Business Briefing
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. did “nothing inappropriate” when it arranged currency swaps for Greece that reduced the nation’s national debt by $3.2 billion, a top executive said.
“They did produce a rather small, but nevertheless not insignificant, reduction in Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio,” Gerald Corrigan, chairman of Goldman Sachs’s regulated bank subsidiary, told a panel of British lawmakers. The swaps were “in conformity with existing rules and procedures.”
Corrigan was the first executive at Goldman Sachs to speak publicly about the swaps.
PETROLEUM
Schlumberger buys rival firm
Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s biggest oil field services company, has agreed to buy fellow industry player Smith International Inc. for about $11 billion in stock in a move to diversify its product offerings and better compete with rival Halliburton Co.
Smith, based in Houston, makes drilling tools, bits and other products for the oil and gas industries.
Schlumberger has main offices in Paris, Houston and The Hague.
AVIATION
Boeing 787 test suffers glitch
Boeing Co. says one of its new 787s made an unplanned landing because an engine lost thrust unexpectedly.
Pilots landed at the airport in Moses Lake in central Washington on Friday. It had taken off from Boeing Field near Seattle.
Boeing says the plane had an “uncommanded loss of thrust” in one of its two engines. Boeing flew new parts to Moses Lake over the weekend, and the plane returned to Seattle on Sunday.
The 787 is going through flight testing. The plane with the engine problem is the first test plane. Boeing’s first three 787s are not being sold to airline customers.
AIRLINES
Continental cuts about 600 jobs
Continental Airlines is cutting about 600 jobs in its reservations centers because more customers are booking flights online.
The airline said it will cut the jobs of 250 agents who are on leave and an additional 350 still working.
PUBLISHING
Reader’s Digest bankruptcy ends
The publisher of Reader’s Digest said it has emerged from bankruptcy protection.
The Reader’s Digest Assn. Inc. said it has a more solid financial structure because of its prearranged bankruptcy -- where the company reaches an accord with key lenders beforehand in hopes of exiting Chapter 11 protection sooner.
AUTOMOBILES
Sale of Saab may close this week
General Motors Co.’s sale of Saab Automobile to Spyker Cars will probably close this week, moving the U.S. company closer to trimming its U.S. brands by half, two executives involved with the deal said.
The Netherlands maker of the C8 Aileron exotic sports car agreed Jan. 26 to buy Trollhattan, Sweden-based Saab from GM for $74 million in cash and $326 million in preferred shares in the new company and other considerations.
-- times wire reports
