IBT Staff Reporter

Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd's takeover of retailer Coles Group Ltd would create a company with A$44 billion ($39 billion) in annual revenues and the country's largest private employer, documents showed on Monday.

Gold closed higher in New York on Monday despite a strengthening dollar and weaker crude oil, as U.S. stocks rallied while platinum rose to a near-record high on robust investment demand.

Sony Corp's financial arm will raise $3 billion after setting its IPO price at the top end of an indicated range as investors looked past the U.S. subprime crisis and bet on its growth potential in the banking and insurance markets.

Four foreign banks operating in Singapore began a lawsuit against Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) on Monday demanding the Tiger beer maker compensate them for losses arising from bogus loans to an ex-APB executive.

Oil prices fell sharply toward $80 a barrel on Monday as investors took profits from the near-record highs of last week and weighed the threat of a deeper economic slowdown in the United States.

The dollar rose from record lows against the euro on Monday as investors pared bets against the U.S. currency on a rally in stocks and a dip in oil prices ahead of a batch of economic data and central bank meetings.

The European Commission has launched formal antitrust proceedings against U.S. chip maker Qualcomm after mobile phone manufacturers complained it charged far too much for vital technology licenses.

IBM said on Monday that it will set up a joint venture company that will run services for two counties in South West England, handling areas from computer systems to human resources, procurement and finance.

U.S. phone company AT&T Inc. said on Monday its Indian unit has applied for licences to provide services in the world's fastest growing wireless market in partnership with India's Mahindra Group.

Shares in beleaguered British bank Northern Rock Plc fell another 26 percent on Monday, the 10th anniversary of the former building society's stock market listing, amid fresh concerns of a sharply discounted sale.

Hannover Re is on course to reach its target net profit of more than 700 million euros ($993 million) this year, the chief executive of the world's fourth-biggest reinsurer said.

Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund, on Monday said that the subprime mortgage crisis will dominate Federal Reserve policy over the next several years and believes short-term U.S. interest rates could fall to 3-3/4 percent over the next six to 12 months.

European shares rallied on Monday, led by UBS as its announcement of subprime-related losses ignited speculation that the worst of the damage of the credit crunch may be behind the wealth manager.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said on Monday he would pull his country's troops out of Darfur if it was determined that African peacekeepers who were killed at the weekend were not equipped to defend themselves.

Sony Corp said it will launch an ultra-thin flat TV in December, the world's first television based on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology into an $82 billion market dominated by LCD and plasma models.

Adobe Systems Inc plans to acquire Virtual Ubiquity, makers of Buzzword, an innovative word processor, in a surprise move that competes with Microsoft Corp and Google Inc.

Adobe Systems Inc released new software for its popular Flash Player on Sunday that promises to bring

Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov said on Monday he wants to highlight Russia's political problems during upcoming elections.

Sherrill Zenie said all she wanted was a piece of the American Dream, but what she got was a kick in the rear.Zenie is one of a legion of a relatively new type of homeowner, a flipper, who sought fast money by rapidly buying and selling homes to capture a profit on each as prices soared.

Walgreen Co on Monday unexpectedly posted its first quarterly profit decline in almost 10 years, citing lower reimbursements for some generic drugs and higher salary and other expenses, sending its shares down more than 11 percent in pre-market trade.

A court case brought by Nigeria against Pfizer resumes on Wednesday with the U.S. drug maker saying it answered a call for help to save the lives of African children during a meningitis epidemic.

Microsoft Corp. said on Sunday it plans to introduce new software services targeted at corporate customers willing to pay a monthly subscription instead of license fees.

Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by market value, said on Monday its third-quarter net income will drop 60 percent on losses and writedowns stemming from subprime and leveraged loan woes, fixed income trading, as well as weakness in its consumer business.

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corp, bought Lonely Planet in a deal that values the travel publisher at about 100 million pounds ($203 million), a person familiar with the talks said.

Nokia said on Monday it will offer $8.1 billion for U.S. based digital map supplier Navteq in one of its largest takeovers ever, but its shares fell as analysts dubbed the deal expensive.

EBay Inc said on Monday that Niklas Zennstrom, co-founder and chief executive of its Internet telephony unit Skype, has stepped down.

Paris Fashion Week has opened itself up as it tries to reflect new faces in an increasingly globalized industry.

More than 100,000 Costa Ricans, some dressed as skeletons, protested a U.S. trade pact on Sunday they say will flood their country with cheap farm goods and cause job losses.

Talks aimed at reining in North Korea's nuclear programmes ended on Sunday to allow delegates to return to their home countries to discuss a "nuts and bolts" joint statement with their governments, the U.S. envoy said.