Industrials

By Toni Clarke

The Omaha-based maker of brands such as Slim Jim, Snack pack, Egg Beaters and PAM bid $86 a share, which represents a 31.7% premium to Ralcorp’s closing price on March 21, the day ConAgra sent over its initial $82 proposal. It offers only a 3% premium to its close on Tuesday.

Dunkin' Brands Group filed to raise up to $400 million in an initial public offering.

Molson Coors Brewing Co reported a drop in quarterly net earnings on Tuesday, from the year-earlier period when it recorded a one-time gain.

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc agreed to acquire specialty chemical company Lubrizol Corp for $9 billion for cash, making it one of the largest acquisitions in its history.

(Changes dateline, adds comments from Geneva)

ATLANTA (Reuters) - American Airlines parent AMR Corp said passenger unit revenue rose about 4.5 percent to 5 percent in the first two months of this year compared with a year before.

Johnson & Johnson said it was recalling more than 700,000 packages of Tylenol and other consumer medicines made at a now-closed plant.

Caterpillar CEO Douglas Oberhelman criticized the business climate in Illinois, while downplaying reports the company might leave. 

By Michael Erman and Ben Berkowitz

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's leading heir apparent David Sokol resigned from Berkshire Hathaway , and Buffett said in a statement on Wednesday that Sokol bought shares in a company he later pushed Buffett to purchase.

Stronger demand in Latin America propelled Caterpillar machinery sales in the three-month period through February.

(Corrects spelling of name in paragraph 2 to Lian)

Agilent reported Friday that its operations in Japan remain unaffected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that ripped through the northeast part of the country.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Industrial conglomerate 3M Co said on Thursday all 2,700 employees in its majority-owned Japan joint venture are safe and its facilities suffered only minor damage, and it is ramping up production of safety-related products.

Toyota said in a memo to its employees that it expects to halt some North American production due to parts shortages.

By Ploy Ten Kate

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Billionaire Warren Buffett, on a visit to Bangalore in India, said he saw significant growth in global output over the next year, in a television interview on Wednesday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have found three companies linked to Google broke tax rules and are continuing to probe for possible tax avoidance, a state-run Chinese newspaper said on Thursday, raising the possibility of a new bout of pressure on the Internet search giant.

Sony said it would partially restart a lithium ion battery factory in Tochigi prefecture on Tuesday.