IBT Staff Reporter

Lenders to British care home operator Four Seasons Health Care have reached agreement on a debt resuctructuring deal, delaying plans to put the company up for sale.

Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG.N) is in talks to refinance a $1.6 billion loan to Florida East Coast Industries, in which it owns both equity and debt, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The recession has more than halved the formation of new households.

Speech-recognition technology supplier Nuance Communications Inc said it acquired Jott Networks, a voice-to-text transcription service provider, to firm up the voice services portfolio of its mobile division.

Swindler Bernard Madoff was temporarily moved to a prison in Atlanta from New York and was in transit to yet another facility on Tuesday, a U.S. official said.

New apartments put up for sale in Tokyo this year are likely be a quarter less than previously forecast and hit a 17-year low as developers struggle to make sales, a research firm said on Tuesday.

Western Gas Partners LP said it agreed to buy certain midstream assets in Utah's Uintah basin from its largest customer and parent company Anadarko Petroleum Corp for about $107 million -- financed primarily with debt.

Wuhan, Chongqing and Chengdu aren't exactly names that roll off the tongue for foreign investors in China's real estate, but these cities may offer more bang for the buck than their more-famous coastal cousins or capital Beijing.

Japanese drug and health goods maker Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co said on Tuesday it would buy Miami-based Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc for $430 million to expand in the United States.

Second-ranked steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp said it would resume operations at the world's biggest blast furnace as it ramps up production in response to a gradual recovery in demand, surprising some in the market.

Shares of lender CIT Group Inc jumped Tuesday on expectations that regulators will support the company, which is struggling with a liquidity crisis.

Austrian Airlines would need fresh capital of more than 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) if a planned takeover by German airline Lufthansa failed, Austrian Airlines' Chairman said on Tuesday.

Russia's Sberbank, a partner in the Magna-led bid for Germany's Opel, said a July 15 deadline to seal a deal for the carmaker was not firm.

President Barack Obama is mulling new ways to delay foreclosure for jobless homeowners who are unable to keep up with monthly payments, an administration official said on Monday.

Sun Microsystems Inc, the computer server maker being acquired by Oracle Corp, issued a revenue forecast that fell short of Wall Street estimates.

Energy Resources of Australia Ltd, majority owned by mining group Rio Tinto, has posted a 44 percent rise in second-quarter uranium oxide output, but an analyst said it was lower than expected.

Goldman Sachs' strong second-quarter earnings were a result of basic blocking and tackling for the firm, the Wall Street bank's chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

Brazil's second-largest homebuilder, Gafisa SA, said on Monday it canceled plans to sell stock in a public offering, citing general market conditions.

Sun Microsystems Inc , the computer server maker that is being acquired by Oracle Corp , said on Tuesday it sees quarterly revenue falling short of Wall Street estimates, and a net loss.

Sales at U.S. retailers rose a stronger-than-expected 0.6 percent in June, boosted by a big jump in auto sales, Commerce Department data showed on Tuesday.

Volkswagen's second-biggest shareholder, the state of Lower Saxony, pushed to break the deadlock in merger talks with Porsche, saying it is looking for a clarity over the matter this week.

A so-called blank-check company said it has acquired two Nevada community banks in what it called the largest such recapitalization of a banking company in U.S. history.

British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh has reiterated that he is not prepared to accept a less than 53 percent split of a proposed combination of BA and Iberia.

The British government will allow certain innovative drugs to bypass its healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog under plans announced by officials on Tuesday.

Oil prices rose by around $1 dollar to above $60 on Tuesday as renewed confidence across financial markets helped to reverse some of last week's falls.

Germany's Software AG said it will buy IT consultancy group IDS Scheer for almost 500 million euros ($696 million) in what will be the first major corporate takeover in Germany this year.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) and General Motors Co (GMGMQ.PK) have objected to a plan by bankrupt auto parts supplier Visteon Corp (VSTN.PK) to pay employees up to $80.1 million in bonuses, saying that they and major auto parts suppliers had eliminated performance incentives for 2009.

Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS), South Korea's top carmaker, on Tuesday said it has raised its 2009 target for sales in China for a second time because of stimulus measures by the Chinese government to boost demand and as the company plans to launch new models.

SB LiMotive, an electric vehicle battery joint venture between South Korea's Samsung SDI and Germany's Robert Bosch, is acquiring U.S. battery maker Cobasys, Samsung SDI said on Tuesday.