News In Brief

The largest merger to date in the software industry was announced by Dallas-based i2 Technologies Inc. and business-to-business services rival Aspect Development Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. The all-stock deal, valued at $9.3 billion, will give the combined company a workforce of 4,000 employees and a more than $200 million development budget. If shareholders approve, Aspect Development will become an i2 subsidiary.

In a deal that would create the world's third-largest bank, three Japanese firms announced they would establish a joint holding company next year. Sanwa Bank Ltd., Tokai Bank Ltd., and Asahi Bank Ltd., which together have assets of about $1 trillion, said they'd integrate system operations a year after that to cut costs by about $282 million. The plan, which would create the country's second-largest bank, is the latest in a string of mergers as the Japanese banking industry struggles to regain a competitive edge.

BP Amoco agreed to buy the maker of the Castrol brand of lubricants for $4.7 billion in cash. Burmah Castrol Plc. is based in Swindon, England. The London-based oil giant also signed a $1.1 billion deal with Trinidad's government that would triple the output of liquefied gas by a multinational consortium from 3 million to 9 million tons a year by 2003, the country's Ministry of Energy said. The agreement allows Atlantic LNG to add two plants to one that began production last June.

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