Crown Zellerbach said its board of directors...

Crown Zellerbach said its board of directors met and received the report of its special committee recommending that the board authorize continued negotiations with James River Corp. regarding the possible sale of assets . . . Imperial Bancorp has retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. as financial adviser in connection with the possible sale of its Insurance Premium Finance division . . . Procter & Gamble formally took over Richardson-Vicks, the cold remedies company, as a wholly owned subsidiary . . . Caterpillar Tractor said it has a contract to sell 200 tractors and 39 pipe layers to the Soviet Union for about $80 million . . . New York Times Co. said advertising rates in the New York Times will be increased by an average of 8.5% as of Jan. 1 . . . International Paper said it will realize an after-tax profit of about $41 million in the fourth quarter from its secondary offering of 4.8 million Class A depositary units of IP Timberlands Ltd.