Merrill Lynch is set to write down a further $6-8 billion in mortgage-related assets when it reports first-quarter earnings on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s also set to announce job cuts of 10 to 15 percent in some struggling business areas such as bond financing. According to the Journal report, Merrill kept loading up on mortgage securities even after it became apparent that they were risky — so that even as the company tried to climb out of a hole, parts of the business were digging even deeper.

Deutsche Bank has sold about $5 billion of loans financing leveraged buyouts to two private equity firms in the United States, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday night. The terms were potentially pretty sweet for the PE firms: the loans went for about 90 cents on the dollar and, like Citibank last week, Deutsche provided financing for the deal.

General Electric plans to invest up to $2 billion in China through acquisitions and other deals in the next three years as part of its plan to double revenues there, the Financial Times said. Out of work bankers may want to brush up on their Six Sigma: The company is seeking to hire a team of 20 in-house investment bankers to conduct the deals.

More deals of the day:
* Australia’s Crown said it has sold its 25.4 percent stake in Monarchy Enterprises Holdings, the owner of Hollywood film studio New Regency Productions, for US$189.4 million.

* Wells Fargo & Co , the fifth-largest U.S. bank, said its unit would acquire the account relationships of Citibank’s customer households in six northern Nevada and two California Sierra Foothills communities.

* SFR, France’s second-largest mobile operator, obtained control of fixed-line rival Neuf Cegetel by increasing its stake to 68.1 percent, to better compete with former state monopoly France Telecom.