Business news for Tue, 25 Dec 2007 & with word buy. 22 news.

Warren E. Buffett agreed on Tuesday to buy a 60 percent stake in Marmon Holdings, the industrial holding firm owned by the wealthy Pritzker family, for $4.5 billion with the goal of eventually owning the entire firm. As part of the deal, Mr. Buffett, through his Berkshire Hathaway investment vehicle, will gradually increase his stake in [...]

Reuters - Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), the conglomerate headed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said on Tuesday it planned to buy 60 percent of manufacturing and services group Marmon Holdings Inc. for $4.5 billion.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway Inc , the conglomerate headed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said on Tuesday it planned to buy 60 percent of manufacturing and services group Marmon Holdings Inc. for $4.5 billion.

CHINA Investment Corp, the US$200 billion fund that last week invested US$5 billion in Morgan Stanley, has denied it bought a stake in the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Bloomberg News reported today. "We didn't buy any stake," Lou Jiwei, chairman of Beijing-based China Investment, said at a press event without elaborating. He also denied buying a stake in China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. The central government is loosening restrictions on overseas investment to counter inflows from a record trade surplus that has driven up local stock and property prices. Investing more money abroad will help cool the world's fastest-growing major economy and diversify risk for China's more than US$1.4 trillion of foreign-exchange reserves, the world's largest. Lou said on November 29 that CIC "wants to be a stabilizing force in the international capital markets." He cited a "recent example" in which a similar fund invested in a financial firm that had

MATSUSHITA Electric Industrial Co, the world's largest maker of plasma televisions, may buy control of a Hitachi Ltd unit to increase sales of faster-growing liquid crystal display sets. The company may almost double its stake in LCD maker IPS Alpha Technology Ltd to more than 50 percent, the Osaka-based maker of Panasonic-brand products said yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. Financial terms were not disclosed. Matsushita joins LG.Philips LCD Co in buying shares of display makers to weather a supply shortage that analysts at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and UBS AG estimate will persist next year. LCD TVs are taking market share from plasma by offering brighter images and slimmer models. "The move will give Matsushita a foothold to expand in LCDs," said Hideyuki Suzuki, an analyst at SBI E*Trade Securities Co in Tokyo. "There's been a concern with Matsushita because it's focusing on plasma screens at a time when LCD screens are overwhelmingly better."

CHINA'S air conditioner giant Midea Electric Appliances will acquire four companies from its parent Guangdong Midea Group to expand capacity and business. The company's shareholder board on Monday approved its proposal to pay 480 million yuan (US$65 million) for a 100-percent stake in Hefei Hualing Electrics Co Ltd, Guangzhou Hualing Air Conditioning & Equipment Co Ltd and a 95-percent stake in China Refrigeration Industry Co. It also plans to spend 31 million yuan to acquire a 30-percent stake in Chongqing Midea General Refrigeration Equipment Co from its parent company, the country's largest air conditioner maker told Shenzhen Stock Exchange yesterday. Hong Kong-listed Hualing Holdings Limited, which lost HK$372.02 million in 2.5 years through June 30, deals in selling household electrical appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators with its subsidiaries. "The acquisition won't benefit Midea a lot based on Hualing's assets. Midea may target Hualing's listed

AS telecommunications firms were the stars on the stock market this year, it has become almost the norm, and not news anymore, when Goldman Sachs or UBS raised their target price for China Mobile, again and again. Investors should make China Mobile their top stock choice, followed by Hong Kong-listed China Unicom, Shanghai-listed China Unicom, China Netcom and Hong Kong-listed China Telecom, according to Tebon Securities. Haitong Securities preferred dual-listed China Unicom and considered it more attractive than the bigger China Mobile. Shares of the telecom carriers are rated either "Buy" or "Add." On the domestic stock market, major listed telecom firms include China Unicom and ZTE Corp. The industry is also expected to undergo a restructuring, telecom observers said, with speculation that China Unicom will be more affected. In 2008, investors can expect a flood of domestic initial public offerings. Part of the IPOs will be done by "Haigui"

DELEK Real Estate Ltd, the Israeli company that backed out of a US$2.9-billion deal with Jelmoli AG, has agreed to buy 12 Frankfurt-area supermarkets from Metro AG, Germany's biggest retailer, for 243 million euros (US$349 million), Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. Delek, through its Delek Global Real Estate unit, will acquire the buildings from the Real supermarket chain, a subsidiary of Metro, the Netanya, Israel-based company said in an e-mailed statement to the stock exchange. Real will rent 10 of the supermarkets from Delek through 2022, and the other two through 2020, beginning at 16 million euros annually for all the properties. The rent will increase 6.7 percent every five years. "DGRE has again purchased a property with a quality tenant for a long period in a central area, and proved that even in these times it can use its connections to close deals and get good financing," Chief Executive Officer Ilik Rozanski said in the statement. Delek Real Estate, a

INVESTOR William Ackman raised his stake in Target Corp, the second-biggest discount chain in the United States, and held talks with management on increasing the stock price. Ackman controls 10 percent of the company, up from 9.6 percent earlier this year, his Pershing Square Capital Management LP said on Monday in a regulatory filing, according to Bloomberg News. Pershing is seeking share repurchases and the sale of Target's credit-card loans, as well as "some kind of real estate transaction," a person familiar with the firm's plans said, declining to elaborate. Target has said it's evaluating whether to sell its US$7 billion credit-card portfolio and will make a decision in the first three months of 2008. Target's shares have declined 18 percent since Ackman amassed his stake in July. Pershing's holdings include stock and options to buy the shares. With swap contracts, Ackman has an "economic" interest in Target of almost 12.6 percent, up from 10.2 percent

San Franciscans searching for toys this holiday season had the added hurdle of finding a place to buy it. In recent years, all of the major toy chain stores have closed.

Christmas has secured a spot on the Chinese calendar as a cherished excuse to buy, buy, buy. And while Christianity is indeed spreading in the officially atheist country, many shoppers have only a faint idea of the holiday's religious connection.

Yesterday marked yet another acquisition of an advertising agency, and perhaps one of the last of 2007. This year has brought so many acquisitions, and big news such as Google getting the federal go-ahead to buy DoubleClick.

While the origins of the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" may be a mystery, one thing is certain: It's getting more expensive to buy your true love all the items mentioned.

This is a tale of Christmas Future . . . say, about 2017, maybe sooner. Picture this holiday on the next-generation of high-definition TVs that you may someday buy at Fry's, Best Buy or Costco.

Those seeking to buy a car -- especially a foreign vehicle -- may want to hold off their plans until next year, as starting in 2008, certain foreign-made sedans will see a reduction in tariffs.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Ampal-American Israel Corp., the Tel Aviv investment firm, took an option to acquire a 35% interest in a project to produce ethanol from sugarcane from a company controlled by Ampal's chairman, president and chief executive officer. Separately, that company, Merhav, agreed to sell 25% to 35% of the project to Ecopetrol SA of Colombia. Terms of both deals weren't disclosed. Ampal said the move will add to its interests in clean energy and in the broader energy industry. As part of the option deal, Ampal has loaned Merhav $10 million to buy 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) in Colombia for growing sugarcane and to build the ethanol facility. And Ampal agreed to advance as much as $10 million more to fund the project, it said in a Tuesday statement. Yosef Maiman, who holds the top three posts at Ampal, is sole owner of Merhav. A panel made up of Ampal's independent directors approved the deal. Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin advised the board committeee, Ampal said.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- W&T Offshore Inc. agreed to acquire the interest it doesn't own in Ship Shoal 349 field, located offshore Louisiana and covering two federal lease blocks, for $116 million from Apache Corp. W&T and Apache, both Houston energy companies, expect to close the deal by April 30. W&T said in a Monday statement that it would finance the deal from cash on hand.

An agreement has been reached on the sale of Cheyne Finance, a structured investment vehicle now known as S.I.V. Portfolio, to bidders including Goldman Sachs, the fund’s receivers, Deloitte & Touche said. The $7 billion S.I.V. Portfolio, managed by the hedge fund Cheyne Capital Management, went into receivership in September. The agreement comes after talks with a number of bidders over the last few weeks and consultation with the informal creditors’ committees, Deloitte said. Under the deal, certain reinvestment opportunities will be offered to some existing creditors of the company. S.I.V.’s, held by banks, hedge funds or other institutions, issue a mixture of short-term debt and capital and buy longer-term assets, which may pay more interest than the amount they pay on their notes. The vehicles encountered trouble in August when liquidity in the credit markets dried up as investors faced exposure to the subprime market.

The online game operator Giant Interactive Group said that it would buy back up to $200 million worth of American depositary shares. The company plans to fund the repurchases from available working capital, it said in a statement.

The Canadian National Railway Company extended its reach further into Alberta’s oil sands region with a deal to buy and rebuild the struggling Athabasca Northern Railway. CN Rail will pay 25 million Canadian dollars for Athabasca Northern and pay 135 million Canadian dollars over the next three years to rebuild the 202-mile rail line under a long-term agreement with three major shippers. The Athabasca Northern had been threatened with abandonment because of deteriorating tracks. It was owned by Cando Contracting.