Business news in brief

In the Region

Dollar Financial buys Internet lender

Dollar Financial Corp., of Berwyn, said it has paid $46 million for an Internet lender in Finland. The purchase of Risicum, based in Helsinki, is expected to immediately add to earnings for Dollar Financial, which focuses on what it calls the "ALICE" demographic ("asset-limited, income-constrained, employed"). - Harold Brubaker

Safeguard takes stake in lender

The holding company Safeguard Scientifics Inc., of Wayne, said it acquired a 36 percent stake in the Wayne-based investment finance group Penn Mezzanine, and will invest up to $30 million through the group in coming years. One-year-old Penn Mezzanine will provide capital and operational support services to growth-stage businesses, and so-called mezzanine financing to "lower middle-market mid-Atlantic enterprises," Safeguard said in a statement. - Reid Kanaley

Rosetta Genomics in reverse split

Rosetta Genomics Ltd., a diagnostic-test developer based in Israel but with a key lab in Philadelphia, announced a 1-for-4 reverse split of its stock. It did so to raise its stock price to comply with rules for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market for small-cap companies. The combined shares begin trading Thursday. Shares closed at 27 cents, down 2 cents. - Mike Armstrong

Synthes CEO to chair Nobel Biocare

Michel Orsinger, president and chief executive of Synthes Inc., will become chairman of Swiss dental-products manufacturer Nobel Biocare in 2012, Nobel said. Synthes is a global medical-device manufacturer with major operations in Chester County, and Orsinger will continue to hold his Synthes posts. - David Sell

Elsewhere

U.S., Mexico in border trucking pact

U.S. and Mexican officials signed an agreement Wednesday allowing each country's trucks to traverse the other's highways, implementing a key provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement after nearly two decades of bickering. Transportation secretaries Ray LaHood and Dionisio Perez-Jacome signed the three-year memorandum, which is based on an agreement announced in March. - AP

Report: Job cuts rose in June