Also. . .

* Anadarko Petroleum Corp., an oil and natural gas explorer, agreed to buy Berkley Petroleum Corp. of Canada for about $775 million, or $7.50 a share, in cash, topping a bid from closely held Hunt Oil Co. Houston-based Anadarko would also assume $250 million in debt under the deal. Berkley earlier rejected a $6.93-a-share-bid from Hunt, which holds a 9.6% stake in the company. Berkley has put itself up for sale in an auction that is to end Thursday. Hunt, controlled by the Hunt family of Dallas, said it won’t decide on a new bid until Thursday. Anadarko closed off 70 cents at $65.50 on the NYSE.

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* Potomac Electric Power Co. said it will buy Conectiv Inc. for $2.2 billion in cash and stock, uniting two mid-Atlantic utilities considered too small to compete alone in a deregulating industry. Potomac also cut its annual dividend to $1 a share from $1.66, effective in June, which will provide for continued investment to expand. The Potomac-Conectiv merger would serve more than 1.8 million customers in Delaware, Washington, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia.

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* Aventis, France’s largest drug maker, said it fired the head of its U.S. crop science unit and two other managers amid the controversy over its genetically modified corn, StarLink. Maurice Delage, president of Aventis CropScience USA, left the company along with Ed Makowski, vice president of market development, and general counsel Karen Weiner, said a spokesman for Aventis CropScience in Lyon, France. He declined to specify the reasons for the firings.

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* Steelcase Inc., the largest U.S. office furniture maker, said it will cut as many as 1,200 jobs, or 5% of its work force, and said it expects earnings for fiscal 2001 to be as much as 11% less than earlier forecasts. The cuts will be made in five cities, including Tustin. Plants in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Solon, Ohio, will be closed.

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* Campbell Soup Co. tapped Nabisco Holdings Corp. Treasurer Robert Schiffner to be its chief financial officer, effective Feb. 26. Schiffner, 51, will succeed Basil Anderson, who announced his retirement earlier this month.

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