Also. . .

* Eskimo Pie Corp. plans to sell its plants and cut up to 85 jobs, or 56% of its work force, in a move to get out of making ingredients for ice cream bars and frozen desserts in favor of licensing its name. The Richmond, Va.-based company, which created the Eskimo Pie chocolate-covered ice cream bar in 1921, also said it will continue talks with Canada’s Yogen Fruz World-Wide Inc. In December, Eskimo Pie refused an unsolicited buyout offer of $45 million from Yogen Fruz, which owns a 17% stake in the company. Eskimo Pie markets a variety of other frozen novelties and has agreements to sell products under the Real Fruit, Weight Watchers and other brands.

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* AT&T; Corp. agreed to buy BellSouth Corp.’s cellular business in Honolulu for an undisclosed amount to expand its nationwide network. Terms weren’t disclosed, but a person familiar with the transaction said AT&T; is paying about $160 million.

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* Lucent Technologies Inc. won European Union approval for its planned $23.9-billion purchase of Ascend Communications Inc., a bid to expand into the fast-growing Internet-equipment business. The deal still requires U.S. regulatory approval.

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* Retailer Venator Group Inc. said the chief executive of its Champs Sports chain, Paul Davies, has resigned, but didn’t give a reason. Venator named Richard Mina, head of Foot Locker Europe, to replace Davies, who had led Champs since 1997.