Business Briefs

Published: August 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — Thousands of troubled home borrowers with loans from IndyMac Federal Bank will be able to switch to fixed-rate mortgages under a new plan from federal regulators, who seized the bank last month after it became the largest regulated thrift to fail.

Most IndyMac borrowers who are seriously delinquent or in default on their mortgages and can document their situation will be able to switch into loans capped at an interest rate around 6.5 percent, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Wednesday.

BARTON HILLS, Mich. — Hyundai Motor Corp. says it will bring a gas-electric hybrid version of its Sonata sedan to the U.S.

Vice President of Product Development John Krafcik said Wednesday that Hyundai will display a hybrid version of the midsize Sonata at the Los Angeles Auto show in November.

Krafcik said the hybrid Sonata can be powered by both gas and electric motors and will have new lithium-ion batteries.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority on Wednesday approved its largest electric rate increase in more than 30 years, citing skyrocketing fuel costs and a three-year drought that has sharply reduced its ability to generate cheap hydroelectric power.

Directors for the nation's largest public utility adopted a 20 percent rate increase worth about $2 billion. The increase is expected to be passed along by TVA's 159 distributors to some 8.8 million consumers in Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia.

The change will raise monthly electric bills between $15.80 and $19.80 beginning Oct. 1 for the average residential customer, based on the use of 1,320 kilowatt hours a month.

ST. LOUIS — Monsanto Co. is unloading a harvest of controversy with its $300 million sale of the Posilac cow hormone to drug maker Eli Lilly & Co.

Posilac has never been a big part of Monsanto's future growth plans, but the genetically engineered hormone has gotten outsize public attention because of concerns about its effect on human health. The sale, announced Wednesday, means Monsanto's name won't be associated with a drug some activists call "one of the most hated products in the world.”

PORTLAND, Ore. — After some disappointments among Nike's prospects, the company is looking to men's basketball for one of those big medal moments companies crave from the Olympics.

Basketball is the top sport in China and other developing markets where Nike hopes to win over consumers. With the U.S. men's team's advancement to the semifinals in Beijing after a 116-85 victory over Australia Wednesday, the time may be right for the Swoosh.

Nike says its sees this year's games — which drew the company's largest Olympics investment ever — as a success. It created a new product for every sport and outfitted 22 of the 28 federations.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A lawyer for Mattel Inc. said the maker of pouty-lipped Bratz dolls owes Mattel nearly $2 billion for stealing its conceptual drawings for the urban-influenced toys.

Mattel attorney John Quinn made the claim Wednesday during closing arguments in the damages phase of a federal copyright infringement lawsuit.

The jury ruled last month in the first phase of the trial that the designer of MGA Entertainment Inc.'s Bratz dolls, Carter Bryant, came up with the Bratz concept while working for Mattel. The jury also found that the Los Angeles-based MGA aided in the breach of contract and Chief Executive Isaac Larian, played a role in the deal.

The Associated Press

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