INVESTMENT

Metallurgical Corp of China (MCC) priced the Hong Kong portion of its initial public offering at the lower end of an indicated range, sources said on Thursday, as the IPO's size and sector appeared to have dampened demand for the construction and engineering company.

The private equity arm of Standard Chartered is set to invest in a number of South Korean companies in the next 18 months as it sees good potential for minority stake purchases in the environment industry.

Web start-up companies at this year's Tech Crunch conference face a financial climate that has dried up venture capital, forcing them to turn to friends, family and foundations.

Private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and Providence Equity have submitted bids for Cox Enterprises' Travel Channel, a source familiar with the matter said.

Goldman Sachs downgraded Medco Health Solutions to neutral from buy on valuation and said anticipation over a potential captive pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) acquisition has been adding support to the company's shares.

U.S. stock index futures rose slightly on Thursday, edging toward a fourth straight positive session, as investors awaited key data on the labor and housing markets.

Ratcheting up pressure on the largest U.S. bank, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed five current or former Bank of America Corp directors to learn what they knew about Merrill Lynch & Co's problems as the companies prepared to merge.

The government will have another month to seek an indictment against or reach a settlement with a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc programmer accused of stealing trade secrets.

The founders of Skype are suing its owner eBay Inc and the investor group that has agreed to buy the Internet telephone service, alleging theft of technology, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Citigroup Inc plans to pay back $20 billion it owes the government when the bank sees more concrete signs of recovery, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Wednesday.

A weak U.S. labor market led to bigger bank writedowns of credit card debt in August as a record-high jobless rate left consumers struggling to pay their bills.

Commercial mortgage backed securities got a lift on Wednesday from new U.S. Internal Revenue Service rules that make it easier to modify securitized mortgages without tax penalties.

U.S. stocks rose 1 percent on Wednesday, helped by weakness in the dollar and data showing a rise in industrial output.

Most of the U.S. commercial real estate industry is expected to remain in recession through 2011 with an industry-wide recovery not expected to begin until 2012, according to a quarterly survey commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

U.S. stocks rose 1 percent on Wednesday, helped by weakness in the dollar and data showing a rise in industrial output.

Venture capitalists searching for the next big green idea to invest in are being more cautious in their due diligence but are still more than willing to place risky bets in the emerging sector.

Lawyers for Bank of America Corp and former Merrill Lynch & Co brokerage chief Robert McCann were in talks Wednesday to resolve his lawsuit accusing the bank of blocking him from taking a job with a rival.

A weak U.S. labor market led to bigger bank writedowns of credit card debt in August as a record-high jobless rate left consumers struggling to pay their bills.

Three of London's top rainmakers are set to square up against a superstar of the 1980s merger era if the looming takeover battle between Kraft and Cadbury ignites.

Brazilian real estate developer PDG Realty plans a primary offering of 56 million new shares to raise an estimated 775.6 million reais ($430 million), the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

Telecommunications service provider Level 3 Communications Inc's CEO said on Wednesday the company was looking to invest in its network in response to growing Internet traffic but that improving its balance sheet was still the top priority.