STOCKS NEWS-Air Berlin cancels $1.7 bln Boeing 787 order

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0820 ET 16March2010
Air Berlin cancels $1.7 bln Boeing 787 order

Air Berlin cancelled about $1.7 billion worth of firm orders for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner aircraft amid uncertainty over whether it will expand the number of its long-haul flights.

The airline had ordered the planes in 2007, when it planned to buy charter airline Condor from Thomas Cook. Air Berlin backed out of the planned takeover a year later, citing soaring oil prices and worsening economic conditions.

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Shares of Boeing, a Dow component, closed Monday at $69.40.

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0814 ET 16March2010
Sterling Bancorp raises size of stock offering

Sterling Bancorp raised the size of its common share offering by 47 percent that was priced at $8 apiece.

The New York-based company raised the size of its share offering to 7.5 million from 5.1 million and priced it at a 2 percent discount to the stock's Monday close.

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Shares of Sterling rose 1.8 percent to $8.33 before the bell.

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0810 ET 16March2010
First Solar joins Desertec solar project

First Solar has joined the Desertec solar power project, which hopes to supply 15 percent of Europe's power by 2050 via a network of renewable energy sources.

The company said it was the first pure photovoltaic company to join the $546.6 billion Desertec project, which proposes sending energy created in the Sahara to Europe.

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Shares of First Solar closed Monday at $114.92.

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0805 ET 16March2010
Knight Capital ups notes offering size to $325 mln

Knight Capital Group Inc raised the size of its convertible notes offering to $325 million and priced it at 3.50 percent per annum.

The company, which said it will use the proceeds to pay off debt, had initially set the size of the offering of its cash convertible senior subordinated notes at $300 million.

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Shares of Knight closed Monday at $15.75.

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0757 ET 16March2010
OPEC may not need to take supply action: Saudi

Oil demand is picking up, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Tuesday, which could mean OPEC does not have to take any action on supply this year.

'We have been sailing very well and we will continue to sail very well,' Naimi, minister for the world's top oil producer, told reporters a day ahead of a meeting of the group, many of whose members have voiced concern it is pumping too much oil.

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Separately, Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil said OPEC would probably not need to meet again before its scheduled September meeting.

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0737 ET 16March2010
RDG Capital head makes offer for Benihana: NY Post

Russell Glass, founder and head of New York investment firm RDG Capital, has offered to buy the Japanese-themed restaurant Benihana Inc for $7 a share, the New York Post said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The deal values the company at $20.1 million, the Post said.

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Shares of Benihana closed Monday at $5.88.

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