Smash hit

Heinz sells UK frozen desserts business

The American producer of baked beans takes a loss on sale of private-label supplier as it focuses on branded foods

Reliance Industries bids for LyondellBasell

Indian group controlled by Mukesh Ambani has offered as much as £12 billion to buy Dutch-American chemicals maker

Nestlé looms large over battle for Cadbury

World's largest food company steps onto the chocolate maker takeover stage along with Kraft, Hershey and Ferrero Rocher

US investors abandon the falling dollar

A jump in US house sales and no likelihood of an increase in interest rates led investors to turn to stocks

America dreams of flat Christmas on Main Street

Early indications are that Christmas sales will be flat, up or down by one or two percentage points, on Black Friday

Obama hits the Great Wall of China

The president won no offer to revalue the Chinese yuan

Sale to JP Morgan marks end of Cazenove era

The company that was seen as the last traditional broker in the City has completed its sale to JP Morgan for £1bn

Cazenove ex-partner: ‘We are not a meritocracy’

A mythology built up around the broker; any mention of it in the press must perforce contain the word 'blue-blooded'

Blackstone aims to swallow Birds Eye Food

Private equity firm's Pinnacle business is set to pay $1.3bn for American company that pioneered flash freezing

Morgan Stanley chief: 'We can't control ourselves'

John Mack, the outgoing chief executive of Morgan Stanley, says that Wall Street banks need stricter regulation

Goldman names 272 new managing directors

This year’s class of managing directors comes close to 2008’s record 299 promotions in a sign that good times are back

Google Chrome launch takes fight to Windows

The PC version of Google's long-awaited rival to the Windows operating system will be available free of charge

Drop in US home builds exposes fragile market

Figures show that housing starts dropped 10.6 per cent in October as homebuyers remained cautious about the market

Citi discloses pay cuts for top executives

Compensation changes at Citigroup are rare glimpse into cuts America's Pay Czar has made to individual bankers' pay

Jacobs to replace Wasserstein at Lazard

The bank's North America chief executive is to take the top post after the death of 'Bid 'em up Bruce' last month

Goldman boss says sorry and pledges cash

‘We participated in things that were clearly wrong,’ admits chief executive of bank’s role in global financial crisis

Nearly 15,000 Americans confess after UBS pact

More than double the expected number own up to holding secret offshore bank accounts under US amnesty for tax cheats