said Lawrence Peterman, investment director at Eden Financial Ltd. "Today's update is reassuring, and not nearly as bad as the pessimists had predicted." The company also said it made a pre-tax profit of 1.9 billion pounds in the first 10 months after it booked the charges. "For Barclays, the current cautiously positive view of the company is likely to strengthen after the statement, with followers of the stock looking to recapture some of the 26