South African media group Naspers has signed an increased $1.6 billion forward start loan with a group of international banks, banking sources said on Friday.

With the clock ticking toward a December 31 deadline, Boeing Co executives on Friday said the company is on schedule for the first test flight of its long-delayed and highly anticipated 787 Dreamliner.

Nomura Asset Management said on Friday it will suspend new subscriptions of a popular U.S. REIT investment trust fund as heavy inflows from retail investors boosted its size beyond the appropriate level to manage the fund.

Malaysia has awarded a commercial bank license to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest bank, Malaysia's central bank said on Friday.

Hungary's K&H Bank, the local unit of Belgium's KBC Group, said risk provisions rose and lending dropped sharply in the first three quarters, eroding net profit.

Met-Pro Corp posted third-quarter results that missed market estimates, but said new orders were up sequentially.

Bain Capital, which earlier this week announced a $1 billion acquisition of Bellsystem24 from Citigroup Inc, said it would look to list the Japanese telemarketer when it is ready to exit its investment.

The IPO of Brazilian real estate developer Direcional Engenharia signals a recovery in smaller stock offerings in the country, after very large deals earlier this year, said Edemir Pinto, chief executive of exchange operator BM&FBovespa on Thursday.

Off-price retailer Ross Stores Inc posted an in-line quarterly profit, helped by better margins, but the company maintained its fourth-quarter earnings forecast which was below market expectations, sending its shares down 4 percent.

A unit of General Electric Co raised $500 million in a 5-year Islamic bond sale, the first by a large U. S. conglomerate, as it looks to diversify its investor base.

Blackstone Group and other private equity firms have held informal talks with Citigroup Inc over its auto loan unit CitiFinancial Auto, the New York Post said, citing sources.

The naming of a new CEO at DirecTV Group Inc could signal it's time for a takeover bid for the satellite TV company.

U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase & Co is likely to seal its purchase of the half of Cazenove it does not own for just under 1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.

Cossette shares rose on Wednesday after private equity firm Cosmos Capital raised its takeover bid for Canada's largest homegrown advertiser for the third time.

American Express Co will acquire AOL co-founder Steve Case's Revolution Money Internet-based payment platform for $300 million, the credit card company and network said on Wednesday.

Private equity firm Terra Firma expects Citigroup to share in the pain of restructuring music business EMI, said Guy Hands, the buyout firm's founder and chairman.

Shares in Japan Airlines slid to a record low after the transport minister rattled investors by saying bankruptcy was still a possibility, even as U.S. carriers lined up with offers of financial support.

French insurer AXA SA and Australia's AMP Ltd need to sweeten their bid for AXA Asia Pacific Holdings by about 10 percent to seal the proposed $11 billion deal, analysts and fund managers say.

French retail and luxury group PPR is raising upto 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to cut group debt by listing its Africa-focused CFAO distribution business in Paris next month.