IN BRIEF

BOSTON

IBM to acquire Cognos in $5 billion cash deal

IBM Corp. is making its largest acquisition ever, a deal announced Monday to buy Cognos for $5 billion in cash in hopes of keeping up with rivals in “business intelligence” software.

The acquisition would follow similar moves in the same market this year. SAP AG recently linked up with Business Objects SA for $7 billion and Oracle Corp. grabbed Hyperion Solutions Corp. for $3.3 billion. Cognos shares had soared recently on expectations that it, too, would be acquired. They leaped another 8 percent Monday.

Business-intelligence software helps big organizations gather data in “dashboards” that can be used to model such things as the financial effect of staffing changes or marketing moves.

NEW YORK

Banks choose structure for planned superfund

Bankers from Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. have agreed on how to structure a multibillion-dollar fund to buy distressed debt securities almost a month after they announced plans for it, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The bankers met Friday to work out the details of how the fund will work, said the person, who asked not to be named because the details have not been publicly disclosed. Those details include how much specific participating banks will contribute.

Before the plan takes effect, it must be approved by the banks’ senior corporate officers, tax attorneys and ratings agencies. Meanwhile, some investors and industry watchers say the fund will only help the banks involved.

BERLIN

Oracle will offer ‘virtual machine’

Oracle Corp., the third-largest software company, will offer a product that lets customers run a variety of programs on a single server computer, entering a market dominated by VMware.

Available as a free download on Wednesday, Oracle VM — for “virtual machine” — will run programs from Oracle and other software makers, the company said Monday at the Oracle OpenWorld customer conference in San Francisco.

VMware, with sales of $357.8 million in the third quarter, is the largest maker of so-called virtualization software, which reduces costs for equipment, maintenance and power. VMware shares had tripled since their Aug. 13 initial public offering. Monday they fell 8.41 percent in New York trading.

MELBOURNE, Australia

BHP Billiton projects boons from Rio Tinto

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest miner, unveiled Monday the cost cuts and profits it said it would achieve through its proposed takeover of rival Rio Tinto Ltd.

Rio Tinto last week rejected BHP Billiton’s 3-for-1 share offer calculated to be worth as much as $149 billion.

BHP Billiton’s justification of the deal — which it said would achieve $3.7 billion in savings and earnings — wasn’t accompanied by any increase in the offer. In its statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, it said the deal is the most logical and compelling consolidation opportunity for both companies.

SAN FRANCISCO

Google offering prizes for useful software

Google is offering $10 million in prizes for people who build the best software to enhance the company’s upcoming cell phone operating system.

The Mountain View-based company is developing a free cell phone software package that it says will make it easier to surf the Web over mobile devices. It also will give Google more opportunities to sell ads and services.

The operating system will be based on computer code that can be openly distributed among programmers, which Google hopes will encourage developers to create new software and improvements that could spawn new uses for smart phones.

Judges will pick 50 winners from entries received from Jan. 2 through March 3. In the first phase of the competition, winners will each get $25,000 and be eligible for ten awards of $100,000 and another ten $275,000 awards. The second phase of the competition will feature another $5 million in prize money.

LOS ANGELES

Downgrade would hurt, Countrywide says

Countrywide Financial Corp.’s ability to raise money and increase deposits in its banking subsidiary could be hampered if its credit ratings should be downgraded below investment grade, the mortgage lender said in a regulatory filing.

Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, said further reductions to its credit ratings would severely limit its ability to access public debt markets, according to a quarterly report filed late Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Also, as much as $5.5 billion in deposits at Countrywide Bank could be “subject to placement with another bank” if its ratings were cut further, the company said.

Constellation Brands buys Fortune wine unit

Constellation Brands, the world’s largest winemaker, agreed to buy Fortune Brands’ wine unit for $885 million to add the higher-priced Clos du Bois label and boost its U.S. vineyard holdings by 13 percent.

Constellation also lowered its full-year profit forecast and projected $22 million in costs from the consolidation of winemaking and packaging operations in Australia, where a recent drought hurt production.

The purchase includes five wineries and 1,500 acres of vineyards in California, the companies said in a statement. Constellation, which produces Robert Mondavi wines, gains Clos du Bois, Geyser Peak and Gary Farrell.

U.S. bond markets were closed Monday for Veterans Day.