Business & Finance

United Airlines secured a collective $1.45 billion in concessions from two of its main unions. Pilots overwhelmingly ratified $1.1 billion in annual cutbacks Friday, while mechanics gave tentative approval to $349 million in givebacks. The hard-pressed carrier has said it will ask a bankruptcy court to void labor contracts if unions don't approve the concessions by May 1.

Quintiles Transnational Corp. accepted a $1.7 billion buyout offer from Pharma Services Holding, a firm created for that purpose by Quintiles' founder and chairman, Dennis Gillings. Quintiles, a drug-testing company based in Durham, N.C., employs 16,000 workers in 46 countries.

Order-taking will begin Tuesday for a sale of new stock by Allianz AG, Europe's largest insurance company, Bloomberg.com reported. It said the move is aimed at raising almost $5 billion in capital and at protecting Allianz's credit rating. The company posted its first operating loss since World War II last year and has had its credit-worthiness lowered by both Standard & Poor's and Moody's investors services. Allianz will ask current stockholders to buy the new shares at a 33 percent discount, Bloomberg.com said, and will follow with details of a planned bond sale in the second half of the year.