Business highlights

LONDON — Britain’s FirstGroup PLC is buying Greyhound bus operator Laidlaw International, which is also North America’s largest school bus operator, for about $2.8 billion.

Under the deal announced Friday has agreed to pay $35.25 a share, 11 percent above Thursday’s closing price, for Naperville, Ill.-based Laidlaw. It will also assume about $800 million in debt in the deal. FirstGroup is Britain’s largest bus operator and already has a sizable presence in North America.

FirstGroup acquired Ryder Public Transportation Services Inc. in 1999. The purchase of Laidlaw would boost its stake in the North American school bus market to 40 percent from its current level of 13 percent, the company said.

Hedge-fund investors took note as Fortress Investment shot up

NEW YORK — Shares of Fortress Investment Group, the first publicly traded U.S. hedge fund, soared Friday in a trading debut sure to catch the attention of many players in the $1.3 trillion hedge-fund industry.

The stock’s initial public offering priced late Thursday at $18.50 per share and rose as high as $37 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Fortress Investment Group’s stock, which trades under the symbol "FIG,” closed up $12.50, or 67.6 percent, at $31.00. While a number of hedge funds have gone public in Europe, Fortress Investment Group is the first to hit the stock market in the U.S. Investors viewed the IPO as a crucial litmus test to determine whether other hedge funds will follow Fortress onto the stock market.

$2.8B price tag not good

enough for major stockholder

DETROIT — Auto parts supplier Lear Corp. said Friday that it has agreed to a buyout offer by a group affiliated with billionaire investor activist Carl Icahn for about $2.8 billion, but left the door open for a better offer.

At least one major shareholder said he would try to get others who own stock to oppose the deal. Under the agreement, Icahn-controlled American Real Estate Partners LP is paying $36 a share, and a Lear spokesman said that amounts to about $2.8 billion. It also includes the assumption of about $2.5 billion in debt.

Chevron eyes bankrupt property

MOSCOW — Chevron Corp. wants to purchase disputed assets of OAO Yukos, a bankruptcy official said Friday, raising the prospect of a U.S. company participating in the liquidation of a business that drew protest from the White House and rattled investor confidence in Russia.

While it’s unlikely a foreign corporation will be allowed to buy strategic production and refining assets already earmarked for Kremlin-backed monopolies, the expression of interest underscores the powerful pull of the world’s biggest oil and gas industry amid mounting global competition for energy reserves. Yukos’ biggest production unit was bought three years ago by state oil group OAO Rosneft after an opaque auction.

MasterCard posted higher

profit than anticipated

NEW YORK — MasterCard Inc. said Friday its fourth-quarter profit topped Wall Street expectations as consumer spending spiked, but the credit-card company warned margin growth may slow this year.

The stock tumbled nearly 10 percent after hitting an all-time high in early trading.

The Purchase-based company, which went public in May 2006, posted quarterly profit of $41 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with a loss of $53 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding the impact of litigation settlements, MasterCard reported a profit of $41 million, or 31 cents per share, in the latest period.