COMPANIES

Roche beat forecasts with a 10 percent rise in third-quarter sales, helped by demand for Tamiflu due to the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, and the Swiss group now sees higher drug revenues for the full year.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, has agreed to sell breweries in nine eastern European countries to CVC Capital Partners for an initial $2.23 billion, passing its target for divestments since its merger a year ago.

Pfizer Inc won U.S. and Canadian antitrust approval to buy smaller rival Wyeth on Wednesday, and will close the $66 billion deal this week, the world's largest drugmaker said.

Dry shipper Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd has filed plans to take a recently formed subsidiary public in an offering of up to $230 million.

U.S. chemical makers are poised to post stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings, but demand for their products could cool later this year as government stimulus programs unwind, industry experts say.

A nearly 10 percent drop in costs and higher-than-expected revenue helped Host Hotels & Resorts post third-quarter results that surpassed expectations, and its shares rose nearly 5 percent.

U.S. aviation regulators proposed on Wednesday $9.2 million of combined safety-related fines against US Airways Group and UAL Corp's United Airlines, officials said.

The regulator for the largest U.S. banks said on Wednesday that 17 percent of national banks are now considered problem banks.

Many homeowners are turning into landlords -- reluctantly sometimes, when they have to move but cannot sell their homes.

Sumner Redstone plans to sell $945 million of stock in CBS Corp and Viacom Inc, two media companies he controls, to pay off loans that threatened to unravel the media mogul's empire.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has gradually increased the risk it takes trading commodities and the second-largest U.S. bank is approaching levels last seen before the financial crisis rocked global markets.

All of the potentially interested buyers for the collapsed Dutch bank DSB have now withdrawn from any possible deal, the bank's administrators said on Wednesday.

Despite some signs that the worst of the U.S. residential housing crisis may be over, many wealthy homeowners are still being squeezed by the combination of weak home prices and the stock market crash.

ASML's results soared above expectations as its customers in the semiconductor sector ramped up investments, and the Dutch chip equipment maker forecast a further flood of orders in the fourth quarter.

U.S. meat processor National Beef filed plans to raise up to $300 million in a U.S.-listed initial public offering.

Las Vegas Sands, which is seeking to raise up to $2.5 billion by listing its Macau assets on the Hong Kong stock exchange, could launch its initial public offering by late November, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

British home shopping company N Brown said it could enter the potentially lucrative United States market next year as it posted record first-half results and a positive outlook, sending its shares higher.

CIT Group Inc Chief Executive Jeffrey Peek, whose plans to turn the sleepy commercial lender into a Wall Street player were laid low by the credit crisis and management missteps, is retiring in the latest sign the company is closer to filing for bankruptcy.

Bloomberg LP will buy BusinessWeek magazine from McGraw-Hill Companies as the news and data provider seeks to reach a wider audience than its traditional clients in financial services.

Former Formula One champions Williams will have a new engine partner next season after announcing the end of their Toyota deal on Wednesday.

Giant buyout funds are likely a thing of the past, and new cash raised will be for medium-sized, specialist funds, a top executive of British private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd said on Wednesday.

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc's third-quarter results surpassed analyst expectations on Wednesday aided by higher-than-expected revenue, four hotel sales and a nearly 10 percent reduction in costs.

An investor consortium led by U.S. buyout giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co announced on Wednesday that it poured a combined $160 million into a Chinese financial leasing firm to help it expand business.

Royal Bank of Scotland is considering a plan which could result in the sale of just over 10 percent of its British branches in a move to ease EU concerns over state aid, a source familiar with the matter said.

The Unite trade union said on Tuesday it had struck a deal to secure the future of GM Opel car plants in Britain after the planned sale of the carmaker, which makes Vauxhall cars in the UK, to Canada's Magna (MGa.TO).

General Motors Co GM.UL said on Tuesday it would have a Flint, Michigan, plant retooled to produce engines for its upcoming Cruze small car and its Volt electric vehicle by late 2010.

Mexican auto production rose in September on a monthly basis for a third consecutive month, suggesting the sector is pulling out of a deep slump.

Agreement between Magna and a UK labour union on Tuesday brought closer a final deal for General Motors [GM.UL] to sell a majority stake in its European carmaking arm Opel to a Canadian-Russian consortium.

General Motors Co aims to grow faster than China's auto market in 2010, its China chief said on Wednesday, after outperforming the country's overall market in the first three quarters.