Halliburton to move CEO from Houston to Dubai
Houston: Energy services company Halliburton plans to open corporate headquarters in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai and move its chairman and chief executive, David J. Lesar, to the Middle East country.

The company will maintain its existing corporate office here as well as its legal incorporation in the United States, meaning that it will still be subject to domestic laws and regulations. Halliburton said that the move was part of a strategy announced in mid-2006 to concentrate its efforts in the Middle East and surrounding areas, where state-owned oil companies represent a growing source of business.

Halliburton, which was led by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995 to 2000, is currently in the process of spinning off KBR, its military contracting unit, to focus on its business of drilling wells and maintaining fields for oil companies.

Halliburton is being investigated by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of improper dealings in Iraq, Kuwait and Nigeria. Halliburton has also agreed to pay billions of dollars in settlements in asbestos litigation.

Halliburton is incorporated in Delaware and its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Halliburton reported a record $2.3 billion in profit last year and continues to be the dominant oil-field service company in North America, where it generates 60 percent of its operating income.
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Ford may get $850 million from Aston Martin sale
Ford Motor Co is likely to receive as much as $850 million from the sale of its profitable Aston Martin luxury sports-car unit to investors led by U.K. auto-racing champion David Richards.

Richards, founder of Prodrive Ltd., a U.K.-based maker of race-car parts, is tying up with Adeem Investment KSC and Investment Dar Co., two Kuwait-based Islamic investment companies to buy Ford's unit.

Ford bought its initial stake while on its way to posting a then-record 1987 profit. Ford Motor had losses of $12.7 billion last year, the highest in its 103-year history.

The U.K. Sunday Times has reported that Ford will retain a 15 percent stake in Aston Martin.

Aston Martin best known as James Bond's preferred car, is part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group of European luxury brands, which showed a $327 million pretax loss last year mainly because of another U.K.-based unit, Jaguar.

Aston Martin, with price tags starting at $110,000 for the Vantage coupe, accounts for less than 1 percent of Ford's global sales volume.
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