Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word firms. 13 news.

When I sat down for my annual review of what I've written over the past year, something jumped out at me. Usually, I write about widely diversified subjects. But in 2007, I devoted an inordinate number of columns to the shenanigans of leveraged buyout firms and the attempts by the world's central banks to rescue financial markets.

In the high-flying world of NYC corporate finance and the society it engenders partners at the white shoe Manhattan law firms are viewed merely as members of the lumpenproletariat by the gazillionaire hedge fund managers, etc.

As the financial markets brace for another wave of large losses at Wall Street banks, the outlook for these newly public firms and their as-yet-private brethren has darkened starkly.

Nortel Networks and Vonage Holdings Corp. have settled patent ligitation that was pending between the two telecom firms.

From banks to telephones, an airline to shopping malls, and semiconductors to airports, the reach of two state-linked investment firms from the city-state of Singapore extends around the world.

More than a quarter of businesses in the United Arab Emirates expect to be less profitable in 2008 because of the weakness of the federation's dollar-pegged currency and rising inflation, a magazine survey found.

CHINA'S Internet search firm Baidu.com said yesterday that its chief financial officer, Shawn Wang, died in an accident while on vacation in China. Wang, who joined Baidu in 2004 and helped the company successfully list on the Nasdaq stock market in 2005, died on December 27 during a Christmas-New Year holiday. Company officials declined to give further details. The company said it plans to replace him but also gave no further details. "Under Wang's leadership, this year Baidu became one of the four biggest firms in the US by stock transaction volume and the first Chinese company to join the Nasdaq 100 index," Baidu chairman and CEO Robin Li said in an e-mail to employees. "Besides his contribution to financial affairs, he also led the company's legal and human resources departments to fruitful achievements," Li said. Baidu had a 60.5-percent share of China's search engine market in the third quarter, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys

Western chemical firms are looking into coal-to-chemical projects in China, fighting to keep their competitive edge.

Pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and AstraZeneca have confirmed that they have been asked to hand over documents to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as part of its investigation into bribes allegedly paid to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime during the UN's oil-for-food programme in the 1990s.

As City types took some time off to celebrate Christmas and usher in the new year, there was little small talk around. The peace and quiet gave us time to reflect on the year gone by, and we looked to AIM (the alternative investment market) for inspiration. Unfortunately, there was little forthcoming.

The Financial Services Authority is investigating a jump in the share price of Biffa, the waste services group, that occurred before an announcement that two private equity firms had made a £1.2 billion bid for the company.

THE region had plenty to shout about in 2007. The year saw some of Yorkshire's biggest deals including the £945m sale of Yorkshire-based specialist engineering group Firth