HEAVY INDUSTRY

Union Carbide Spinning Off Gas Unit: Union Carbide Corp. announced plans to sell $500 million in assets and distribute stock in its industrial gas subsidiary to stockholders in a restructuring that would lighten its debt load. The nation’s third-largest chemical producer--thrust into the international spotlight by the 1984 gas leak in Bhopal, India, that killed thousands--said the plan would reduce debt and give the industrial gas company a chance to thrive on its own. Danbury, Ct.-based Union Carbide said it will record a one-time charge of $80 million to $100 million in the fourth quarter to pay for already announced cost cutting.