GMAC sheds major share in commercial mortgage arm

General Motors Corp., struggling with big losses, slow sales and high labor costs, said Thursday it sold a majority interest in its commercial mortgage division in a deal worth $9 billion that gives its finance arm a boost as it prepares for its own sale.

General Motors Acceptance Corp. is getting $1.5 billion in cash from an investment group for a 78 percent stake in the commercial mortgage business. In addition, that business, known as GMAC Commercial Holding Corp., repaid $7.3 billion in intercompany loans. That boosts the total proceeds to GMAC to almost $9 billion.

The deal for the mortgage unit stake is separate from GM’s announced plans to sell a controlling interest in GMAC. The mortgage unit, GMAC Commercial Holding, also announced it has changed its name to Capmark Financial Group Inc.

•Google Inc.’s stock will be added to the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, a long-anticipated rite of passage that gave the company’s recently slumping shares an immediate boost.

Standard & Poor’s announced the forthcoming change after the stock market closed Thursday.

Google will replace Burlington Resources Inc. in the closely watched barometer March 31.

•German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer AG said Thursday it would make a 16.3 billion euro ($19.5 billion) white-knight offer for Schering AG, whose management said it would accept the offer over a hostile bid from Merck KgA.

The Leverkusen-based Bayer said in a statement that it would offer 86 euros ($103) per share, topping a Merck offer of 77 euros ($92.4) already rejected by Schering management.

•The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. will merge three different electronic stock trading networks including its newly acquired INET platform by July, at least three months ahead of schedule, executives said Thursday.

Nasdaq will retire its own buy-and-sell matching progams in favor of INET’s, according to Chris Concannon, executive vice president for transaction services, and will combine trades on its own system and previously acquired BRUT with the technologically superior INET.

Previously, traders had to survey a number of different electronic markets to find the best price for a stock transaction.

Larger markets tend to have the best price more often, simply because of the volume of shares present.