Roche, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, offered $44 billion for the 45 percent of shares it does not already own in Genentech, a California firm. If successful, the deal will be the biggest ever in the biotechnology industry. Genentech's treatment for cancer, Avastin, is expected to become the world's bestselling drug in the next few years.
Consolidation in the generic-drug industry continued. Teva, an Israeli company that is the biggest in the business, agreed to buy Barr, of New Jersey, for almost $7.5 billion.
More banks reported quarterly earnings. Those in the red included Wachovia, which made an $8.9 billion loss and took $6.1 billion in write-downs; Washington Mutual, with a loss of $3.3 billion and net write-downs of $2.2 billion; and Ohio's KeyCorp, a $1.1 billion loss. There were some brighter spots. Bank of America made a $3.4 billion profit, and Credit Suisse made $1.2 billion. Although the profits of both banks were much lower than a year ago, they were still better than had been expected.
An emergency rights issue by HBOS was a flop: only 8.3 percent of the British bank's shares were taken up by investors. The offer's two main underwriters, Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort, found buyers to bring the take-up to 38 percent, but were left holding the rest. Morgan Stanley surprised markets by declaring it had taken a sizable short position in HBOS' stock.
Tokio Marine, a Japanese insurer, offered $4.7 billion for Philadelphia Consolidated. It is said that this would be the biggest-ever Japanese acquisition of an American financial-services company.
General Motors said it sold 4.5 million vehicles worldwide in the first half of the year. Toyota sold 4.8 million and is expected to overtake GM as the world's biggest carmaker this year. Toyota came a narrow second to GM in 2007.
Unilever sold its Bertolli olive oil business to Spain's Grupo SOS for $1 billion. Founded in the Tuscan town of Lucca in 1865, Bertolli is one of the bestselling brands of olive oil.
Chateau Montelena, a Napa Valley vineyard that helped bring California wines to the world's attention, agreed to a buyout from French vintner Michel Reybier. Montelena took part in the Judgment of Paris in 1976, at which French judges awarded the top prizes to California wines.
