BRIEFCASE.

Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

McClatchy to sell Star Tribune 

MINNEAPOLIS -- Newspaper publisher The McClatchy Co. said on Tuesday that it will sell its flagship newspaper Star Tribune to a private equity firm for $530 million, a sharp drop from the $1.2 billion it paid to acquire the newspaper just eight years ago.

Sacramento-based McClatchy said it decided to sell the newspaper to Avista Capital Partners through a private bidding process ``after a strategic reevaluation of its portfolio of holdings'' following McClatchy's purchase of Knight Ridder for $4.5 billion earlier this year.

McClatchy faces a large tax bill from selling off 12 other newspapers earlier this year as part of its purchase of Knight Ridder. It said the tax benefit of selling the Star Tribune at a loss is worth $160 million, raising the total value of the deal to $690 million. McClatchy said it would use the money to pay down its Knight Ridder debt.

Feds investigate UnitedHealth

NEW YORK -- UnitedHealth Group Inc., the country's second-largest health insurer behind WellPoint Inc., said Tuesday that federal regulators have begun a formal investigation into its historical stock options practices.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's formal order follows an informal inquiry begun in April. Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth said in SEC filing it intends to cooperate with the investigation.

Toyota, Ford heads meet

DEARBORN -- The chief executives of Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. met last week, according to news reports Tuesday. Ford declined to confirm the meeting.

There was no word on the purpose of the meeting between Ford's Alan Mulally and Toyota's Fujio Cho, reported by the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun and The Wall Street Journal's Web site. The papers attributed information of the meeting to unidentified sources.

``We meet regularly with other automakers on a variety of topics of mutual interest,'' Ford spokesman Tom Hoyt told The Associated Press. ``We don't discuss the content of these meetings.''

The meeting was in Tokyo, according to Nihon Keizai.

The troubles in the U.S. auto industry in the face of their Japanese rivals' success have led to major restructuring efforts by the U.S. automakers.

For the latest quarter, Toyota, Japan's No. 1 automaker, earned $3.44 billion, while Ford lost $5.8 billion.

Bill's interest rates rise

WASHINGTON -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Tuesday's auction to the highest levels in a month.

The Treasury Department auctioned $17 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.875 percent, up from 4.825 percent last week. An additional $15 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.900 percent, up from 4.885 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since the bills averaged 4.905 percent on Nov. 27. The six-month rate was the highest since 4.935 percent, also on Nov. 27.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,876.77 while a six-month bill sold for $9,752.28.