Audi to invest billions in catching rival BMW Audi, the world's second-largest maker of luxury vehicles, plans to spend 13 billion euros ($17 billion) through 2016 to develop new cars and expand production capacity as it pursues BMW AG's sales lead. The Volkswagen AG unit budgeted more than 10.5 billion euros to develop vehicles and technologies, including lightweight auto design and electric powertrains, as part of the investment program, the German carmaker said. The spending includes funds for expanding production at its factory in Hungary, adding capacity in China and building a new plant in Mexico.
Blackstone-owned SeaWorld files for IPO SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., the operator of aquatic amusement parks owned by buyout firm Blackstone Group, filed for an initial public offering. The Orlando-based company filed to raise $100 million, which is a placeholder used to calculate registration fees and may change, and didn't say how many shares it will offer or at what price and on what date, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Blackstone acquired SeaWorld when it agreed in 2009 to buy Anheuser-Busch InBev NV's amusement-park business.
Rajaratnam to pay $1.5M in SEC civil case Galleon Group co-founder Raj Rajaratnam, who is serving 11 years in prison for insider trading, agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a civil case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Rajaratnam agreed to pay $1.3 million representing profits gained and losses avoided as a result of the conduct the SEC alleged in the case, according to a filing yesterday in federal court in New York. He will also pay $147,738 in interest. Rajaratnam was convicted of directing the biggest hedge fund insider-trading scheme in U.S. history.
Marvell to seek to overturn big patent verdict Marvell Technology Group Ltd. said it will seek to overturn a $1.17 billion jury verdict, one of the biggest awards on record, for infringing integrated-circuit patents held by Carnegie Mellon University. The company's shares have dropped 13 percent in the past two days to their lowest level since March 2009, after a federal jury in Pittsburgh hit the maker of chips for computers and mobile phones with the fourth-largest U.S. patent verdict ever. All three verdicts bigger than the one against Marvell were reversed. Marvell doesn't use the technology at issue and "there are strong grounds for appeal," Marvell said.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
