Groundbreaking held for Sloan School building

The Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology broke ground near Wadsworth Street on a 210,000-square-foot headquarters building that will feature a curved glass atrium facing the Charles River and connecting to two buildings the school occupies. To be named for 1967 graduate William A. Porter, who with his wife, Joan, gave $25 million, the center will consolidate most of the 1,000-plus students and 95 full-time faculty, now spread among nine buildings. The six-story building is being designed by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners of Santa Monica, Calif., and Bruner/Cott Associates of Cambridge. With a three-story, 425-car garage below ground, it replaces the Dibner Building, a 1925 structure The new center is set to open in 2010. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

Fidelity Investments slashed its stake in PetroChina Co. after being pressured to sell shares of companies doing business in Sudan, according to a regulatory filing. Fidelity shed at least 38 percent of the 1.1 billion shares of class H PetroChina stock it held as of December after its US funds sold most of their positions. It's not yet known whether the mutual-fund company's non-US units have also reduced their holdings in China's biggest oil company. (Bloomberg)

State Street Corp. confirmed it and Investors Financial Services Corp. this week gave about 450 employees notice their jobs will be eliminated following State Street's acquisition of the financial-services company. Both Boston companies previously had said the pending merger would cut 1,700 jobs by 2009, from a total combined workforce of about 13,200. State Street spokeswoman Arlene Roberts confirmed a report in yesterday's Boston Herald of the job cuts. She reiterated the company's previous comments about lowering the total number of layoffs through attrition and the creation of jobs. State Street previously forecast it would take charges of up to $675 million for job cuts and other restructuring costs. (Ross Kerber)

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., Massachusetts' oldest independent bank, agreed to acquire Factory Point Bancorp Inc. in a cash and stock transaction valued at about $82 million. With the acquisition of the Manchester Center, Vt.-based institution, Berkshire Hills will have total assets of about $2.6 billion, and serve customers through 38 branches and 10 insurance agency offices in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont, the company said. (Bloomberg)

The bidding for medical-test maker Biosite Inc. appears to have ended with Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. winning, and without Biosite's share price rising as much as shareholders anticipated. Shares of Biosite fell $2.95, or 3.1 percent, to $91.71, below the planned purchase price for the first time since Waltham-based Inverness became a competing bidder in early April. Biosite said Monday that a revised offer from Inverness for a purchase at $92.50 a share, plus an agreement to pay more if the deal takes a while to close, is "superior" to a $90-a-share deal with Beckman Coulter Inc. Beckman said it won't bid higher and expects Biosite to break off the deal and pay a $54 million termination fee. (Dow Jones)

Sepracor Inc. promoted Adrian Adams to chief executive as the company tries to jump-start sales of its Lunesta sleeping pill and expands its marketing to consumers and doctors. Adams, formerly Sepracor's president, takes over immediately from Timothy J. Barberich, a company founder, who was named executive chairman, Marlborough-based Sepracor said. (Bloomberg)

THE NATION

Drexel University agreed to repay students $250,000 and Capella Education Co. reached a settlement after investigations into conflicts of interest in their relationships with loan companies. Drexel had a revenue-sharing arrangement with Education Finance Partners Inc. in exchange for listing the company as its sole "preferred lender," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said. Capella, an online university, cooperated in a probe of a financial aid director who received fees from the Student Loan XPress unit of CIT Group Inc., according to statements by Cuomo and Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson. (Bloomberg)