TEHRAN / AP Iran said that the US has allowed Boeing to have direct talks with Iranian airliners following reports that a Boeing delegation will visit the country, the official IRNA news agency reported. The report quoted Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, as saying “Boeing intends to launch its talks with Iranian companies with permission from the …

Bloomberg Sears Holdings Corp., the department-store operator run by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, obtained a new short-term loan partially funded by an investment firm that manages billionaire Bill Gates’s fortune. Cascade Investment has funded $125 million of a $500 million loan that Sears raised by using about 20 of its mortgaged properties as collateral, the retailer said in a …

Bloomberg Associated British Foods (ABF), the biggest shareholder in Illovo Sugar, has reached an agreement to buy the rest of the South African sugar producer for 5.6 billion rand ($370 million) after raising an earlier offer. ABF, which holds a 51.35 percent stake in Illovo, has made an offer of 25 rand ($1.65) per share for the stake it does …