Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words executive+raise. 2 news.

John Thain, the new chief executive of Merrill Lynch, yesterday managed to raise $7.5 billion in cash to shore up the investment bank's damaged finances by selling part of its lending business and a stake in itself at a substantial discount.$

Merrill Lynch, in an effort to raise cash amid mounting mortgage losses, agreed Monday to sell the majority of its capital finance business to General Electric for an undisclosed amount. The deal will allow Merrill to reallocate about $1.3 billion of capital into other parts of its business, John A. Thain, the investment bank’s chief executive, [...]