COMPANIES

Dubai's Istithmar World is freezing investments as part of a restructuring process that may result in sale of the fund or its assets, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the plan.

The private equity arm of India's Infrastructure Development Finance Co is buying energy giant BP's wind power assets in India for 6.5 billion rupees ($134 million), the Economic Times reported on Friday.

EnCana Corp, Canada's second-largest energy company, put a plan to split into two back on track Thursday, less than a year after shelving it, saying it believed financial and commodity markets had recovered to where the move looked attractive again.

BMW, the world's largest premium car maker, said on Friday its August car sales in mainland China surged 63.2 percent from a year earlier.

Japan's health ministry is set to buy enough H1N1 flu vaccine for nearly 50 million people from British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline and Swiss maker Novartis, a Japanese newspaper reported on Friday.

Chipmaker National Semiconductor Corp posted stronger-than-expected first quarter results on Thursday because of increased demand from industrial markets.

Canadian media company Canwest Global Communications said on Thursday that its Canwest Limited Partnership unit has reached an agreement with senior secured lenders while discussions about a potential recapitalization deal continue.

The Carlyle Group is raising a new Asia buyout fund with target size up to $3 billion as the U.S. private equity giant aims to tap more deals in Asia, two fund industry sources said on Friday.

Japan's Asahi Breweries said it was not in talks to buy soft-drinks maker Orangina, denying a newspaper report it was competing with domestic rival Suntory Holdings in a $3.8 billion auction.

Youth clothing chain rue21 Inc is seeking to raise as much as $125 million in an initial public offering, joining a recent spike in filings by retailers.

Las Vegas casino operator Wynn Resorts plans to raise up to $1 billion by listing its Macau assets on the Hong Kong stock exchange, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal said on Friday.

Investment firm Marsico Capital Management LLC has reduced its stake in casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd as of the end of August, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is expecting a late Christmas as consumers continue to carefully manage spending, CEO Mike Duke said at an investor conference on Thursday.

United Airlines unveiled on Thursday a second-bag fee for passengers on some international routes, following a trend set by U.S. Airways Group Inc and Continental Airlines.

U.S. copper futures closed down on Thursday, as prices extended a phase of consolidation below the $3.00 a lb level and fell under the weight of renewed concerns about near-term demand prospects, analysts said.

Time Warner Inc, News Corp and a dozen other top media companies officially announced plans on Thursday to create a coalition to study new ways to measure television audiences.

Bank of America Corp said on Thursday it named London-based Andrea Orcel an executive chairman for its global banking and markets division, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

That will ultimately be the question asked about what kind of a future the German carmaker Opel faces.

Portuguese cable, Internet and telecoms operator Zon said its operating performance in the third quarter so far has been positive, with the company further reducing cancellations of pay-TV contracts.

Bharti Airtel Ltd stands a bigger chance of landing a proposed $24 billion cash and share swap with South Africa's MTN after sweetening the deal, two people familiar with the matter said.

PNG Ventures Inc filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Delaware bankruptcy court, becoming the second liquefied natural gas company this week to buckle under pressure from falling gas prices.

Smithfield Foods Inc, known as the largest hog and pork producer in the world, is transforming itself into a packaged-foods company that is less reliant on hogs and lower-margin fresh pork products, its chief executive said on Thursday.

Royal Bank of Canada may raise up to C$15 billion ($14 billion) through the sale of debt securities or preferred shares, an option that could set the stage for a major acquisition by Canada's largest lender.

General Motors Co will roll out a new marketing campaign next week offering consumers a 60-day, money-back guarantee on new vehicle purchases, backed by ads featuring its chairman, Ed Whitacre, sources briefed on the plans said.

Ford Motor Co sees no near-term North American labor cost disadvantage with rivals General Motors Co and Chrysler Group LLC, but is in talks with its unions to address longer-term concerns, its global labor chief said on Thursday.

General Motors' decision to sell Opel to a consortium of Canadian car parts maker Magna and Russia's Sberbank is an important intermediate step but not a final one, Sberbank said on Thursday.

General Motors does not plan to retake majority control of Opel at a later date, the U.S. carmaker's chief negotiator John Smith said on Thursday after GM decided to sell the unit to a group led by Canada's Magna.

Japanese talent agency Yoshimoto Kogyo Co Ltd plans to go private in a 52.7 billion yen ($571 million) buyout led by a consortium of about 20 firms, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Google Inc's plan to digitize millions of books as part of a class action settlement wrongly creates a virtually compulsory license for books, the U.S. register of copyrights said on Thursday.