Business news in brief

Camden's Campbell Soup Co. is seeking $1 billion to $1.5 billion for its Godiva chocolate division, two people with direct knowledge of the sale said. Financial information about the unit will be sent to potential buyers this month, said the people, who declined to be identified before an agreement is reached. Godiva, which generates 7 percent of Campbell's revenue, is for sale after 40 years as the company tries to sell more V8 juice and Swanson broth. Lindt & Spruengli AG may be one of the bidders, the people said. The chocolate-maker in Kilchberg, Switzerland, said Sept. 4 that it was considering making an offer. Campbell won't comment on potential bidders or the timing of its review of Godiva, spokesman Anthony Sanzio said.

- Bloomberg News

Liberty Media Corp.'s TruePosition unit, the Berwyn provider of mobile-phone location equipment, won $45.3 million in damages when a jury decided Andrew Corp. infringed on a patent by selling telecommunications gear to Saudi Arabia. After a two-week trial, a jury in Wilmington federal court also ruled that Andrew's infringement was intentional, which may allow U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson to triple the damages to more than $135 million.

- Bloomberg News

Moody's Investors Services yesterday affirmed its "Baa2" rating on Holy Redeemer Health System's bonds, but revised its outlook from "negative" to "stable." The rating affects about $120 million in debt. Moody's said the outlook reflects a third year of improvement in operating cash flow, driven mostly by profits in the system's long-term-care and home-care businesses. Inpatient and outpatient volumes at the hospital grew last year, reversing a decline, but it continued to operate at a "fairly sizable" loss. The system reported an unaudited loss of $1.1 million in 2007.

- Stacey Burling

Dollar Financial Corp., Berwyn, said it delayed the filing of its annual report for the year ended June 30 to examine whether it properly accounted for and disclosed certain derivative transactions related to $375 million in term-loan debt. The check-casher and lender, with operations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, said the derivatives from December were part of a strategy to hedge foreign-currency and interest-rate fluctuations. The examination could result in adjustments to the financial results Dollar Financial reported Monday, although the company said the potential revisions would not be large. The company's shares closed down 21 cents yesterday at $26.64 on the Nasdaq.

- Harold Brubaker

PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s final conversion of 231 Mercantile Bank branches in Maryland, Virginia, Washington and Delaware into PNC Bank branches is scheduled for this weekend. The change will bring 500,000 accounts into PNC, which is based in Pittsburgh but has major operations in the Philadelphia region. PNC bought Mercantile Bankshares Corp. for $5.9 billion in March.

- Harold Brubaker

Willow Financial Bancorp Inc., Wayne, said its annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission for the year ended June 30 would be late because of the amount of time it took to test certain accounting systems. The bank said it was unable to make required changes to the report before the deadline.

- Harold Brubaker

Chrysler L.L.C. said it would recall nearly 300,000 sport-utility vehicles to address potential braking problems while driving uphill. The recall involves more than 156,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Commander SUVs from the 2006 and 2007 model years, more than 90,000 2007 Jeep Wrangler SUVs, and nearly 50,000 2007 Dodge Nitro SUVs. In a separate action, Chrysler said it was recalling 72,333 Dodge Avenger sedans and Chrysler Sebring convertibles from the 2008 model year to address problems with the front-door latches and locks.

- AP

A corroded landing-gear bolt caused the crash of a Scandinavian Airlines plane that led to the grounding of 60 Bombardier Inc. turboprop aircraft worldwide, according to a preliminary accident report. The poor state of the bolt meant the Q400's right-hand wheel couldn't lock in place and collapsed when the aircraft touched down in Aalborg, Denmark, Sunday, the Danish Accident Investigation Committee said on its Web site. Thorbjoern Ancker, a spokesman for the Danish Civil Aviation Administration, said Bombardier's instruction manual didn't require operators to dismantle the landing gear and inspect the bolt. The cause of the accident should therefore be viewed as "construction-related" and not the fault of the airline, which "didn't make any mistakes," he said.

- Bloomberg News

China raised interest rates for the fifth time this year amid signs that repeated attempts to cool the sizzling economy have had little effect so far. The interest rate on a one-year loan will rise 0.27 percentage points, to 7.29 percent, the Central Bank said. Rates paid on bank deposits also will rise by a similar margin, to 3.87 percent. A rate hike was widely expected after the government said this week that inflation rose to an 11-year high of 6.5 percent in August, driven by a surge in politically sensitive food prices. Chinese leaders want to maintain high growth to reduce poverty, but worry that the current boom, fueled by exports and investment, could push inflation to dangerous levels or ignite a financial crisis.

- AP

Kara Homes Inc., the New Jersey home builder, won court approval for a plan to reorganize by selling its assets to a hedge fund for about $72 million over the protests of the company's founder and owner. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton approved on Wednesday a reorganization plan for 45 of 56 properties owned by Kara, of East Brunswick, according to David Bruck, a lawyer for the company. Under the plan, Plainfield Asset Management will buy all of Kara's assets for about $72 million, including $12 million to buy all of Kara's stock. The hedge fund is also committed to funding $115 million in new construction, with other lenders, Bruck said.

- Bloomberg News

Bank of America Corp. said it had received approval from the Federal Reserve to complete its $21 billion purchase of Chicago's LaSalle Bank Corp. The decision is the final regulatory approval needed for the transaction, which is expected to close in early October, Bank of America said. Adding LaSalle would give Bank of America more than 6,100 branches and close to 10 percent of deposits nationwide, the maximum allowed by federal law.

- AP