COMPANIES

A Republican lawmaker said on Wednesday he is inviting Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda to meet members of Congress the week of February 22, but the automaker said the executive's travel plans had not been determined yet.

Time, prosperity and short memories could allow Goldman Sachs Group Inc to slowly ratchet up bonuses for its top executives, but analysts believe the days of mega payouts are probably gone for good.

American International Group has lined up all the major investment banks to underwrite the public listing of its Asian life insurance unit, in what may be Hong Kong's biggest IPO since 2006, banking sources said.

Kazuo Akatsuka, 55, lives a life that is dominated, for better or worse, by his employer, Toyota Motor Corp, and right now it's got him a little worried.

Climate change has affected Kenyan coffee production through unpredictable rainfall patterns and excessive droughts, making crop management and disease control a nightmare, a researcher said on Thursday.

U.S. lenders are becoming increasingly willing to take over bankrupt borrowers --- a significant shift from last year, when companies like Chrysler and Eddie Bauer were pushed to a quick sale.

Mortgage foreclosure filings dropped in January but the decline may prove only temporary as housing-rescue efforts fall short of addressing current drivers, a report released on Thursday showed.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday that the expected cost of U.S. financial bailout has fallen by more than $400 billion in the last year.

Initial public offerings by real estate investment trusts faced a tough market on Wednesday as investors shied away from taking on risk in a volatile market.

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's multi-billion dollar move to consolidate his telecoms empire has helped push emerging-market mergers and acquisitions (M&A) ahead of U.S. and European dealmaking in the year to date.

Large banks will likely pare back their private equity-related operations in anticipation of the so-called Volcker rule, despite it being unclear if it will be adopted, the co-founder of Carlyle Group said on Wednesday.

Affiliated Managers Group Inc said on Wednesday it plans to buy British private equity group Pantheon Ventures, in the U.S. money manager holding company's fifth acquisition in seven months.

Micron Technology Inc said it is acquiring privately held Numonyx Holdings B.V. on Tuesday in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.27 billion.

Independent studio Lions Gate Entertainment on Wednesday said Walt Disney Co's art-house studio Miramax would fit into its criteria for acquisitions.

Honda Motor Co said it would recall another 440,000 cars around the world for faulty airbags, as rival Toyota Motor Corp faced further probes over its largest-ever safety crisis.

Honda Motor said on Wednesday it aims to sell at least 632,200 vehicles in China this year, up 10 percent from 2009, though the pace of growth will likely slow compared with a surge last year due to government incentives.

Toyota Motor Corp was not accustomed to outsiders telling it what to do, let alone some obscure bureaucrat from the United States.

As the U.S. Congress gears up to delve into Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T) massive global vehicle recall, the question they face is whether the automaker and regulators misread or ignored rising consumer complaints.

A U.S. congressional committee postponed a hearing scheduled for Wednesday to examine recent vehicle recalls and how Toyota Motor Co and regulators responded to reports of safety problems with big-selling cars.

Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc said it signed a collaboration deal with a unit of Biovail Corp to develop and commercialize AZ-004, its inhaled treatment for agitation, in the United States and Canada.

Bart Becht, Chief Executive of consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, says the chances of big takeover deals are extremely remote in his industry, despite recent talk of a link-up with Colgate-Palmolive.

Britain's largest quoted residential investor Grainger said on Wednesday it was back in the hunt for new property buys after shoring up its finances and observing signs of stability in the housing market.

Hewlett-Packard Co is set to win unconditional EU approval for its takeover of 3Com Corp as the deal poses no major competition concerns, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

Guy Hands, founder of buyout house Terra Firma, said IPOs of private equity-owned companies will be hard to achieve this year, returns will be lower and deal opportunities will be scarce.

MDS Inc said on Wednesday that Ricerca Biosciences would buy its business that provides clinical trial services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies for $45 million and certain minority equity interests.

U.S. mortgage applications dipped last week, reflecting reduced demand for home purchase loans even as rates on 30-year loans fell to their lowest since December, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

One of every five U.S. home owners owed more on their mortgage than their home was worth in the fourth quarter, a trend that poses a serious threat to the U.S. housing market's recovery, real estate website Zillow.com said on Wednesday.

Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Tuesday it is recalling 378,758 vehicles in the United States to fix an airbag defect linked to 11 injuries and one fatality.

U.S. wholesale inventories unexpectedly fell 0.8 percent in December, while sales rose 0.8 percent, a government report showed on Tuesday.