International Briefing

TORONTO --

CANADA

$35B BUYOUT OF BCE GETS OK

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that the $35 billion leveraged buyout of BCE -- the LBO in Canadian history -- can go ahead.

The high court overturned a lower court ruling that the sale of the telecommunications holding company to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and its minority U.S. partners wasn't in the interests of bondholders.

BCE's subsidiaries include Bell Canada and other regional carriers.

BELGIUM

EU INSPECTORS RAID COMPANIES

BRUSSELS -- European Union antitrust authorities have raided several producers of household detergents as part of a cartel investigation, the EU said Friday.

The raids took place over three days, the European Commission said in a statement without naming any of the companies.

It said, however, that they included ``several producers of consumer detergents such as washing machine and dishwasher detergents, and laundry softeners.''

LEADERS TO STUDY

LOWER FUEL TAXES

BRUSSELS -- European Union leaders called Friday for studies on ways to cut taxes on fuel and ease the pain of more costly oil for consumers.

Europeans pay some of the world's highest gas pump prices to fill up their cars at an average of 9 euros ($14) a gallon. About half of that is sales tax and excise duty.

GERMANY

CHEMICAL FIRM PLANS STOCK SPLIT

FRANKFURT -- German chemical company BASF SE said Friday it will carry out a two-for-one stock split next week, a move that it said was designed to make its shares available to a wider range of investors. BASF said the split, approved in April, will take place on June 27.

CHINA

U.S. STEEL INDUSTRY CLAIMS VICTORY

U.S. steel pipe manufacturers, who have been battling a surge in imports from China, won a major victory Friday when the International Trade Commission cleared the way for the imposition of stiff penalty tariffs for the next five years.

The commission voted 5-0 that the U.S. industry was being harmed by the import of circular steel pipe.

The decision marked the first time a U.S. industry has won a decision to impose tariffs on a Chinese product based on the argument that the Chinese government was unfairly subsidizing a Chinese industry.

SWITZERLAND

UBS TO DISCLOSE CLIENTS IN PROBE

GENEVA -- Swiss bank UBS AG said Friday that it will disclose any instances in which rich American clients may have broken U.S. tax reporting rules by channeling assets through offshore shell companies.

The disclosure comes after the Zurich-based bank said it was cooperating with a U.S. investigation into whether its employees helped clients evade taxes from 2000 to 2007.

The investigation centers on 20,000 UBS clients in the United States who are required to fill out a supplementary tax form giving foreign banks their American tax identification number if they hold any U.S. securities in their accounts abroad.

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