Also . .

* Utility holding company NiSource Inc. raised its 4-month-old hostile bid for natural gas firm Columbia Energy Group by 7% to $6.1 billion. The new all-cash bid, which values Herndon, Va.-based Columbia at $74 a share, is considered a more viable bid than the original $68-a-share offer and is expected to pressure the Columbia board to negotiate with NiSource or find a better bid elsewhere. Columbia rejected the original $68-a-share offer, launched in June, as financially inadequate. Columbia shares rose $1 to close at $60.50 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

* Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. are close to agreeing to divest at least 1,574 gasoline stations in the Northeast to win government approval, possibly as early as this week, of creation of the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, sources told Bloomberg News.