Also . . .

* NEC Corp., Japan’s biggest semiconductor maker, said it expects to post a net loss of $151 million in the six months ending in September--its first loss in five years--compared with a $270-million profit a year ago. NEC joins its industry peers in issuing warnings of sharp losses because of the slide in chip prices.

* Freddie Mac, the second-largest buyer of U.S. home mortgages, said it will acquire a property management and sales unit of franchiser Cendant Corp. for an undisclosed price. Freddie Mac will merge Cendant Asset Services with its HomeSteps real estate unit, which refurbishes and sells homes acquired through foreclosures.

* General Re Corp. shareholders voted to approve the proposed sale of the company, the largest U.S. reinsurer, to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. for about $16 billion in stock. The transaction, expected to close during the fourth quarter, was approved by Berkshire shareholders on Wednesday. A stock-market plunge since July 17 slashed $6 billion, or about 27%, from the value of stock being paid to General Re owners, based on Thursday’s closing prices.

* Ethan Penner, who resigned Thursday as vice chairman of Capital Co. of America, said he plans to start a new business that will compete directly with his former real estate finance company. Penner, 37, said he quit Capital America because management at Nomura Securities Co., which owns the San Francisco-based commercial mortgage lender, wouldn’t allow him to expand into other areas of finance and diversify his funding sources.

*

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