Business news for Fri, 28 Mar 2008 & with word deal. 56 news.

EU regulators opened an investigation into Nokia's $8.1 billion deal for digital-mapping company Navteq.

(AP) — Industrial conglomerate Textron Inc. said Friday that one of its units received a $10.4-billion, five-year contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for 167 Osprey aircraft. Bell Boeing, an alliance Textron's Bell Helicopter unit has with Boeing Co., received the contract. The ...

Northwest Airlines Corp. has proposed to Delta that the airlines move ahead with their combination without a prearranged deal with pilots, a person with direct knowledge of the situation said on Friday.

(Crain’s) — Union Beverage Co.’s parent company is abandoning the Chicago wine and spirits distributor and joining forces with a competing entity owned by the Wirtz family. The deal will mean the demise of Union Beverage, owned by Dallas-based Glazer’s Wholesale Distributors. Union ...

Pubs group Punch Taverns yesterday said it had pulled plans to merge with rival Mitchells & Butlers after deciding the deal was "not in the best interests" of its

Clear Channel deferred its first-quarter dividend at the request of suitors Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital in light of its imperiled $19.4 billion buyout deal. Earlier Friday, the radio giant said the deal may not close.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Clear Channel Communications Inc. said late Friday that its board has decided to defer its first quarter dividend payment. The decision is in response to a request from Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners to defer the payment date given the delayed closing of Clear Channel's merger with CC Media Holdings Inc. The announcement of the deferment comes a day after private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital sued a consortium of banks led by Citigroup, claiming it breached a contract to fund the deal.

Cable duo Comcast (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) could arrive at a WiMax deal as early as this weekend, according to people close to the discussions.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- France's Credit Agricole and Banco Popolare of Italy are holding exclusive talks to discuss the possibility of setting up a joint venture between their Italian consumer credit subsidiaries, Agos and Ducato, according to the banks Friday. The exclusive negotiation period is slated to end April 30. The joint venture, if realized, would have a share of about 14% of the Italian market with 13 billion euros ($20.54 billion) in outstanding loans as of 2007, the banks said. The deal is also expected to result in synergies estimated at 50 million euros a year before taxes.

(Crain’s) — Peoples Gas and its union have reached a new labor deal that hikes wages and preserves pensions for existing workers but allows the company to shift from more costly pensions to 401(k) plans for new union employees. Gas Workers Union Local 18007 members ratified the pact by a ...

The long-awaited private equity buyout of Clear Channel has hit a roadblock. The banks are now balking at financing the deal.

Menus reflect higher food prices, but you can trim restaurant bills by 50% or more.

The much-heralded EU-U.S. aviation liberalization deal will go into effect this weekend. Will cheaper airfares follow?

Radio broadcaster Clear Channel Communications said on Friday its pending $20 billion buyout may collapse, as the banks had failed to provide funding for the deal under previously agreed terms. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Clear Channel said it had agreed with buyout firms THL Partners and Bain Capital that all closing [...]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Northwest Airlines Corp. executives are pitching a new deal to Delta Air Lines Inc. that would allow the stalled merger to proceed, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday on its Web site, citing people familiar with the matter. The new Northwest proposal would give less generous terms to pilots, the newspaper said. Earlier in the month, merger plans apparently stalled after unions representing Northwest and Delta pilots could not agree on how to determine pilot seniority in the combined airline.

Proposed deal 'raises serious doubts' The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into Nokia's plans to buy NavTeq, a US company that produces navigable digital maps.…

EU regulators opened an in-depth antitrust investigation into Nokia's planned purchase of digital-mapping company Navteq. The EU also extended its review of TomTom's purchase of TeleAtlas.