Belmont man in line to be ambassador to Saudis

Zetcher

President Bush is nominating a Boston-area businessman as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. If confirmed by the Senate, Ford M. Fraker, 58, of Belmont, will succeed James C. Oberwetter. A Harvard University graduate, Fraker is a consultant to Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., a Boston real estate investment and management firm. A firm he established, Fraker & Co. , raised capital for Middle East institutions and investors. He also has served as head of banking for Saudi International Bank. (Robert Gavin)

NASD has fined a Putnam Investments unit $175,000 for violations of noncash compensation rules. The regulator said that between 2001 and 2004 Putnam Retail Management LP, of Boston, paid for meals and ground-transit expenses for brokers' spouses and guests and for entertainment costs such as tickets to Red Sox games. Putnam did not admit to or deny the allegations. Putnam said that in 2004 it " stopped this practice when it learned that such payments were contrary to NASD rules." (Ross Kerber)

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court threw doubt on the legal status of multiple building projects when it ruled the NorthPoint complex in Cambridge is not exempt from certain state environmental regulations governing waterways. The decision reverses a lower court judge who determined that a provision of regulations adopted in 1990 exempted NorthPoint and other projects from state law covering where and how buildings can be developed on and near state harborlands. The provision was also applied to the 22-acre site on the South Boston waterfront being developed by John B. Hynes II and other land in the Back Bay, some of which has already been built on. Jones Lang LaSalle, development managers of NorthPoint, had no comment. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

Arnold Zetcher will retire next year after leading Talbots Inc. for two decades, the Hingham-based apparel retailer said. Zetcher, 66, will step down as chief executive and president at the end of Talbots' current fiscal year Feb. 2, 2008, in accordance with his contract. He will continue serving as chairman through March 2008. No successor has been named. (AP)

An investment firm is the third group to oppose Caremark Rx's proposed $24 billion merger with CVS Corp., advising the pharmacy benefits manager's shareholders to reject the deal when they vote next week. CtW Investment Group had a meeting Feb. 2 with about 46 percent of Caremark's institutional shareholders, its chief executive, and the CEO of Express Scripts Inc., which launched a hostile bid for Caremark. CtW said it had concluded Caremark's board and managers have not tried to get the best deal for shareholders. (AP)

Biotechnology company Diversa Corp. saw its shares hit a 52-week high on news it will acquire Celunol Corp., a private developer of technology to make ethanol from sugarcane waste. Diversa, of San Diego, which develops enzymes and biological compounds, agreed to acquire Cambridge-based Celunol for $154.7 million in stock, plus debt financing. (AP)

Hedge fund manager Kirk S. Wright, accused of cheating clients including National Football League players, was ordered by a US District Court judge in Atlanta to pay $19.9 million in a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC alleged Wright falsified statements about the assets and returns of seven hedge funds managed by his firm International Management Associates LLC. Wright is in an Atlanta detention center awaiting a May criminal trial on mail fraud charges. (Bloomberg)

Light, sweet crude oil for March delivery fell $2.08 to settle at $57.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on moderating US temperatures and expectations there will be a crude surplus in the spring. (AP)