Business news with words approval+close+deal. 15 news.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has tentatively cleared the last remaining regulatory hurdle to the largest casino buyout ever. Harrah's said Monday that the National Indian Gaming Commission has approved the company's $17.7 billion purchase by private equity buyers Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group, pending final commission review. The conditional approval means Harrah's can go forward with the deal, which is expected to close in early 2008. Harrah's and the buyers received the go-ahead for the deal last week from the Nevada Gaming Commission, capping a 10-week campaign to obtain approvals from state gambling regulators in eight states, including Iowa and Missouri. Indian Gaming Commission approval is needed because Harrah's operates several tribal casinos as well. Harrah's used to manage a casino north of Topeka before the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe took over operations in July. Harrah's, which had nearly $10 billion in revenue last year, operates more than 50 casinos including Caesars Palace and the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas and Bally's in Atlantic City.

General Motors Corporation and International Truck and Engine Corporation, the principal operating subsidiary of Navistar International Corporation , have entered into a non-binding deal in which Navistar would purchase certain assets and rights for GM's medium-duty truck business, the two companies said Thursday. Navistar would acquire GM's medium-duty truck business, including assets and intellectual property rights to manufacture some GMC and Chevrolet brand vehicles and the purchase of the related service parts business. The deal is expected to close in 2008 subject to completion of due diligence, the negotiation of a definitive purchase agreement, customary regulatory clearance and board approval, the companies said. Upon closing, transition of the business could take several months to conclude, they said.

NEW YORK -- Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion-plus bid for Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, cleared its final hurdle Thursday as shareholders of the financial publishing company gave their approval, setting up the deal to close later in the day.

France and the UK are set to strike a bargain at a European Union summit under which each country will secure EU approval for a policy objective close to its heart

Midwest Air Group Inc. said Friday is has agreed to give antitrust regulators until Jan. 31 to complete their review of its proposed $450 million sale to a private equity group and won't close the deal before then without their approval.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- KMG America Corp. said Friday its shareholders approved the proposed acquisition of the company by Humana Inc. The deal still needs approval by the South Carolina Department of Insurance. The companies expect the acquisition to close late in the fourth quarter, or as early as Nov. 30.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- United Stationers Inc., the Deerfield, Ill., business-products distributor, definitively agreed to pay $180 million cash for ORS Nasco Holding Inc., the Muskogee, Okla., wholesale distributor of industrial supplies. The sellers are an affiliate of Brazos Private Equity Partners LLC of Dallas and other holders. ORS Nasco has annual sales of about $285 million, United Stationers said in a statement on Thursday. The deal gives USTR entry into the market for wholesale industrial supplies, and it complements the company's Lagasse business, United Stationers President and Chief Executive Richard Gochnauer said in the statement. ORS Nasco should add to earnings beginning in 2008, United Stationers said. USTR hopes to close the deal in 2007, subject to conditions including antitrust approval clearance.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Hilton Hotels Corp. said Friday it received clearance from the European Commission to be acquired by BH Hotels LLC, which is controlled by funds affiliated with The Blackstone Group LP. Hilton said the clearance is the final regulatory approval needed to close the $20.1 billion deal. The company expects the deal to close on Oct. 24.

CHINA Minsheng Banking Corp will buy up to 20 percent of UCBH Holdings Inc in its first overseas expansion move. Minsheng, China's seventh-largest bank by market value, will initially buy 5.4 million shares of UCBH for between US$97 million and US$145 million, representing a 4.9 percent stake, Minsheng said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. Next year, Minsheng will increase its ownership to 9.9 percent for between US$115 million and US$172 million. The bank also has the right to increase its UCBH stake to 20 percent, the statement said. Minsheng will pay up to a combined US$317 million for the 9.9 percent stake. "The strategic investment offers Minsheng a platform to step into the US markets and also marks Minsheng's first foray overseas," the Beijing-based bank said. The lender has no overseas network now, and UCBH's 70 branches on the east and west coast of the United States and its sound base in the Chinese community in America will help boost Minsheng's business. The investment is pending approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. UCBH is the biggest bank serving the Chinese community in the US. UCBH, the holding company for United Commercial Bank, has US$10.7 billion in assets and 70 branches in the US and one in Hong Kong. UCBH will use the proceeds for an acquisition in China, the US bank said. That part of the deal will close in the fourth quarter. In March, UCBH said it would buy China's Business Development Bank Ltd. Meanwhile, Minsheng plans to acquire a 26.58 percent stake in Shaanxi International Trust & Investment Corp for 2.34 billion yuan (US$311.6 million). The deal represents the second move by a lender to buy a stake in a trust company in China. The deal awaits approval by the CBRC and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Minsheng Bank shares closed at 16.30 yuan yesterday in Shanghai, up 3.1 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.53 percent to 5,692.76.

CHINA Minsheng Banking Corp will buy up to 20 percent of UCBH Holdings Inc as its first attempt at overseas expansion. Minsheng, China's seventh-largest bank by market value, will first buy 5.4 million shares of UCBH for between US$97 million and US$145 million, representing a 4.9 stake, Minsheng said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. Next year, Minsheng will increase its ownership to 9.9 percent for between US$115 million to US$172 million. The bank also has the right to increase its UCBH stake to 20 percent, the statement said. Minsheng will pay up to a combined US$317 million for the 9.9 percent stake. ``The strategic investment offers Minsheng a platform to step into the US markets and also marks Minsheng's foray into the overseas market,'' the Beijing-based bank said. The bank has no overseas network now and UCBH's 70 outlets on the east and west coast of the United States and its sound base in the Chinese community in America will help boost Minsheng's business. The investment is pending approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. UCBH is the biggest bank serving the Chinese community in the US. UCBH, the holding company for United Commercial Bank, has US$10.7 billion in assets and 70 branches in the US and one in Hong Kong. UCBH will use the proceeds for a pending acquisition in China, the US bank said. That part of the deal will close in the fourth quarter. In March, UCBH said it will buy China's Business Development Bank Ltd. Minsheng plans to buy a 26.58 percent stake of Shaanxi International Trust & Investment Corp for 2.34 billion yuan (US$311.6 million). It is also the second move from a lender to buy stake of a trust company in China. The deal is pending approval from CBRC and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Minsheng Bank closed at 16.30 yuan today in Shanghai or a rise of 3.1 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.53 percent to 5,692.76.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- OM Group on Monday said it would buy Rockwood's electronics business for $265 million in a deal expected to close by the end of the year. The purchase doesn't include Rockwood's French electronic chemicals business, which is subject to a put option for an additional purchase price of about $50 million. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2007 and is subject to regulatory approval. OMG expects the Rockwood transaction, which is subject to standard closing conditions, to add to its 2008 earnings. OM Group said it expects revenue of $2 billion to $4 billion by 2010.

Bank of the West is selling a piece of its business that was created decades ago by a Wichita-based thrift. The San Francisco-based bank entered into an agreement to sell its bank agent network in Kansas -- which has about $8 million in loans and $103 million in deposits -- to Brooke Savings Bank, a subsidiary of Overland Park-based Brooke Corp. The value of the deal is estimated between $2.7 million and $3.3 million. It is expected to close sometime in the next three months, pending regulatory approval. The loans and deposits come from the network of 45 Kansas bank agents who referred deposit and loan business to Bank of the West. John Stafford, a spokesman for Bank of the West, said Friday that the network was part of his bank's 2005 acquisition of Commercial Federal Bank.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Satellite maker Loral Space & Communications Inc. said Friday it is free to acquire satellite services unit Telesat Canada from BCE Inc. after the Federal Communications Commission gave its approval of the deal. In December, Loral and its Canadian partner, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, agreed to buy Telesat from BCE for $3.25 billion Canadian (US$3.31 billion). With the approval, Loral expects to close the deal later this month.

GENERAL Motors Corp's new contract with the United Auto Workers has been unanimously approved by a panel of union officers, clearing the way for a vote by rank-and-file members within 12 days. Under the historic, four-year agreement, GM will put US$29.9 billion into a retiree-health trust fund that takes effect in January 2010, according a union summary. GM will continue to pay retiree health-care costs at the current rate, estimated to total US$5.4 billion, until the fund takes over, the UAW said. The deal, highlighted by the retiree fund, includes other provisions that GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner's said he needed to close a US$25- to US$30-an-hour labor gap with Toyota Motor Corp. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger gets job guarantees and pay improvements sought by his workers in exchange for concessions. "The UAW took care of their membership; GM took care of their shareholders," Richard Block, a labor professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing, told Bloomberg News. "The people who will be voting on this will be pretty happy." About 175 officials from UAW locals voted on the accord on Friday at a meeting of the union's National Bargaining Council in Detroit. He said he expects the union's 73,000 GM members to approve the deal as well. The union said the average worker will gain US$13,056 over the life of the agreement, based on a 2,080-hour year and 10 percent overtime. That includes a US$3,000 bonus in the first year, a three percent bonus in the second year, four percent in the third and three percent in the fourth. An assembly worker's hourly rate will rise to US$28.85 at the end of the fourth year from US$28.12. GM, the largest US auto maker, and the union reached the agreement last Wednesday, following a two-day strike. If ratified in votes scheduled through October 10, the accord would replace a four-year contract that expired September 14. GM sought to create the retiree-health trust to take about US$50 billion in future obligations off its books. GM shares rose 24 cents to US$36.70 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Friday. GM will provide a "backstop" of as much as US$1.6 billion as part of the US$29.9 billion contribution to the health care fund, the summary said. The backstop may be doled out in individual payments of US$165 million annually for as many as 20 years. The payments will be required at any time the fund trustees determine there are insufficient asset

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- TXU Corp. said Friday its shareholders have approved the company's $45-billion acquisition by Texas Energy Future Holdings Limited Partnership, a group of private-equity investors led by Kolhberg Kravis Roberts and Texas Pacific Group. More than 340 million shares, or about 74% of the 461 million total outstanding shares of TXU common stock, were voted in favor of the deal, the Dallas-based energy company said. Approval required a vote of two-thirds of the outstanding shares. Of the shares voted on the merger, more than 95% were cast in favor of it, TXU said. The merger, which requires approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and completion of other closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter, the company said.