Business

Six Flags Inc. announced that it has sold three water parks and four theme parks for $312 million parks to Jacksonville, Fla.-based PARC 7F-Operations Corp as part of its efforts to reduce $2.2 billion of debt. With this sale, Six Flags will have raised $352 million in gross cash proceeds, including the June 2006 sale of land in Houston, to pay down debt.

The Bank of England Thursday sent a flummox wave in the market by unexpectedly raising its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.25 percent. This was the third time the Bank had lifted its interest rate, since August.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas' (PBD) on Sunday. The three-day face-to-face session with overseas countrymen seeks to sustain and nurture the symbiotic relationship between India and its diaspora. It aims to address the development challenges that the country faces and discuss the opportunities available.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the U.S. oil and natural gas producer said Tuesday it will sell two Louisiana oil fields to Exco Resources Inc. as it continues with its campaign to cut debt, Anadarko will give over the fields to Exco for $1.6 billion in cash.

Nine foreign banks including HSBC Holdings Plc and Citigroup Inc. won approval from China's banking regulator to start their preparatory work for setting up local corporations in China. China is removing restrictions on overseas banks and permitting them to gain access to the nation’s household savings in line with its commitment to the World Trade Organisation.

A sharp rise was observed in the Shares of British defense contactor BAE Systems in early trading on the London Stock Exchange on Friday after the British government decided to bring to an end a two-year corruption inquiry into a multi-billion-pound defense deal with Saudi Arabia.

India’s Tata Steel Ltd. raised its bid for Corus Group Plc, the U.K.'s largest steelmaker, to an agreed 4.7 billion pounds ($9.2 billion) on Sunday in an attempt to head off a potential counter bid from Brazilian group Cia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN).

Airbus, Europe's leading aircraft manufacturer Thursday affirmed its plans of investing $1 billion in India in the coming decade. The Indian government will be purchasing 43 Airbus aircrafts for the state-run Indian Airlines for $2.25 billion and as a part of the deal Airbus had committed to investing in India.