Bloomberg Equifax Inc. agreed to acquire Kount Inc., which offers fraud protection for e-commerce retailers, for $640 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter, Atlanta-based Equifax said in a statement Friday. Kount’s employees will continue to be based in Boise, Idaho, and will report to Equifax’s US information-solutions unit. The credit-reporting firm has been building out …

Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. shares rise 7.1% to a record high in Seoul amid signs of a rebound in the memory-chip market and off the back of a surge in earnings. South Korea’s biggest company posted a 26% increase in operating income to 9 trillion won ($8.3 billion) for the three months ended December in preliminary results. That compares with …

BAHRAIN / WAM Investcorp, a Bahrain-based asset manager that counts Mubadala Investment Company as its biggest shareholder, announced on Wednesday that its portfolio company, Impero, a provider of online student safety and classroom and network management software, has acquired Netop, an international software solutions provider to the education sector and corporates, from Consolidated Holdings A/S. Terms of the transaction were …