General Electric Co.'s finance unit agreed to buy National Mutual Life Assurance Society of Great Britain for almost $810 million as it tries to build a retirement-savings business in Europe's second-largest market.

        GE Capital Corp. is acquiring National Mutual after failing to purchase at least two other British insurers — Scottish Life Assurance Co. and the assets of Equitable Life Assurance Society — over the past 12 months. National Mutual probably will be the first in a series of acquisitions, said Clive Cowdery, who helps run GE Capital's insurance business in Europe.

        National Mutual will help GE Capital win more customers aged 50 or more by selling them annuities, fixed-income products and pensions through brokers, Mr. Cowdery said.
       

Midway exits arcades

        Midway Games Inc., which made Pac-Man, Spy Hunter and Gauntlet arcade games in the 1980s, will cut its work force by fewer than 60 employees and exit the coin-operated arcade video-game business.

        Midway Games is focusing on making home video games for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox and Nintendo Co.'s GameCube and Game Boy. Midway Games expects a pretax charge of less than $8 million in the fiscal fourth quarter ending June 30, said spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald.
       

Secondary sales strong

        Twelve public companies, representing industries from transportation to pharmaceuticals, sold shares Thursday night, the most in a single day since November 1997.

        The sales showed that for companies not in computer-related fields at least, investor demand for corporate shares is strong. The companies raised $1.16 billion and increased the number of so-called secondary stock sales to 21 for the week.

        Mediacom Communications Corp., the largest U.S. cable television company serving rural areas, led the sales with a $396 million offering.
       

Priceline founder divests

        Jay Walker no longer owns any Priceline.com Inc. shares of his own.

        The startup entrepreneur, who founded the “name-your-own-price” Internet retailer of airline tickets and hotel rooms, began selling company shares by the millions last August when technology stocks were in a dive, taking Priceline.com with it. In what may be the quickest divestiture ever, Mr. Walker reduced his 64 million shares to the 14.9 million shares he now holds indirectly.
       

DOT seeks fine in blast

        The Transportation Department is seeking a $2.5 million fine against El Paso Energy Pipeline for safety violations that caused an explosion in August near Carlsbad, N.M., killing a dozen people.

        The Office of Pipeline Safety investigation found that El Paso failed to take precautions that could have prevented the blast.
       

Cranberry cutback OK'd

        Cranberry growers will be allowed to sell a third less fruit than normal this year in a government effort to prop up prices.

        The Agriculture Department on Friday ordered a sales limit of 4.6 million barrels, or 65 percent of normal, to alleviate a glut of the fruit. The industry's Cranberry Marketing Committee, which advises the department, had recommended a limit of 4.7 million barrels.
       

Controllers' suit blocked

        About 3,600 air traffic controllers fired by President Reagan for an illegal strike 20 years ago cannot pursue a group lawsuit charging that the federal government dragged its feet on rehiring, a federal judge ruled.

        Strikers still seeking jobs with the Federal Aviation Administration must take their claims first to federal agencies under a law passed by Congress last year, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks decided this week.

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