Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word corporate. 15 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

JUST over half - 51.36 percent - of all stock investors showed no gains from China's bull market, while 48.6 percent gained more than 10 percent this year, according to a survey by the China Securities Journal. The latest survey of investors' annual returns reflected feedback from 11,205 small and medium-scale investors. About 13.5 percent of respondents said their stock investment grew by 10 percent, and 16.8 percent said their returns ranged from 20 percent to 50 percent. Another 11 percent saw their accounts grow by 50 percent to 99 percent. Those whose investments doubled comprised about 7.2 percent. The survey, carried out earlier this month, found that 13.5 percent of those polled broke even in 2007, while 16.6 percent said their investment shrank by 10 percent and 18.6 percent reported losses of 20 percent to 50 percent. About 2.4 percent of those polled said they lost more than half of their investment. Public interest, strong corporate profits and double-digit

GENERAL Motors Corp said it has become the first overseas car maker to sell one million units on the Chinese mainland this year. The milestone is a result of GM adopting a multi-brand strategy and growing its lineup of vehicles in the world's second largest auto market over the past 10 years. GM didn't give specific sales figure for the whole year. Last year, it sold 876,747 units on the mainland, a jump of 32 percent from 2005 and outpaced the growth of the entire auto industry of 25 percent. The one-millionth figure was marked when GM China Group President and Managing Director Kevin Wale handed the keys to a Buick Park Avenue to Zhang Jianping at Shanghai GM's corporate showroom in Shanghai last Friday. It took GM five years to boost sales by 10 times from 100,000 units in 2002 to one million units this year amid fierce competition with rivals like Volkswagen and Toyota. Detroit-based GM, the world's largest car maker, has a flagship passenger car venture Shanghai

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Orion Energy Systems Inc. said underwriters have exercised their over-allotment options, putting the total size of the company's initial public offering at more than 8.8 million common shares. Net proceeds of about $78.8 million will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes, including funding potential acquisitions, the Plymouth, Wis.-based energy-management company.

NANYANG Commercial Bank plans to at least double its network on the Chinese mainland in two years after it opened its local incorporation today. Nanyang Commercial Bank (China) Ltd opened in Shanghai yesterday to offer unlimited yuan services to Chinese. The Hong Kong-based bank gained approval to set up the local incorporation with a registered capital of 2.5 billion yuan (US$341 million) from the China Banking Regulatory Commission on December 4. Nanyang Commercial Bank has six branches and one sub-branch on the Chinese mainland in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian, Haikou and Shanghai. "Network expansion is a key part of the local incorporation's business development," the bank said. The bank will first focus on major cities in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and the coastal area. It will also seek other opportunities in other areas. The bank will focus on personal financial planning products and services in retail banking. In corporate banking,

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Progress Energy said it's reached an agreement to sell Powell Mountain Coal Co., Dulcimer Land Co. and Kanawha River Terminals, a transaction that would mark the final deal in its program of divesting non-regulated assets. The deal with an investor group made up of Pegasus Capital Advisors, Kelso & Co., Resource Capital Funds and an affiliate of Traxys North America will bring in $94 million, Raleigh, N.C.-based Progress Energy said. The transactions are expected to close in January, with Progress Energy earmarking proceeds for general corporate purposes.

Wall Street stocks were set for a flat start ahead of an abbreviated Christmas Eve trading session with Merrill Lynch's sale of a lending unit the pick of corporate deal news

FT.com - Wall Street stocks were set for a flat start on Monday ahead of an abbreviated Christmas Eve trading session with Merrill Lynch's sale of a lending unit the pick of corporate deal news.

The future of the American newspaper now depends on Sam Zell's skills as a corporate strategist. All eyes will be on the real estate mogul-turned-publisher as he tries to pull Tribune Co. out of a steep decline. After completing his takeover of Tribune last week, Mr. Zell surprised many observers ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - GE Capital, a unit of General Electric Co. on Monday said it agreed to purchase most of Merrill Lynch Capital, Merrill Lynch's wholly-owned middle-market commercial finance business. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter of 2008, will add more than $10 billion in assets and $5 billion in commitments to GE Capital Commercial Finance's base of $260 billion. GE Capital said it will buy Merrill Lynch Capital's corporate finance, equipment finance, franchise, energy and healthcare finance units. Merrill Lynch Capital's commercial real estate finance unit is not part of the transaction.

Picture this: an online photo-sharing site with a loyal customer base and no corporate ties run by a close-knit clan out of Silicon Valley. Ever the proud father, Chris MacAskill screens 20-year-old home movies of his sons -- Ben singing about a stegosaurus, Mark getting a mohawk -- on his laptop.

RALEIGH -- Even as state lawmakers begin tallying up the multibillion-dollar cost of corporate incentives now in play, an influential Anson County legislator has launched a campaign to stop cutthroat business recruiting practices among states.

For the past three weeks, EFX Media in Arlington has turned itself into a chocolate-chip cookie factory.

A weekly column profiling companies and personalities. This week: IntellectSpace

SK Telecom said it is reorganizing its corporate structure into four subgroups to achieve management efficiency and better deal with rising uncertainty in the telecommunications market.