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Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Halliburton unit files IPO notice

DALLAS - KBR Inc., a unit of Halliburton Co., filed an initial public offering Friday to sell up to $550 million in common stock.

KBR is a global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, petrochemicals, government services and civil infrastructure sectors.

Houston-based Halliburton Co. plans to sell just under 20 percent of its stake in KBR, which has diluted the company's financial results and drawn criticism of its multibillion contracts in Iraq.

Analysts have said spinning off the unit will let Halliburton concentrate on its oilfield business. Halliburton shares rose 5 percent on the day when it announced plans for the IPO.

KBR didn't say in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission how many shares it will sell, nor did it give an expected price range.

Flat-screen profit fat for Samsung

SEOUL, South Korea - Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's largest company, said Friday its first-quarter net profit rose 26 percent from the year before amid strong demand for large flat-screen televisions.

Samsung earned 1.88 trillion won ($1.95 billion) in the three months ended March 31, the company said in a statement, also citing equity gains from the performance of overseas subsidiaries.

The result was better than expected. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires forecast the company would post a 17 percent increase in net profit to 1.76 trillion won ($1.83 billion).

Samsung said sales in its liquid crystal display, or LCD, business soared 41 percent to 2.68 trillion won ($2.78 billion) from the year before because of demand for big flat-screen TVs.

Hyundai execs in slush fund snare

SEOUL, South Korea - Prosecutors said Friday they detained two top executives of Hyundai Motor Co. and a former executive of a state-run bank in an escalating scandal over allegations the company created a slush fund to buy influence with government officials.

Chief Financial Officer Lee Jung-dae and Kim Seung-nyun, a vice president in charge of procurement, were the first Hyundai Motor executives to be detained in the investigation.

Also detained on Friday was Park Sang-bae, former deputy governor of the state-run Korea Development Bank, prosecutors said.

The investigation centers on suspicions that the country's largest automaker embezzled money from affiliates to create a slush fund and used it via at least two lobbyists to seek business favors from the government.

P&G exec named Tyson Foods CFO 

SPRINGDALE, Ark. - Meat-producer Tyson Foods Inc. has named a new chief financial officer.

The Springdale, Ark.-based company announced Friday morning that Wade D. Miquelon, an executive with Procter & Gamble Co., will become Tyson's executive vice president and CFO starting in June.

Miquelon has held several international positions with Procter & Gamble, according to a statement from CEO John Tyson. He is currently <NO1>based in Geneva and serves as <NO>finance chief and general manager for Procter & Gamble's Western Europe region.