News Summary

Shares of Hughes Communications Inc HUGH dropped about 4.1% after EchoStar Corp SATS announced its plans to buy HUGH for around $2 billion including the assumption of debt. The shareholders of HUGH will receive $60.70 per share, representing a 31% premium to the unaffected share price on January 19, but a 1.7% discount to its closing price of $61.78 on Friday. EchoStar is expecting the deal to close later this year. General Electric Co GE has agreed to purchase the well support division of UK engineering firm John Wood Group PLC for about $2.8 billion in cash. GE is expecting the deal to close later in 2011. GE shares gained about 1% following the news. Shares of Nokia Corp NOK dropped about 4%, extending their sharp drop from the earlier session when Nokia announced a partnership with Microsoft Corp MSFT. JP Morgan analyst Cazenove downgraded Nokia from “overweight” to “underweight.” Read more from Benzinga's Markets.