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Private equity houses have this year added more companies to the stock market than they have taken private ? for the first time since 1997.

Lenovo, China's largest computer maker, has entered into an agreement to buy IBM's personal computer division in a $1.75 billion deal - the largest ever overseas acquisition by a Chinese technology company. The transaction will see Lenovo give IBM at least $650 million in cash, funded through internal cash and debt. In addition, IBM will receive up to $600 million in Lenovo common stock at HK$2.675 ($0.34) per share.

RWE, one of Europe's largest utility companies, has selected Nordic Financial Systems (NFS) to implement Trema's hedge accounting module to meet the IAS 39 guidelines due to be imposed from January 1 2005.

Andrew Brown has been appointed CFO of palmOne, the US handheld computing and communications provider. He was previously CFO at storage-solutions provider Legato Systems. At palmOne he will be responsible for finance and accounting, investor relations, corporate development and information technology. Meanwhile Karen Kupferberg has been named CFO of US software company Axeda Systems. She joins the company from EMC Corporation where she was corporate controller. Axeda Systems CEO Robert Russell says the company will particularly benefit from Kupferberg's experience in managing technology companies to strong profitability and solid growth.

Improving consumer demand and employment data mean US corporate finance professionals are expecting moderate economic growth during 2005, according to a survey released by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP).

Bruce Mismore, the CFO of embattled Russian oil producer Yukos, has taken on the role of chief spokesman for the company, revealing the threats and raids on Yukos by the Russian authorities.

Robert Dykes has been appointed CFO at Juniper Networks, the US networking and security solutions provider. Dykes, who begins his new job at the start of next year, joins the company from Flextronics, the world's largest outsource manufacturer. Juniper Networks CEO Scott Kriens says that Dykes' financial acumen, strategic insight and strong operational background will make him an asset to the company.

Treasury associations have called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to respond to serious issues raised around the conduct of credit rating agencies.

CFOs at three north American technology and pharmaceutical companies have resigned. Eric Brown has resigned from his position as CFO of MicroStrategy, the US business intelligence software maker, in order to take up the same post at McAfee, the system security products manufacturer. Arthur Locke, a member of the MicroStrategy finance team, will be promoted in his place.

A total of eight new CFOs at multinationals in Asia and the US were announced yesterday, including McAfee, Sapient and LogicaCMG.

Companies including Ford, Viacom and BMW are conspicuous by their absence from a table ranking companies' corporate governance standards. FTSE Group, the index provider, and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the global consultancy, have unveiled the first phase of an index that ranks companies according to their corporate governance standards.

US mobile telephone network operators Sprint Corporation and Nextel Communications are to merge in a $35 billion deal. The combined company, Sprint Nextel, will be the US's third largest mobile phone network. Nextel CFO Paul Saleh will become CFO of the merged company.