J W Childs Equity Partners Ii

American Safety Razor Co., the maker of Burma-Shave shaving cream, agreed to be bought by J.W. Childs Equity Partners II, a closely held investment company, for $173 million in cash. Verona, Va.-based American Safety Razor, whose founders invented the safety razor in 1875, said Boston-based J.W. Childs agreed to pay $14.13 a share for all of its outstanding common stock. That's a 43% premium to American Safety's Friday closing price of $9.88 on Nasdaq.

Merrill Lynch & Co.'s buyout unit and J.W. Childs Associates have agreed to acquire an Irvine marketing company from Allied Capital Corp. for $1.05 billion. New York-based Merrill Lynch and Boston-based J.W. Childs will acquire a majority stake in Advantage Sales & Marketing, the companies said. Advantage has 1,200 clients, including Unilever and Del Monte Foods Co.

Merrill Lynch & Co.'s buyout unit and J.W. Childs Associates have agreed to acquire an Irvine marketing company from Allied Capital Corp. for $1.05 billion. New York-based Merrill Lynch and Boston-based J.W. Childs will acquire a majority stake in Advantage Sales & Marketing, the companies said. Advantage has 1,200 clients, including Unilever and Del Monte Foods Co.

American Safety Razor Co., the maker of Burma-Shave shaving cream, agreed to be bought by J.W. Childs Equity Partners II, a closely held investment company, for $173 million in cash. Verona, Va.-based American Safety Razor, whose founders invented the safety razor in 1875, said Boston-based J.W. Childs agreed to pay $14.13 a share for all of its outstanding common stock. That's a 43% premium to American Safety's Friday closing price of $9.88 on Nasdaq.

Monsanto Co. is selling its sweetener-ingredient business, which includes a NutraSweet brand name, to a Boston-based investment firm for $440 million. St. Louis-based Monsanto said it signed an agreement to sell the unit to J.W. Childs Equity Partners II. It said Childs has agreed to retain all employees in the sweetener-ingredient unit. Monsanto also announced the sale of its interests in two European joint ventures, NutraSweet and Euro-Aspartame.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved for general consumption a new artificial sweetener that it said was about 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar and will carry no health warning on its label. The sweetener, neotame, will become the most concentrated and intensely sweet sugar substitute on the market.