COMPANIES

Saudi Telecom is to buy 25 percent of Malaysia's Maxis in a $3 billion deal that gives the Arab world's top telecom operator access to Indonesia and India, and marks southeast Asia's biggest buyout.

The European Commission has lifted a suspension of its review of a venture by Japanese electronics giant Sony and Germany's Bertelsmann that created the world's number two music company.

Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (API) said on Tuesday its second-half earnings would fall short of its previous forecast, but added it was on track for growth after posting a first-half loss.

South Korea's National Pension Service is interested in buying a majority stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) from Lone Star, but has had no formal talks with the U.S. investment firm, a senior fund executive said.

The Upper Deck Co. said on Monday it would launch a hostile tender offer to acquire baseball trading card company Topps Co. Inc. for about $425 million.

The American Medical Association said on Monday it will ask state and federal authorities to investigate retail health clinics such as those offered in CVS/Caremark stores, Wal-Mart Stores and Walgreen Co. for possible conflicts of interest.

Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) posted a 19.6 percent rise in quarterly profit on Monday driven by strong growth in its prescription sales.

Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) popular iTunes store became the third largest music retailer in the United States, according to market research, soaring past traditional brick-and-mortar stores and other online stores.

Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) said on Sunday that it will unify its search and display advertising teams in a move to better compete against rivals. Meanwhile, the company’s chief sales officer resigned.

America First Apartment Investors Inc. (NASDAQ: APRO) said on Monday that it agreed to be acquired by a privately held buyout firm for about $532 million in cash, including debt.

A war for the hearts, minds and votes of CBOT Holdings Inc. shareholders escalated on Monday, two weeks ahead of a July 9 vote that could decide the fate of the No. 2 U.S. futures mart.

Shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) jumped in Monday trading after the company said it hired a new advertising executive from Yahoo! Inc (Nasdaq: YHOO).

Boeing Co. has raised prices on its commercial planes by almost 6 percent on average, as the cost of its raw materials increases.

The LSE is confident in its $2.2 billion bid for Borsa Italiana, despite some objections.

Walgreen Co., one of the largest U.S. drugstore chains, posted a higher quarterly profit on Monday, boosted by new stores and an inventory credit.

Despite billions of dollars worth of orders, most aerospace companies saw their shares fall during the Paris air show last week amid exchange rate concerns and the fact that stocks had already risen ahead of the event.

Indian fund managers and brokerages face a severe shortage of analysts as talent is snapped up by big-spending foreign firms lured by a four-year bull run in the local stock market.

Japan's Honda Motor Co. has denied it is looking to buy Harley-Davidson Inc., rumors of which had sent the U.S. motorcycle maker's shares surging in New York on Friday.

GLG Partners, one of Europe's largest hedge fund firms, has lined up a U.S. stock market listing to help it expand and hire top managers, using a reverse acquisition with a shell company that values it at $3.4 billion.

Dow Jones & Co. Inc. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. are close to a pact that would protect the journalistic independence of The Wall Street Journal if News Corp. acquired the media company, according to newspaper reports on Sunday.

Bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi Corp. will retain and operate four plants under a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers, according to a document posted on a Web site run by union members.

Goldman Sachs is selling its 30.48 percent stake in South Korean cable TV operator C&M, valued at $970 million, a newspaper said on Monday, in the latest sale of Korean assets by foreign investment firms.

Utah mining prospector Kyle Kimmerle has more than a hunch that uranium will make him rich. It is a conviction so strong he has bet his house on it.

A consortium led by Pallinghurst Resources has raised its takeover offer for Australian mining firm Consolidated Minerals Ltd., valuing it at A$642 million ($544 million) and winning the support of Consolidated's board.

U.S. private equity fund Lone Star is in talks with several strategic investors to sell Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), Lone Star chairman John Grayken said in an interview with a local newspaper on Monday.

Investment banks helping Cerberus Capital Management LP finance its buyout of Chrysler, the U.S. arm of automaker DaimlerChrysler, will launch a road show in the next week to raise funds for the deal, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Raytheon Co. on Saturday filed a protest with the U.S. government over its award of a U.S. cargo contract to rival contractors, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition.

Global real estate investment is still buoyant but a few cracks are starting to show as higher borrowing costs begin to bite, making 2007 a pivotal year after an extended bull run in property prices.

Wagering on the outcome of the Conrad Black fraud trial is a risky proposition, as lawyers representing the former media baron and three co-defendants present widely divergent versions of events in their final statements to the jury.