Summit launches $1.56b European buyout fund

Summit Partners, a Boston venture capital and private equity firm, has raised a $1.56 billion European buyout fund. Summit said the private equity fund will be its first dedicated exclusively to investing in midsize and growth companies across the Atlantic. Summit, which has offices in London and Palo Alto, Calif., has also raised an $825 million subordinated debt fund, its fourth, boosting the amount of capital it can invest in deals. Combined with Summit's existing funds, the two new funds bring the firm's total capital available for investment to nearly $6 billion. (Robert Weisman)

Covidien Ltd., the medical instruments maker spun off from Tyco International Ltd. last year, was sued by the family of a Missouri man who died after an adverse reaction to contaminated heparin. Covidien, formerly known as Tyco Healthcare, waited too long to announce a recall of syringes prefilled with the blood thinner amid a contamination scare, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Boston by the family of Freddie James Williams Sr. Covidien recalled the syringes on March 28, the same day Williams died. (Bloomberg)

Quest Diagnostics Inc., the largest US provider of medical tests, based in Madison, N.J., agreed to pay $688,772 in back wages for overtime worked by 238 US employees, the Labor Department said. The department found that Quest employees working as client systems analysts and senior client systems analysts were misclassified as exempt from overtime requirements, according to a Labor Department statement. The investigation began in the company's Cambridge location, according to the statement. The same misclassification was found at other Quest locations nationwide, the department said. (Bloomberg)

Following competitors' efforts to offset rising fuel costs, American Airlines Inc. said it will start charging most passengers a fee to check in a second bag. Passengers on American and American Eagle who purchase discounted economy-class tickets on or after May 12 for travel within the United States, US territories, or Canada will have to pay $25 for the second piece of checked luggage. The policy does not apply to frequent fliers who have earned the gold, platinum, or executive platinum status in American's AAdvantage program or to passengers who pay for a full-fare economy class ticket. American estimates 4 percent of its domestic customers will have to pay this fee. Last week, discount carrier JetBlue Airways Corp. said it would charge a $20 fee for the second checked bag. (Nicole C. Wong)

A Merck & Co. experimental drug has been rejected by the Food and Drug Administration. Merck said the FDA issued a "not approvable" letter, saying it needed more information on Cordaptive, a cholesterol drug Merck had long touted as a key addition to its lucrative cholesterol franchise, which has been under fire this year. Despite the setback, the Whitehouse Station, N.J., pharmaceutical company reaffirmed its 2008 profit forecast of $3.28 to $3.38 per share. The cholesterol drug can both lower LDL, or bad cholesterol, and raise HDL, or good cholesterol, according to Merck. (AP)

Warner Bros. is launching two websites to capture new ad revenue and a younger generation of viewers, the company said. KidsWB.com, geared for children, debuted yesterday, featuring animated characters from the Warner Bros. library, which includes Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, and DC Comics heroes like Batman. TheWB.com - with full episodes of shows such as "Friends" and "Smallville" and made-for-online shows - is to launch in a beta test format next month, according to Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Television Group. (AP)

Medtronic Inc. and the Food and Drug Administration agreed on a court-supervised plan to ensure the quality of defibrillators made at the company's Physio-Control division. The agreement, filed late last week with a US District Court in Washington, outlines actions that Physio-Control must take to resume distribution of the devices without restriction, Medtronic said in a statement. Medtronic, based in Minneapolis, had delayed spinning off the subsidiary as an independent company because of quality-control flaws in its manufacturing processes, cited by the FDA and disclosed in January 2007. (Bloomberg)