HaloSource raises $11.5M to expand

Pacific Northwest

Venture capital

HaloSource said Friday it had raised $11.5 million to expand its global water-purification business.

The funding round, led by Indian investment firm Origo and by Unilever Technology Ventures, brings the total raised by the Bothell company to $40 million.

Technology

Major shareholder backs Yahoo board

One of Yahoo's largest shareholders is supporting the re-election of the Internet company's incumbent board, delivering a significant blow to an attempted coup being led by activist investor Carl Icahn.

With Friday's announcement, Legg Mason Capital Management became the biggest major Yahoo shareholder to publicly declare it will vote for the nine current directors — a group that has been under fire since Microsoft withdrew a $47.5 billion takeover bid 2 ½ months ago in a disagreement over price. Voting will take place at the company's annual meeting Aug. 1.

Aerospace

Bush asked to keep tanker contest fair

Congressmen Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., asked President Bush on Friday to resist pressure from three European leaders and ensure that the Pentagon will be evenhanded as it prepares to reopen the competition for a $40 billion Air Force aerial-refueling tanker contract.

A team composed of Northrop Grumman and Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence & Space is vying with Boeing for the contract.

The letter came two days after McClatchy Newspapers reported that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had urged Bush to support the Northrop-EADS bid.

A White House spokesman said Bush told the three that it was a Pentagon matter, not a White House one.

Technology

Microvision stock falls on sale news

The stock of Microvision, a maker of compact, high-resolution displays, sank 18.3 percent after the company said it plans to sell 11.2 million shares.

Microvision stock fell 55 cents to $2.45 Friday.

The Bothell company said it will sell 11.2 million shares and warrants to buy 6.7 million shares for $2.33 each. The anticipated proceeds of $26 million will be used for general corporate purposes, the company said.

Compiled from Seattle Times staff, The Associated Press, McClatchy Newspapers and Bloomberg News