Business Briefs: Stanley Works to buy Black & Decker for $4.5B

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NEW YORK — Stanley Works says it will buy Black & Decker Corp. for $4.5 billion, bringing together two major players in the toolmaking business. Stanley shareholders will own about 50.5 percent of the combined company, to be named Stanley Black & Decker, and Black & Decker shareholders will own about 49.5 percent. John F. Lundgren, chairman and chief executive of Stanley Works, will be president and chief executive of the combined company.

WASHINGTON — Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday’s auction with rates on three-month bills dropping to the lowest level since December. The Treasury Department auctioned $29 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.060 percent, down from 0.075 percent last week. Another $30 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.170 percent, down from 0.185 percent last week. The three-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.050 percent on Dec. 29. The six-month rate was the lowest since 0.150 percent on Oct. 13.

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Monday said Congress needs to provide regulators greater tools to control the risky financial behavior that helped trigger the recession and to unwind major firms on the verge of collapse. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said she supports such a winding-down process for financial institutions other than banks. But she does have reservations with a proposal now before the House, which would cover the costs for the government of dissolving troubled companies with fees charged to businesses after the firms’ meltdown occurred. Bair says that fund should be created before a financial institution is engulfed in a crisis.

NEW YORK — Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. says it could potentially receive more than $1 billion from a partnership with Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. on potential weight-loss treatments. Company shares climbed nearly 10 percent in trading Monday, despite an announcement that government regulators strengthened warning labels on the company’s diabetes treatment Byetta. The Food and Drug Administration highlighted bolstered language about kidney damage on the drug’s labeling. Amylin, based in San Diego, said late Sunday it will receive $75 million upfront from Takeda.

NEW YORK — Toyota says its vehicles are not at risk of accelerating out of control unless the driver’s side floor mat is incorrectly installed or is not meant for that vehicle. The Japanese automaker says the finding is the result of a U.S. government investigation into the possibility of unintentional acceleration in some of its vehicles. In August, Toyota announced a recall of 3.8 million vehicles in the U.S., urging the owners of the recalled vehicles to remove their driver’s side floor mat because of the risk they could jam the accelerator pedal.

WASHINGTION — The National Association of Realtors said the volume of signed contracts to buy previously occupied homes rose 6.1 percent in September to a reading of 110.1. That’s the highest level since December 2006. And it’s more than 21 percent above a year ago. The eighth straight monthly gain came as the housing market rebounds from the worst downturn in decades. The improvement has been aided by federal intervention to lower mortgage rates and bring more buyers into the market. For example, the contracts to buy homes rose as buyers scrambled to qualify for a tax credit for first-time buyers that expires at the end of this month. Congress is moving to extend the credit until April 30. "We think this recovery is sustainable,” said Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets.

NEW YORK — Two banks which have repaid their bailout funds said Monday they no longer need to take advantage of a special program that offers government insurance on certain deposits, like checking account funds, over $250,000. Bank of New York Mellon and U.S. Bancorp both said they will opt out of a six-month extension of the Transaction Account Guarantee Program. The program, part of the wider effort to shore up banks during the height of last year’s crisis, offers Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage for non-interest bearing accounts, like checking accounts, with balances above $250,000. Monday was the deadline for banks to choose whether to continue participating in the program after Dec. 31. For banks that opt out, FDIC insurance will be limited to $250,000 per account starting Jan. 1.

Third-quarter earnings at International Bancshares Corp. dipped 0.6 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago. The Laredo, Texas-based bank company, which has branches in Oklahoma, posted net income of $33.7 million, or 49 cents a diluted share, compared with $33.9 million, or 49 cents a share, for the same period last year. The multibank holding company noted that third-quarter net income was $37 million, up 9.1 percent from the same period last year, prior to amounts related to participation in the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, including preferred stock dividends and amounts related to the warrants.

TRENTON, N.J. — U.S. regulators have refused to accept drugmaker Merck & Co.’s application for a new, combination cholesterol pill that includes rival Pfizer’s Lipitor, the world’s top-selling drug. Merck disclosed the rare move by the Food and Drug Administration in a regulatory filing Monday. The company two and a half years ago said it planned to make a dual cholesterol pill that at the time looked sure to be a blockbuster: a combination of Pfizer Inc.’s Lipitor — which generates nearly $13 billion in annual sales — and Zetia, a cholesterol pill Merck sells with Schering-Plough Corp. The two drugmakers have been partners on cholesterol medicines since 2000 and are about to merge.

From Staff and Wire Reports

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