BUSINESS BRIEFS

VIRGINIA

Genworth to sell unit in Mexico to German firm

WASHINGTON -- Genworth Financial Inc., one of the largest employers in the Richmond area, plans to sell a division in Mexico to HDI-Gerling International Holding AG, a German insurance company.

The sale is of Genworth Seguros Mexico, which provides automobile, property and casualty, life and personal accident insurance. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The transaction would allow Genworth to focus on its core businesses in Mexico, including lifestyle protection insurance and mortgage insurance, said Alejandro Rivero-Andreu, president of Genworth Financial in Mexico.

Lifestyle insurance protects monthly repayments on mortgage and personal loans and credit cards if customers are unable to make their payments because of accident, sickness, hospitalization or involuntary unemployment.

Mortgage insurance is bought by customers who buy houses with less than a 20 percent down payment on the mortgage loan.

Hit hard by the slowing economy and its exposure to insurance losses in the housing sector, Genworth is trimming as much as $150 million in expenses this year. It cut 1,000 people, or 14 percent, of its worldwide work force this month, including 400 in the Richmond area, where it is based.

Harris Teeter to open facility in King George

Harris Teeter Inc. will invest $101 million to open a food distribution operation in King George County, creating 335 jobs, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced yesterday.

The distribution site will serve existing Virginia stores and allow for expanded service in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

Harris Teeter, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ruddick Corp., is a North Carolina-based food market chain that operates in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Maryland, Delaware and Washington.

Kaine approved $200,000 from the Governor's Opportunity Fund to assist King George with the project.

Hilton's headquarters to move to D.C. region

Hilton Hotels, one of the world's largest lodging firms, will move its corporate headquarters and several hundred jobs to the Washington region, possibly Northern Virginia.

The move this year will park the company in the backyard of a major competitor, Marriott International, which is based in Bethesda, Md. The announcement comes less than two years after the Blackstone Group bought the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hilton for $26 billion and later named Christopher Nassetta chief executive.

Nassetta, who grew up in Arlington County, Va., had been CEO of Host Hotels & Resorts, based in Bethesda.

After Hilton's move, three of the six top hotel companies in the world by number of rooms would be based in the region, controlling more than 1.5 million rooms, according to Hotels magazine.

Dividend declared

The Brink's Co., a secure-transportation company based in Henrico County, announced a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share, payable March 2 to shareholders of record Feb. 3.

THE NATION

Ex-Merrill CEO resigns from Bank of America

NEW YORK -- Wall Street bonuses, a sore point as the government gives billions of dollars in bailout money to the financial industry, have apparently cost former Merrill Lynch & Co. CEO John Thain his new job at Bank of America Corp.

Thain resigned from Bank of America yesterday after news that Merrill Lynch had rushed out its year-end bonuses, paying them just before Bank of America completed its acquisition of Merrill Lynch and sought $20 billion in additional government bailout money.

The company gave no reason for Thain's departure, but its timing, coming hours after news reports about the bonuses, made it likely that there was a connection with the payouts.

Elsewhere

-- From Staff and Wire Reports