The Red Knights' high-profile bid to takeover Manchester United has a significant chance of succeeding, according to Keith Harris, the man fronting the wealthy consortium. Harris, an expect in footballing financial matters and chairman for city bank Seymour Pierce, has put together the Red Knights group of investors, who are all keen on owning a stake in the Premier League champions.

Swiss group Richemont has made a bid approach for the luxury clothes online retailer Net-a-Porter, British newspapers said Sunday. The deal would make the company worth up to 350 million pounds (530 million dollars, 385 million euros), The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph reported. Geneva-based Richemont, which is home to leading brands including Cartier and Alfred Dunhill, already controls a 29 percent stake in Net-a-Porter.

A Kuwaiti court has granted troubled firm Investment Dar, which owns half of luxury British carmaker Aston Martin, legal protection from creditors, the company said on Sunday. The Kuwaiti firm, which has more than three billion dollars of debt, applied to come under the emirate's financial protection law, which was enacted about a year ago to help companies face the global financial crisis.

Global Investment House, a leading Kuwaiti investment firm which is implementing a debt restructuring plan, said on Sunday it posted a loss in 2009 for the second straight year. Global said in a statement on the Kuwait Stock Exchange that it posted a loss of 148. 8 million dinars (516 million dollars) in 2009 compared to a shortfall of 257.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait saw its net profit dive by almost 100 percent last year due to huge provisions made for bad loans, the country's third largest lender said on Sunday. It posted a meagre 0. 5 million dollars in net profit in 2009 compared to 350 million dollars in the previous year, the bank said in a statement.

A California prosecutor filed a civil lawsuit against Toyota Friday accusing the Japanese automaker of intentionally hiding deadly defects from consumers. "We'll be alleging in court on behalf of the people of Orange County that Toyota knowingly sold cars and trucks with defects that caused Toyotas to accelerate suddenly and uncontrollably," Orange Country District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told reporters.

Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday ordered a review of the recent sale of state-run telecoms group NITEL because of controversies surrounding the deal. Last month, New Generation Telecoms Company, a consortium of local and foreign firms, won NITEL with a bid of 2. 5 billion dollars but its technical partners China Unicom denied knowledge of the deal.

Apple fans flocked online Friday to be among the first to order iPad tablet computers slated to begin shipping in the United States on April 3. Apple was offering free shipping on pre-orders but limited buyers to no more than two iPads each in a sign that supplies will be tight when the iconic company's latest creation hits the market.

German engineering giant Bosch said Friday it would re-open a plant in southern India where workers were locked out by management this week to protect machinery during a pay dispute. A unit of Bosch India on the outskirts of the IT hub of Bangalore had been closed since Monday night when the company locked out workers after they "resorted to physical intimidation" of managers.

The British government on Friday announced it had agreed a loan of 270 million pounds (298 million euros, 410 million dollars) for General Motors to help protect jobs in Britain. GM had decided to sell its European arm, which makes Vauxhall cars in Britain, but changed its mind after its own rescue by the US government.