The Canadian fertiliser giant, Potash Corporation, has asked a US District Court in Chicago to block a hostile takeover bid from BHP Billiton. The Anglo-Australian mining giant has offered $39bn (£26bn) for the firm. Potash said that because of BHP’s “false statements and

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The property company that owns much of Canary Wharf has reported a fall in profits, largely thanks to the collapse of Lehman Brothers two years ago. Songbird Estates said pre-tax profits for the first half of the year totalled £13.1m, down 84% on a year earlier.

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A new not-for-profit lending scheme is being unveiled aimed at giving manageable loans to people who cannot obtain conventional loans. A pilot scheme has been set up in the West Midlands called My Home Finance, in the hope of diverting people away from borrowing from loan sharks.

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Citigroup Inc. will halve the minimum balance on checking accounts with the highest level of service, in a push to get more customers to use the bank for their primary accounts. Clients with Citigold accounts can avoid monthly fees if they keep $50,000 in combined balances at Citigroup starting Nov. 1,

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Burger King is being sold to private equity firm 3G Capital in a deal valued at $3.26bn (£2.1bn), it has been announced. The fast food chain, with 12,100 outlets worldwide, had been the subject of takeover rumors for days.

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The European Union has reached agreement on reforms to financial supervision, officials have said. EU states and the European Commission agreed to create agencies that from next year are to oversee banks, insurers, and financial

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Samsung has become the latest challenger to enter the tablet computer battle, unveiling its Galaxy Tab at the IFA conference in Berlin. The device will run on Google’s Android operating system, with a capacity of 16 or 32GB, expandable by 32GB more.

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