News In Brief

in a deal valued at $9.1 billion, two of America's largest trash-disposal companies brought further consolidation to the industry. Allied Waste Industries of Scottsdale, Ariz., said it will buy Houston-based Browning-Ferris Industries. The combined company will assume Allied's name and will have annual revenues of about $6.6 billion. In January, Waste Management Inc. closed a $1 billion deal to acquire Eastern Environmental Services Inc.

A third-quarter closing was expected for the $4.2 billion merger of two US and Canadian commercial/consumer-finance companies. CIT Group Inc. of Livingston, N.J., said it will acquire Toronto-based Newcourt Credit Group in a stock swap. They will manage $50 billion in assets, mostly a portfolio of venture-capital investments, corporate restructurings, mortgages, auto loans, and loans to businesses for equipment purchases.

The on-again, off-again bidding war for a leading US credit insurer, American Bankers Insurance Group (ABI) of Miami, ended with its purchase for $2.6 billion by Fortis, a Dutch-Belgian company that already has extensive American holdings. ABI previously had been sought by the Dutch insurer Aegon, as well as by Cendant Group and American International Group, both of New York. The purchase is expected to result in the loss of 300 US jobs.

Compiled by Robert Kilborn

and Lance Carden