Asset management company American Capital Strategies Ltd. said Thursday it will publicly offer about 4 million shares of common stock.

The company will use the proceeds to reduce debt and fund investments.

Underwriters will have the option to buy an additional 600,000 shares to cover over-allotments.

Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. and UBS Investment Bank are joint book-running managers for the offering.

In connection with the offering, the company will enter into agreements to sell about 4 million shares of common stock to counter-parties.

Shares of American Capital Strategies fell $1.11, or 2.8 percent, to $38.92 in after-hours trading after falling 27 cents to close at $40.03.

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Wine rivals toast merger

FAIRPORT, N.Y. — Constellation Brands Inc. is staking a bigger claim in the more profitable end of the U.S. wine market with a deal to add Clos du Bois to its collection of $8 to $11 wines led by Robert Mondavi Private Selection.

The world's biggest winemaker said Monday it is paying $885 million for the U.S. wine business of Fortune Brands Inc.

In addition to top-seller Clos du Bois, the buyout would give Constellation the Wild Horse and Geyser Peak brands, five California wineries and more than 1,500 acres of vineyards in the Napa, Sonoma and Los Carneros grape-growing regions.

Even with its latest acquisition, Constellation will control less than 5 percent of the highly fragmented global wine market. But its share of the American market will expand 1 percent to around 20 percent.

Holiday credit card blitz

Luz Cottes charges holiday gifts for her son and daughter on her Macy's store credit card. The New Castle, Del., resident knows she can't pay it off immediately. She knows the card has a high interest rate. But she also knows that she can instantly save $20.

"During the holiday, I charge and charge, and the next holiday I'm still in debt," Cottes said.

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(AFX UK Focus) 2007-11-16 17:29 GMT: Virgin says would repay 'significant' part of BoE debt under Northern Rock bid

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The Virgin Consortium bidding to take over Northern Rock said it would repay a "significant proportion" of the company's Bank of England borrowings immediately if its bid is successful.

It also said a "clear timeline" is envisaged for full payment of the borrowings.

Sir Richard Branson's group said in a statement that it is assembling a board to run the company as a going concern, led by Sir Brian Pitman as chairman and with Sir George Mathewson as a senior adviser.

The bank would be rebranded as Virgin if the bid succeeds.

Today was the deadline for preliminary bids for Northern Rock. The bank was expecting to receive between six and eight proposals to buy all or part of the struggling banking group, according to reports.

Branson's consortium is said to include US bankruptcy veteran Wilbur Ross, London hedge fund Toscafund, AIG, Dubai International Capital and Hong Kong investor Victor Chu.

(AFX UK Focus) 2007-11-16 13:24 GMT: OUTLOOK UK smaller company results for the week to Nov 30

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The following is a compilation of UK smaller company results due out in the week to Nov 30.

MONDAY NOV 19

The recent result from the Department of Health review of the second wave ISTCs was something of a mixed bag: Care UK PLC had its pending contracts confirmed and picked up two new contracts; however, the DoH asked for a voluntary termination of the West Midlands diagnostic contract.

Sebastien Jantet of Investec Securities is not intending formally to change his forecasts until after the prelims. Nevertheless, his initial take suggests that he will be looking at a downgrade of around 15 pct to his FY2008 EPS forecasts (new EPS of circa 23 pence, from 27), driven by the removal of the West Midlands contract. For the following year, the analyst expects to downgrade around 14 pct to about 32 pence from 37.5, again reflecting contract changes.