Business news for Sun, 23 Dec 2007 & with words billion+capital. 9 news.

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,"

RUPERT Murdoch's News Corp is to sell eight of its Fox network-affiliated television stations in the United States to Oak Hill Capital Partners LP for about US$1.1 billion in cash. The sale leaves Fox with 27 owned-and-operated stations and will probably be completed in the third quarter, New York-based News Corp said on Saturday. Oak Hill will add the stations to nine existing ones, according to its Website, Bloomberg News said. News Corp is selling the assets to focus on its largest and most lucrative markets following the US$5.2 billion takeover of Dow Jones & Co this year. The purchase will help Oak Hill, the buyout firm founded by Texas oil billionaire Robert Bass, create a broader US network after it paid US$575 million to acquire stations from New York Times Co in May. "It is part of News Corp's strategic decision to shed low-growth, non-core assets," said Richard Dorfman, managing director of New York-based investment firm Richard Alan Inc. Network television

RANK Group Ltd, owned by New Zealand's richest man, Graeme Hart, has agreed to buy Alcoa Inc's packaging and consumer businesses for US$2.7 billion in cash to expand in the United States. Alcoa expects to sell the consumer and packaging businesses, which last year generated 10 percent of sales and three percent of after-tax operating income, by the end of the March, the company said. Hart, 52, will gain control of units, including Reynolds Wrap foil in the acquisition. Rank Group, based in Auckland, has made about US$7 billion of acquisitions over two years in the US, New Zealand and Europe to become the world's second-largest drink-carton maker. Last year, Hart bought International Paper Co's beverage-packaging unit for US$500 million and Neuhausen, Switzerland-based SIG Holding AG for US$2 billion. "He's certainly building quite a packaging empire," Stephen Walker, principal of Walker Capital Management Ltd in Auckland, told Bloomberg News. "This extends the

UNITED States stocks rose for the third time in four weeks, led by energy companies, as higher consumer spending and the Federal Reserve's efforts to give cash to banks spurred speculation the economy will keep expanding. Exxon Mobil Corp and Hess Corp led energy companies to the biggest gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after oil prices climbed for a second week. Earnings reports from Oracle Corp and Research In Motion Ltd drove technology stocks to the second-steepest advance among 10 industries. "You can just feel the tide turning here," said Jim Paulsen, who helps oversee about US$200 billion as chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis. "Economic data keeps coming in better than expected and I think it's part of the recovery story." The S&P 500 added 16.51, or 1.1 percent to 1,484.46 last week, bringing its year-to-date advance to 4.7 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8 percent to 13,450.65. The Nasdaq

UNITED States 10-year Treasury note yields have risen to a three-day high on signs that central banks were adding enough funds to the financial system to spur bank lending. Ten-year notes fell on Friday by the most since December 12, paring a weekly advance, as central bank auctions of short-term loans totaling US$64 billion brought down bank-lending rates, fueling optimism the US economy will avoid a recession. Reports this week may show a slide in home prices is deepening. "As we move through 2008, we expect rates to move higher because consumers will prove resilient despite declines in housing, and growth will not fall off a cliff as the market is implying," Michael Pond, an interest-rate strategist in New York at Barclays Capital Inc, one of the 20 primary securities dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve, told Bloomberg News. Ten-year yields rose 12 basis points on Friday, or 0.12 percentage point, to 4.17 percent, according to bond broker Cantor Fitzgerald

News Corp., the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, will sell eight of its Fox network-affiliated television stations in the United States to Oak Hill Capital Partners for about $1.1 billion in cash.

NEWS Corporation has agreed to sell eight of its Fox television stations in the US to private-equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners for about $US1.1 billion ($1.28 billion).

SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Public Employees' Retirement System will sell more than $20 billion in stocks and bonds as the largest U.S. public pension fund aims for higher returns from venture capital, commodities, real estate and several other investment options.

News Corp. agreed to sell eight TV stations for $1.1 billion to investment firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. The deal will expand Oak Hill's presence in the television industry.