Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word deal. 27 news.

Tracinda said it will take a 35% stake in Delta Petroleum, making a $684 million investment in the energy company. The deal shows how many smaller energy companies could face difficulties financing their capital plans in coming years.

Transmeridian Exploration agreed to be acquired by its chief executive's Trans Meridian International in a deal that values the energy company at $350 million.

Dieting? Been there. Smoking? Done that. This year, get your money matters in order.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Commerce Bancorp Inc. completed the sale of its insurance brokerage business, Commerce Insurance Services, to a group led by Commerce Insurance Services' Chairman George E. Norcross and President Michael Tiagwad, Commerce Bancorp said Monday. The sale includes the commercial property and casualty, employee benefits, and various specialty insurance lines of Commerce Insurance Services. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Merrill Lynch's sale of two life-insurance units to Dutch insurance and investment-products provider Aegon has closed, with the $1.25 billion pricetag being $50 million less than the two parties agreed to in August.

North Korea failed to meet a year-end deadline to declare all its nuclear programs under an aid-for-disarmament deal.

Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. will pay $684 million for a 35 percent stake in Delta Petroleum Corp. in a deal that will help Delta speed drilling activities in the Rocky Mountains.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Consolidated Mercantile Inc. has completed the sale of Polyair Inter Pack Inc. to Glencoe Skydome Holdings, an affiliate of Glencoe Capital, in a private deal for $6.2 million. The sale has been under consideration as a part of the company's continuing evaluation of potential strategies to maximize shareholder value, according to Consolidated Mercantile.

Nasdaq said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. cleared Borse Dubai's plan to buy a stake in Nasdaq.

Vonage and Nortel agreed to settle their patent litigation in a deal that allows for cross-licensing of technology and does not require any cash payments.

Waitrose unveils plans to expand overseas with a deal to open its food stores in the United Arab Emirates.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Workstream Inc. said Monday it received an unsolicited offer from a U.S.-based payroll business to determine the viability of a merger between the two companies. Any deal will be subject to the standard conditions including the completion of due diligence, regulatory approval, shareholder approval, board approval and the required valuations, Workstream said. Shares last traded at about 65 cents each.

Worldwide Pants, the production company of "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Craig Ferguson," has made an agreement with the Writers Guild of America. The deal would give Letterman a leg up on the competition, according to analysts; he'd be able to draw on prepared written comedy material.

The best way to deal with buyer fraud is to prevent it.

Unions are optimistic a deal can be reached in talks to avert a series of strikes at the UK's busiest airports.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Magic Software Enterprises Ltd., the Or Yehuda, Israel, provider of business-integration and application-development technology, sold its Advanced Answers on Demand subsidiary to Fortissimo Capital for $17 million. Fortissimo is the Rosh ha'Ayin, Israel, investment firm. Magic expects to post a more than $9 million gain on the sale of AAOD, which develops software for application in long-term health care, including retirement facilities as well as home-health and rehabilitation agencies. As part of the deal, Magic has licensed to AAOD the right to continue to sell its product portfolio for three years.

ROME (Reuters) - Alitalia has been exploited by politicians for too long and could not continue in its present state, Italy's economy minister told a newspaper, defending the decision to pave the way for a deal with Air France-KLM.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Merrill Lynch on Monday completed a previously announced deal with Aegon , where it's selling its life insurance unit for $1.25 billion in cash. Aegon's Transamerica companies will continue to supply insurance and investment products, including offering the flagship Merrill Lynch Investor Choice Annuity product through the acquired Merrill Lynch subsidiaries. Merrill Lynch expects to record a gain on sale during the fourth quarter of 2007 and anticipates the transaction to be slightly accretive to earnings per share and to have a positive effect on return on equity in 2008 after redeployment of proceeds. Aegon expects the acquisition to add scale to its existing business and to have a marginally positive effect on earnings per share.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Europe stocks weakened out of the gate on Monday, a half-day of trade ahead of the New Year's holiday. Air France-KLM shares rose 1% in early trading Monday, following Friday's news that it's the preferred bidder to buy Alitalia . Cairn Energy , the Scottish oil explorer that surged last week on the back of deal speculation, strong oil prices and its re-entry into the FTSE 100, slipped 1.6%. London Scottish Bank tumbled over 16% after taking a provision and warning it won't be able to pay its final dividend. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% to 6,462.70 in London and the CAC 40 dipped 0.2% to 5,616.79 in Paris. German and Swiss markets were shut.