Bank Of Chinas Hong Kong arm to launch $2 IPO
The Hong Kong arm of state giant Bank of China will launch a $2-3 billion initial public offering on July 8 in the territorys largest stock sale so far this year, sources close to the deal said on Friday.

The success of the offering will be closely watched by Beijing and investors around the world. The Bank of China is the countrys most international bank, and the IPO of its Hong Kong affiliate is the first listing of assets by any of Chinas big commercial lenders.
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Mitsubishi Motors To Recall 4,00,000 Vehicles In Japan
Mitsubishi Motors Corp said on Friday, it will recall 4,00,000 vehicles in Japan due to a faulty part that could cause the engine to halt when the vehicle is not moving.

The recall for Japans fourth-largest automaker, 37.3 per cent owned by the German-US auto giant DaimlerChrysler AG, will fall under the category of a "service campaign", a Mitsubishi spokesman said.
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Fiats Creditor Banks Favour Car Unit Sale
Fiats creditor banks favour the sale of the groups core car unit Fiat Auto as it struggles to curb debts and losses, sources involved in the talks between Fiat and the banks said on Thursday. The sources also said Fiat was ready to sell insurance arm Toro, estimated to be worth nearly 4.0 billion euros including goodwill, if it did not meet financial targets this year.
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Gemstar loses patent ruling on TV set-top boxes
A federal judge on Friday ruled against Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. on claims its patents for on-screen TV programming guides had been infringed.

In a widely anticipated decision, Administrative Law Judge Paul Luckern ruled EchoStar Communications Corp., Pioneer Corp., Scientific-Atlanta Inc. and SCI Systems, now a unit of Sanmina-SCI Corp. had not infringed on Gemstar patents covering receiver boxes for cable and satellite television.
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Dynegy halts e-trading
Dynegy said that it halted energy trading on its Dynegydirect online system, a casualty of the credit crunch that has hit the power trading industry since Enrons collapse.

The announcement a move one analyst said is a sign that major shareholder ChevronTexaco has taken charge comes after the recent loss of 1,300 jobs in the energy trading industry and the scaling back of trading operations at Aquila, El Paso and Williams Cos.
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Hallmark may sell stake in Crown Media
Hallmark Cards is exploring the sale of all or part of its 67 per cent stake in Crown Media Holdings in a deal that could be worth $1bn, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.

In its Friday online edition, the Journal said possible buyers, or partners, for Crown Media include Rupert Murdochs News Corp, MGM and closely held Discovery Communications.
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Pfizer eyes $7-b from candy, shaving biz exit
Pfizer Inc. is expected to hire financial advisors in the next few days to sell its Adams candy division and Schick shaving business in an effort to shed non-core units, sources familiar with the situation said.

Combined, the auctions are expected to garner bids of up to $7 billion, meaning a healthy payday for both Pfizer and the investment banks ultimately hired to run the sales.
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VeriSign ordered to halt marketing campaign
A federal court in Phoenix ordered domain-name giant VeriSign late Wednesday to discontinue a marketing campaign that has spurred complaints of deceptive advertising from rivals.

Domain-name seller Go Daddy Software sued market leader VeriSign earlier this month in US District Court in the District of Arizona, seeking to force VeriSign to stop sending out "domain name expiration notices" that sought to trick rivals' customers into unwittingly transferring their accounts.
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