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Report: VW plans complete Porsche buy

WOLFSBURG, Germany, July 18 (UPI) -- German automaker Volkswagen is planning a complete acquisition of sports car manufacturer Porsche, sources say.

The German magazine Der Spiegel, citing unnamed sources, reported Saturday that rather than purchase just 49.9 percent of the struggling Stuttgart, Germany, sports car maker as had already been reported, Volkswagen is laying plans to purchase the entire company using a pair of financial transactions.

Der Spiegel said Volkswagen would make Porsche its 10th brand by first purchasing 50 percent of Porsche Automobil Holding, and then following that up with a buy-out of the remaining shares in a second deal.

The report said Volkswagen, of Wolfsburg, Germany, will pay $11.3 billion for Porsche, enabling the sports car company to extinguish its burdensome debts, and is also reportedly considering acquiring Porsche's network of dealerships for $4.2 billion.

The acquisition would end a power struggle between the German companies that saw Porsche fail in its attempts to buy VW through a leverage-heavy maneuver that collapsed when credit markets dried up, Der Spiegel said.

Eddie Bauer buyer to keep stores open

SAN FRANCISCO, July 18 (UPI) -- Most of the 370 outlets of bankrupt U.S. outdoor clothing retailer Eddie Bauer will remain open, its new buyer says.

Golden Gate Capital Friday won a bankruptcy auction for the Bellevue, Wash., chain, with a $286 million bid. The San Francisco-based investment firm said it will keep most Eddie Bauer stores open, in contrast with liquidators who were bidding to sell off pieces of the company, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Golden Gate beat out Great American Group, Hilco Consumer Capital, Gordon Bros. Group and Iconix Brand Group Inc., which owns Rocawear clothing, in the bidding for bankrupt Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc., the newspaper said.

The private equity firm's winning bid comes three years after Eddie Bauer shareholders voted to turn down a similar amount from the firm, the Times reported.

Nokia sells Symbian unit to Accenture

NEW YORK, July 18 (UPI) -- Nokia has agreed to sell the professional services unit of its Symbian mobile phone operating system to the U.S. consulting firm Accenture, officials say.

The move, announced by Accenture Friday, is seen by industry analysts as a further step by the Finnish handset maker to distance itself from Symbian and establish it as a stand-alone software firm, Information Week reported.

After purchasing Symbian for $410 million, Nokia moved to spin it off into an independent foundation where it says it can further develop its open source, royalty-free mobile phone operating system, which faces competition from Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Research In Motion's BlackBerry, Information Week said.

"The acquisition of the Symbian professional services unit will enhance Accenture's existing embedded software, product-development and testing skills to help players in the mobile solutions ecosystem address ever-more-demanding time-to-market and quality requirements," said Jean Laurent Poitou, managing director of Accenture's electronics and high-tech industry group, said in a statement.

Hormats named to key State Dept. position

WASHINGTON, July 18 (UPI) -- Robert Hormats, a vice chairman of investment bank Goldman Sachs, has been tapped for a key U.S. State Department post, White House officials say.

Hormats was named by the Obama administration Friday to be the department's undersecretary for economic, energy and agricultural affairs, an official announcement indicated.

Should he be confirmed by the Senate, Hormats would head up efforts by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to help refine Washington's relationships with China, India and Russia, moving to base them on economic, trade and environmental issues, The New York Times reported.

Hormats "will be key in Secretary Clinton's efforts to bring more visibility to the work of the department on economic matters," an unnamed senior U.S. official told the newspaper.

A biography provided by the White House said Hormats, who has been with Goldman Sachs since 1982, had previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs from 1981 to 1982, ambassador and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative from 1979 to 1981, and Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs at the State Department from 1977 to 1979.

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