Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word sale. 16 news.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has tentatively cleared the last remaining regulatory hurdle to the largest casino buyout ever.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - U.S. stocks ended higher Monday in a shortened Christmas Eve trading session, aided by flurry of deals which included Alcoa Inc.'s $2.7 billion sale of its packaging and consumer businesses.

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

THE management of a second batch of power generating assets owned by State Grid Corp of China has been transferred to electricity producers, paving way for an eventual sale and making the firm a pure distributor as part of an industry reform. As of Sunday, the power-producing companies are responsible for safety operations and management of eight power plants in which State Grid owned a combined equity generating capacity of 6.47 gigawatts. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission said yesterday this marks the completion of the "main work" in the asset disposal. Other areas still to be done include deal signing, transaction and registration. State Grid, China's dominant power distributor, retained certain generating assets in 2002 during the breakup of the former State Power Corp into five national power producers and two grid operators. It had completed the sale of combined 10.8GW in the first phase of the sale in May to 31 companies, raising 18.7 billion yuan

French luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton said Monday it had concluded a deal with Britain-based media group Pearson to buy France’s leading financial newspaper Les Echos. In a statement, LVMH also said it has signed a deal for the sale of France’s other chief financial daily, La Tribune, to businessman Alain Weill. The financial [...]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks finished higher in Monday's shortened trading session, aided by a flurry of M&A deals that included a $2.7 billion sale by Alcoa Inc. of its packaging and consumer businesses. In preliminary closing figures, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 106 points to 13,555, the S&P 500 Index gained 12 points to end at 1,497 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 22 points to 2,713, with shares of Apple Inc. approaching the $200-a share mark. Apple's stock ended up 2.8% at $198.80.

An agreement was reached on the sale of Cheyne Finance SIV, a structured investment vehicle now known as SIV Portfolio, to Goldman Sachs

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Fitch Ratings said Monday it is maintaining its negative outlook on Merrill Lynch & Co. despite efforts by the investment bank to boost its capital as it is expected to record additional losses going forward. "Fitch believes that there is a high probability that additional losses will be recognized in fourth-quarter 2007 which collectively may result in Merrill Lynch posting a loss for its 2007 fiscal year," said Fitch in a statement. However, the rating agency noted that Merrill Lynch's move to secure up to $6.2 billion from Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. and Davis Selected Advisors and its sale of Merrill Lynch Capital to GE Capital are positive developments for potentially stemming further downgrades. Fitch cut Merrill Lynch's long term issuer default rating to A+ on Oct. 24.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks opened higher Monday, with shares of blue-chip index component Alcoa Inc. up more than 1.6% after the aluminum giant agreed to sell its packaging and consumer businesses for $2.7 billion. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 59 points, or 0.4%, at 13,509.39. The broader S&P 500 Index rose 5 points, or 0.3%, to 1,489.06 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,697.17. Trading will end early, at 1 p.m. Eastern in observance of the Christmas holiday.

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.

Is News Corp. becoming a publishing centric media conglomerate? That appears to be a pattern emerging following Saturday's announcement that the company would divest of eight U.S. television stations to private equity firm Oak Hill Partners for about $1.1 billion. The divestiture, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2008, follows News Corp.'s deal to acquire print and online publisher Dow Jones and Co. for $5 billion, and moves to liquidate other TV assets, including stakes in DirecTV and Gemstar TV Guide.

Morgan Stanley has set a reference price of between $48.07 and $57.684 a share for the sale of a stake to China Investment Corporation.

A swift sale of One World Theatre on Bee Caves Road means that scheduled shows, parties and receptions will go on as planned at the venue, and a related bankruptcy case may be dismissed before the end of the month.

News Corp.'s $1.1 billion sale of eight TV stations to Oak Hill boosts the group's presence and is likely to benefit Tribune, which runs Oak Hill's Local TV unit.

Building societies and other mutual insurers could emerge as potential bidders for Equitable Life, the UK's oldest mutual life assurer that has just put itself up for sale.