INVESTMENTS

Bain Capital raises $3.1 billion debt fund

Bain Capital has raised a $3.1 billion debt fund to focus on distressed companies and loans around the world. The new Distressed and Special Situations Fund is part of the Boston-based investment firm’s $30 billion debt arm, formerly called Sankaty Advisors. The fund has already started investing, according to two people familiar with the fund. For instance, last fall, it acquired General Electric Co.’s Australian finance business. The fund will seek to produce returns of 15 to 20 percent, according to the people who described it. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the fund’s details are not yet public. With the new fund, Bain plans to invest in an array of industries that are in distress, including oil and gas. It also will invest in companies in bankruptcy or close it, with a goal of boosting their value. Bain was seeking to gather about $3.5 billion for the fund. Including investments from the firm’s employees and coinvestors, Bain hit its target. Separately, Bain officially filed on Friday to create its Double Impact Fund, the socially responsible portfolio former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick joined the buyout firm more than a year ago to launch. The firm is raising money for the fund, but Bain’s filing did not say how large the fund would be. — BETH HEALY

AVIATION

More Southwest unions demand ouster of CEO and COO

Southwest Airlines Co. baggage handlers and airport ground-operations workers have joined other labor groups in calling for the ouster of chief executive Gary Kelly over flight disruptions and what they call the misguided use of cash. Leaders of Transport Workers Union Local 555 approved a resolution calling for the replacement of Kelly and chief operating officer Mike Van de Ven, president Greg Puriski said in an interview Wednesday. Labor groups representing Southwest’s flight attendants, pilots, and mechanics this week also have called for the two executives to step aside. The unions criticized Kelly for spending billions of dollars on stock buybacks instead of plowing the money into updates of the airline’s aging computer system and for focusing too much on cost controls. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

INTERNET

Comcast wants to offer cheaper plans by trading discounts for personal data

In some parts of the country, Internet providers such as AT&T offer a special deal on broadband prices. The plans lower your monthly payments, but there’s a catch: To qualify for them, you have to agree to let the carrier track your Web history, search activity, and other valuable behavioral data that can be used for advertising purposes. Now, Comcast is telling regulators it wants the flexibility to offer these types of plans, too. In a meeting with the Federal Communications Commission on Monday, officials from the cable company argued that it and other Internet providers shouldn’t be prohibited from trading discounts for data. — WASHINGTON POST

CURRENCY

Bitcoin exchange hacked

The digital currency Bitcoin plunged Wednesday after Bitfinex, an exchange based in Hong Kong, said it had been hacked and funds stolen. The exchange said it had halted trading, deposits, and withdrawals while it investigated which users had been affected. Bitcoin’s trading value fell about 20 percent early Wednesday, local time in Hong Kong, but had recovered about half the loss by afternoon. Zane Tackett, Bitfinex’s director of community and product development, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But he said in a posting on Reddit that 119,756 Bitcoins had been stolen. Before the hacking was made public, that number of Bitcoins would have been worth about $72 million. Now that the currency has slumped, the figure is closer to $65 million. The exchange, one of the world’s largest, said in a blog post that any outstanding settlements would be made at the price before the hacking. — NEW YORK TIMES

INSURANCE

MetLife profit tumbles on prospects of variable-annuity business

MetLife Inc., the largest US life insurer, said second-quarter profit tumbled 90 percent on a review of the prospects of a variable-annuity business that chief executive Steve Kandarian is seeking to exit. The stock declined in extended trading. Net income dropped to $110 million from $1.12 billion a year earlier, the New York-based company said Wednesday in a statement. Operating profit, which excludes some investment results, was 83 cents a share, missing the $1.35 average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Kandarian, whose term was extended in June, is looking to retreat from a US retail business that sells individual life insurance and variable annuities, a capital-intensive operation that wasn’t generating the cash flow he desired. He sold a network of about 4,000 advisers to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. in July. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

OFFICE SUPPLIES

Office Depot struggles in wake of failed merger with Staples

A sizeable payout following a failed merger with its rival, Staples, pushed Office Depot to a second-quarter profit, but the office supply retailer still fell short of most expectations and revenue slid 6 percent. The company expects sales to continue falling as it closes stores. Office Depot plans to close an additional 300 stores over the next three years. It’s already closed 400 as the office supply industry reels from changing technology in the workplace, and online competition from places like Amazon.com. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

ECONOMY

179,000 jobs added in July

US companies added 179,000 jobs in July, according to a private survey, a steady gain suggesting that hiring remains healthy after a sharp fall-off in the spring. Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that last month’s job growth was driven by services companies — ranging from retailers to shipping firms — which added 185,000 positions. Construction companies, by contrast, cut jobs. And manufacturers added a meager 4,000 positions. The report showed that many businesses are still hiring even as economic growth has remained sluggish. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEVERAGES

Bottled water surpasses soda in popularity

Bottled water will be more popular than soda for the first time in the United States this year, thanks to its convenience — and fears over what’s coming out of the tap. The biggest US bottled-water companies — Nestle Waters, Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., and Dr Pepper Snapple Group — say Americans have switched from carbonated beverages because their products are calorie-free and as portable as a can of Mountain Dew. But the expectation that future sales will rise has to do with another, less happy reason: crumbling infrastructure. Attention is focused on America’s decaying pipes after lead contamination in Flint, Mich.; Washington, D.C.; and Newark. At least $384 billion of improvements are needed to maintain and replace essential parts of the country’s water infrastructure through 2030, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental watchdog, estimates that about $1.4 billion is being spent annually, meaning the country should be all caught up by the year 2290. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

PENSIONS

New Jersey pension fund cuts allocation to hedge funds

The New Jersey Investment Council voted to cut its target allocation to hedge fund managers by 52 percent, following similar moves by pensions in California and New York. The New Jersey council on Wednesday unanimously approved a fiscal 2017 plan that calls for reducing its hedge fund exposure to 6 percent from 12.5 percent amid pressure from labor unions to reduce fees to the investment managers. New Jersey had $9.1 billion committed to investments in hedge funds as of May 31, according to investment reports. The decision comes after New York City’s pension for civil employees voted in April to exit its $1.5 billion portfolio of hedge funds, and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System divested its $4 billion portfolio in 2014. — BLOOMBERG NEWS