A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Anglo buys Chicago site for €85m
Anglo Irish Bank has agreed to buy a 27-storey, 350,000sq ft building on Chicago's Magnificent Mile for more than €85 million.
The bank is buying 625 North Michigan Avenue from a venture controlled by the real estate arm of Philadelphia holding company Berwind, which bought it nearly four years ago for just €49 million.
Anglo is likely to offer the deal as an investment to its clients, as it has with other purchases.
Cowen nominates bank director
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has nominated Anne Counihan to be Ireland's representative on the board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in succession to former justice minister and Progressive Democrat leader Des O'Malley.
In her role as a director, Ms Counihan will represent Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Ms Counihan was appointed chief executive of the National Development Finance Agency NDFA in 2003.
She is also a director of the NTMA.
Blackrock invests €25m in London
Property group Blackrock has agreed to invest €25 million in a joint venture involving the acquisition of a number of development properties in London.
The company, which was spun off from fruit group Fyffes last year, declined to provide any more information saying it was awaiting the conclusion of legal formalities.
Alltracel unit in HemCon deal
Pharmaceutical group Alltracel said one of its subsidiary units has signed an agreement with HemCon Medical Technologies, a group that supplies haemorrhage control equipment to the military.
The conclusion of the development work is expected to lead to a license and supply agreement for a range of Alltracel's Nanospider woundcare technologies and products, the company said.
Merrill Lynch earnings up 68%
Merrill Lynch saw earnings surge by 68 per cent to $2.35 billion (€1.81 billion) in the fourth quarter, because of big private equity gains combined with buoyant trading and investment banking results.
Merrill joined Wall Street rivals by reporting record earnings for the year which rose by nearly half.
Carbon rating for Tesco products
Tesco will become the first supermarket chain to assign a carbon rating to its products in the latest attempt by a retailer to respond to consumers' concerns about the environment.
The fifth-largest retail chain said yesterday it would work with Oxford University's environmental change institute to create an index to measure the carbon required to produce, transport and consume every product it sells.
