CALGARY, CA - North American Oil Sands Corporation ("North American") is pleased to announce today that it has completed a private placement of 4.185 million shares on a "flow-through" basis at a price of $13.50 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $56.5 million.

Federal government-owned business enterprises (GBEs), including the monetary authorities, earned an after-tax profit of $7.5 billion in 2005, up 18.5% from 2004.

Pfizer Inc. will likely slash staff and accelerate merger and licensing deals as the pressure on it to improve its financial performance intensified after the weekend's announcement that the company ended development of a key drug, analysts said.

Expanding state ownership is a "step back" for the Russian economy, the OECD said in a report that raised concerns over the sustainability of Russia's current boom.

LONDON - The following corporate finance related stories involving U.S. and European companies were reported on Tuesday.

General Electric Co., the world's biggest company by market value, is buying a 7 percent stake in China's Shenzhen Development Bank Co. for $100 million to enter a market where household savings doubled in the past five years.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair demanded an end to farm export subsidies in five years, warning that failure to make progress at world trade talks in December could be "fatal" for the Doha round.