News In Brief

Casino operator Mirage Resorts Inc. rejected MGM Grand Inc.'s takeover bid valued between $3.4 billion and $3.5 billion but said it was willing to discuss a transaction reflecting the company's "long-term values." The key would be whether MGM Grand can come up with a number satisfying Mirage and not diluting the value of MGM stock, analysts said. Even though MGM Grand has said it does not plan to launch a hostile bid, the Mirage board invoked a shareholder plan commonly known as a "poison pill" initiative, which essentially makes a takeover effort prohibitively expensive.

The largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in China filed an application with US regulators to offer its shares to the American public and to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. PetroChina Co. Ltd. reported a net profit of $2.8 billion through the first three quarters of last year on revenues of $15.2 billion. It operates 29 refineries, 17 chemical plants, and 6,900 miles of pipelines. The company is a subsidiary of the government-owned China National Petroleum Corp.

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