Bloomberg General Electric Co. agreed to combine its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes Inc., creating an industry giant with a broader suite of offerings amid the ongoing slump in crude prices. GE will own a 62.5 percent stake in the combined provider of oilfield services, which will be publicly traded and have $32 billion in sales, the ...

  Bloomberg UK software company FreeAgent Holdings Ltd. has said it plans an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market for small, growth-oriented companies. Edinburgh, Scotland- based FreeAgent provides cloud-based accounting software for what it calls “micro-businesses,” a term it defines as companies with fewer than 10 employees. Its decision to float bucks strong headwinds in the ...

  Bloomberg When US auto sales numbers arrive on Tuesday, Nissan Motor Co. is expected to look pretty good — or at least less bad than its competition. The Japanese automaker’s sales slipped just 1.5 percent in October, compared with drops of 6.9 percent for General Motors and 11 percent for Ford, analysts estimate. Behind Nissan’s result, though, is a ...