Company news

DEBT AND EQUITIES ValueVision Media Inc., Plymouth, owner of ShopNBC, has authorized $10 million in additional funds for use in the company's stock repurchase program over the next 12 months. This is in addition to $35 million previously spent on stock repurchases since 2006. ValueVision has repurchased 4.6 million shares at an average price of $7.64 per share.

Innovex Inc., Plymouth, retained Baker Tilly Corporate Advisory Services to assist in refinancing the company's debt and to explore additional capital structure alternatives including equity infusions.

DIVIDEND Christopher & Banks Corp., Plymouth, declared a quarterly cash dividend of 6 cents per share, payable April 8 to shareholders of record March 24.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS Entegris Inc., Chaska, agreed to purchase a 14 percent equity stake of Integrated Materials Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., for $8 million. Integrated Materials supplies poly silicon products used to improve the productivity of semiconductor manufacturing diffusion processes.

The majority of the assets of Machine Dreams Inc., Minneapolis, were acquired by Computershare Ltd., Abbotsford, Australia. The assets of Machine Dreams, an audience response specialist, will be combined with IML North America, a Computershare company and supplier of audience response systems.

Subjex Corp., Minneapolis, acquired a stake in a joint venture with MeritView Partners, Minneapolis, under which Subjex will provide its CSR technology for use in an online testing, certification and verification site. The venture, Certivera.com, will launch in May and provide real-time testing services for a variety of companies and institutions involved in granting degrees, certificates and other credentials.

The U.S. Army has renewed its On-Line Safety and OSHA compliance training with Comprehensive Loss Management/Blueprints for Safety of Plymouth.

Avalon Oil & Gas Inc., Minneapolis, signed a letter of intent to license Imix International Incorporated's Bio-Cat well and pipeline cleaner technology, used for getting oil and other hydrocarbons from underground reservoirs. Through the license, Avalon holds exclusive rights to the technology.

UnitedHealth Group Inc., Minnetonka, and ICICI Lombard, India's largest private general insurance company and second-largest health insurer, are partnering to provide ICICI Lombard's policyholders traveling to the United States with access to UnitedHealthcare's programs and services.