Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words additional+price. 2 news.

Merrill Lynch & Co, the world's biggest brokerage, agreed to sell most of its commercial finance business to General Electric Co's finance arm for an undisclosed price to free up capital after subprime losses. The sale of Merrill Lynch Capital's corporate, equipment, energy and healthcare finance units is expected to be completed in the first-quarter, the companies said yesterday in a Business Wire statement. The deal will add more than US$10 billion in assets to GE Capital. The transaction is part of New York-based Merrill Lynch's "strategic focus on divesting non-core assets," and will release about US$1.3 billion of capital to be redeployed elsewhere, said Chief Executive Officer John Thain in the statement. Merrill, on October 24, announced US$8.4 billion of writedowns on mortgage-related investments and corporate loans. The firm, which ousted Stan O'Neal as CEO in October, may report an additional US$8.6-billion writedown for the fourth quarter, according to David

TEMASEK Holdings Pte, the biggest shareholder in Standard Chartered Plc, increased its stake in the UK bank by one percentage point to 18 percent, helping it boost banking investments in its US$100 billion portfolio. The Singapore sovereign wealth fund has been raising its stake in Standard Chartered since it first bought a 12 percent holding more than a year ago, Bloomberg News reported. Temasek bought 12 million shares to lift its stake to 253.7 million shares, the bank said in a filing on December 21. The additional shares are worth 220 million pounds (US$437 million) at that day's closing price of 1,835 pence. Set up in 1974 to run state assets, Temasek's financial services investments now include India's ICICI Bank Ltd and Bank of China Ltd, as well as a controlling stake in DBS Group Holdings Ltd, Southeast Asia's biggest bank. It may also invest US$5 billion in Merrill Lynch & Co, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. "Most of Temasek's investments in the