Mass. OK's Manulife-Hancock deal

The Massachusetts insurance commissioner approved the proposed John Hancock Financial Services and Canada's Manulife Financial Corp. merger, one of the final US regulatory hurdles to a deal that would create the second-largest life insurance company in North America. State regulators in Delaware, Canada's office of the superintendent of financial institutions, and the Canadian Ministry of Finance still must approve the deal, which is expected to close this month, a Manulife spokeswoman said. The US Federal Reserve this month approved the stock swap valued at $10.4 billion when made public in September. (AP)

Verizon to surcharge DSL customers

Verizon Communications Inc. will begin charging digital subscriber line Internet customers in Massachusetts and New England $2 to $3 more starting next month to recoup the cost of a federal tax for subsidized rural telephone service. Verizon has been absorbing the so-called Universal Service Fund fee, which applies to all phone lines, since launching DSL in the late 1990s but said now that it has over 2.5 million broadband Net subscribers nationally, it no longer wants to absorb the roughly $75 million annual cost. Currently at $35 a month, or $30 bundled with long distance and local phone service, Verizon said DSL will continue to cost several dollars a month less than cable modem service from Comcast Corp. and other cable companies, which are not required to make universal service payments. (Peter J. Howe)

Cedar Point raises $20m in funding

Cedar Point Communications Inc., a Derry, N.H., start-up that makes equipment for cable television companies to offer telephone service, has raised $20 million in new venture capital, bringing its total raised to $65 million. The new funds came from JP Morgan Partners and prior Cedar Point backers including Comcast Corp.'s investment arm and Route 128 venture capital firms Battery Ventures and Charles River Ventures. Cedar Point played host to Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael K. Powell in the Granite State yesterday, demonstrating phone and video-conferencing services that Powell said show Cedar Point is ''on the right path" with its technology. (Peter J. Howe)

IBM donates $5m to UMass-Amherst

IBM Corp. will donate technology and equipment worth more than $5 million to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst as part of an ongoing alliance between the company and the university. The funds will be used to establish a Linux lab with hardware and networking technology for a curriculum on open source software, and to provide IBM's Rational software to help professors design curricula in other fields that can be supported by technology. (Robert Weisman)

Cyberkinetics receives FDA approval

Cyberkinetics of Foxborough has received Food and Drug Administration approval to begin a clinical trial in which four-millimeter chips will be implanted beneath the skulls of paralyzed patients. If successful, the chips could allow patients to send computer commands, essentially by thinking about them. It's a small, early step in a mission to improve the quality of life for victims of strokes and debilitating diseases such as cerebral palsy or Lou Gehrig's. ''A computer is a gateway to everything else these patients would like to do, including motivating your own muscles through electrical stimulation," said Cyberkinetics chief executive Tim Surgenor. Cyberkinetics hopes to bring a product to market in three to five years. (AP)

Morningstar upbeat on MFS Investments

MFS Investment Management, the Boston-based mutual fund manager that's paying about $400 million to settle allegations of improper sales and trading, received a more positive endorsement from Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. Analysts at Morningstar, who track the performance of about 12,000 funds, said MFS has instituted a series of ''shareholder friendly reforms" such as reducing fees and strengthening the independence of its board of directors. The measures are helping clear the way for investors to ''once again invest in the firm's strongest offerings," Morningstar said on its website. Morningstar didn't single out any funds to buy. Instead, the analysts said they remain concerned about the performance of the company's funds, including MFS Massachusetts Investors Growth Stock and MFS Research. (Bloomberg)

THE NATION

Domino's Pizza plans to deliver IPO

Domino's Pizza Inc. plans an initial public offering of as much as $300 million in common stock, according to papers the pizza company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The preliminary-offering document did not say how many shares will be offered or at what price. In 2003, its franchise stores posted retail sales of about $3.8 billion, including $1.2 billion in international sales, and its company-owned stores had $381.4 million in retail sales. The preliminary prospectus it filed with the SEC listed JPMorgan and Citigroup as the lead managers. Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston, and Lehman Brothers will assist. (Reuters)

THE WORLD

Acambis halts smallpox vaccine study

Acambis PLC, a UK supplier of smallpox vaccines to the United States and other governments' antiterrorist programs, said it stopped testing a smallpox treatment because of heart problems in several patients. ACAM2000 was being tested in an 1,132-patient trial against an older vaccine, Dryvax, and the recruitment of patients was halted after three volunteers developed heart inflammation, Acambis said. The illnesses occurred in both the ACAM2000 and the Dryvax treatment groups. Acambis won a three-year order with partner Baxter International Inc. in 2000 from the US government to supply ACAM2000, which is designed to be safer than the standard Dryvax vaccine made by Wyeth. The company will take two to three months to evaluate patients before consulting with the US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the next steps, an Acambis spokeswoman said. (Bloomberg)

WTO upholds duties on Canadian lumber

The World Trade Organization largely upheld antidumping tariffs that the United States imposed on Canadian softwood lumber, but ruled US authorities miscalculated the amounts. A panel of three trade experts rejected claims by the Canadian government that Washington had acted illegally in investigating whether lumber from Canada was being sold at below the cost of production -- a practice known as dumping. However, two of the panelists ruled that the US calculations were wrong because they used a method called ''zeroing," in which sales at above-market prices are ignored. They said the WTO should order the United States to change its measures to conform with WTO rules. The antidumping duties, ranging from 2.18 percent to 12.44 percent, were imposed in May 2002. Either country has the right to appeal. (AP)

. . .

Etc.

Shares of Viisage Technology Inc. of Billerica jumped $2.55, or 23.8 percent, to $13.25 after the company said a unit of Robert Bosch GmbH in Germany agreed to sell its facial-recognition products. . . . PeopleSoft Inc., which is a takeover target of Oracle Corp., extended a program that offers cash rebates if the acquisition is completed. The program was extended to June 30 or until Oracle drops its bid, PeopleSoft said. . . . Nortel Networks Corp., North America's largest maker of telephone equipment, said the Ontario Securities Commission has opened an investigation into its accounting. The company's October 2003 restatement and March revelation that results may need to be revised again are the subjects of the probe, Nortel said. (Globe wire services)