Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
December 21, 2000, Thursday, Home Edition
SECTION: Business; Pg. 2E
LENGTH: 2989 words
HEADLINE:
DAILY BRIEFING
BYLINE: Staff reports and news services
SOURCE: CONSTITUTION
BODY:
> Denotes item of particular local interest.
ADVERTISING:
Initiative Media wins four accounts
> The Atlanta office of Initiative
Media has won four new accounts, including broadcast media buying duties for
Saks Inc. The Saks deal, which involves several department stores, is in
collaboration with WestWayne of Atlanta, which was awarded creative duties on
the account. Initiative has also been tapped to handle broadcast buying for Food
Lion; Randstad, a staffing company; and Kayser-Roth, the seller of No Nonsense
pantyhose. The four deals involve more than $ 80 million in media buys.
Initiative is a unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
DEALS:
Berkshire Hathaway to buy Johns Manville
Omaha, Neb. --- Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy Johns Manville Corp. for $ 2.2 billion in
cash and assumed debt, the billionaire investor's fourth acquisition this year
of a housing or construction company. Berkshire Hathaway will pay $ 13 per
share, 21 percent more than Tuesday's close, for Manville, or $ 1.9 billion in
cash. The No. 2 U.S. maker of construction materials emerged more than a decade
ago from the bankruptcy protection it sought amid a wave of asbestos liability
lawsuits. Buffett has already agreed to spend $ 3.6 billion this year to buy
Dalton- based carpet maker Shaw Industries Inc., paint manufacturer Benjamin
Moore & Co. and brick maker Justin Industries Inc.
First Data to buy
25% of Irish company
> First Data plans to acquire a 25 percent stake in
Fexco, one of Ireland's largest payment services companies. Terms were not
released. International business accounts for about 20 percent of revenue at
First Data, a payment processing company with headquarters in Atlanta.
Machine maker Hardinge to buy Swiss company
Elmira, N.Y. ---
Hardinge Inc., a maker of metal cutting and tooling machines, said it agreed to
buy Switzerland-based HTT Hauser Tripet Tschudin AG for about $ 21.4 million in
cash and $ 9.91 million in assumed debt to add grinding equipment that makes
molds for the plastics industry. The purchase is expected to be completed this
month and will add to Hardinge's earnings in the next year. The transaction
provides for additional payments based on HTT Hauser Tripet Tschudin's financial
results after the acquisition, said Richard L. Simons, Hardinge's chief
financial officer.
Roche angling to rights for hepatitis drug
Roche
Holding AG is in discussions on swapping a stake in ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. for
stock in the ICN unit that controls rights to its blockbuster hepatitis drug,
Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the talks. ICN Chairman
Milan Panic met with Roche officials Wednesday in Basel, Switzerland, and an
announcement may come as early as this week, the insiders said. Roche owns less
than 5 percent of the company. The move comes as ICN prepares to sell shares in
the unit, called Ribapharm, to the public in a restructuring designed to boost
its stock. The transaction would give Roche a stake in the company that owns
rights to the ribavirin hepatitis C drug and potential access to a new version
of ribavirin in early development.
Crowley Maritime to buy Marine
Transport
Crowley Maritime Corp., a provider of marine transportation
services, agreed to buy Marine Transport Corp. for about $ 45.9 million. Crowley
will pay $ 7 a share for Weehawken, N.J.-based Marine Transport, or a 40 percent
premium to Wednesday's closing price. Marine Transport handles chemicals, crude
oil and petroleum products for customers such as the U.S. government, Dow
Chemical Co., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. It had 1999 sales of $ 156.4
million.
ECONOMY: West region leads rise in new home starts
Washington --- U.S. new home starts rose in November, led by a surge in
apartments, condominiums and townhouses that keeps housing construction on track
for its third-best year of the current economic expansion. Starts rose 2.2
percent last month to an annual rate of 1.562 million after a 0.6 percent
October decrease, the Commerce Department said. Starts surged 28.1 percent in
the West. They fell 10.9 percent in the Northeast, 5.2 percent in the South and
1.9 percent in the Midwest. Builders are on pace to start 1.603 million
single-family homes, apartments, condominiums and townhouses this year.
HEALTH CARE: State of New Jersey sues two online pharmacies
The New
Jersey attorney general's office on Wednesday accused two online pharmacies of
illegally selling prescription drugs and, for the first time, identified a
network of doctors and pharmacists from across the country that officials said
authorized the transactions. The state filed civil lawsuits against online
pharmacies Rx Leader and RB Drugstores, accusing them of illegally selling what
the Web sites described as ''embarrassment'' drugs --- Viagra, Xenical and
Propecia, among others.
New federal rules limit access to medical
records
New rules that limit access to medical records will protect
patients' privacy online, while costing hospitals and health insurers almost $
18 billion over 10 years, the Clinton administration said. The regulations make
it a crime in some cases to release medical records without permission of the
patient. They also give patients the right to see their medical records and to
learn who has seen them. The rules took effect Wednesday. They are designed to
stop the release of electronically transmitted patient records to marketing
firms, banks and employers, at a time when it's becoming common for health care
information to be available on the Internet.
Bristol-Myers restarts
blood pressure drug test
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., one of the top U.S.
sellers of heart drugs, said a key study of its experimental Vanlev
high-blood-pressure medicine has been allowed to continue after an independent
board reviewed the safety data. The drug safety monitoring board met in early
December to review reports of side effects from Octave, said Julie Keenan, a
company spokeswoman. Such interim reviews are routine in drug research. In
Vanlev's case, however, earlier severe patient reactions caused concern among
investors.
Also ...
> Simione Central Holdings: The Atlanta home
health care information technology provider will change its ticker symbol
Tuesday to CURA from SCHI.
HOSPITALITY: Opryland Hotel-Texas opening to
be delayed
Grapevine, Texas --- Delays in construction have forced Opryland
Hotel- Texas to bump its planned April 2003 opening back several months and
reschedule a quarter of its pre-booked reservations. Late plans to enlarge and
reconfigure hotel parking lots put a crimp in a January 2001 start on that
construction. ''We're going to start pouring concrete in March,'' said Opryland
spokeswoman Kay Barkin in Grapevine. The hotel has rebooked 10 business groups
that made reservations before August 2003.
LAWSUITS: Two tobacco
companies fighting EU in court
Brussels, Belgium --- Philip Morris Cos. and
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. asked a European court to declare that the
European Commission lacked authority to file a lawsuit in U.S. courts alleging
the company smuggled cigarettes into the European Union. The commission's suit,
seeking unspecified financial damages, was filed Nov. 6 in U.S. District Court
for the Brooklyn area of New York. It accused Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds of
depriving the EU of customs duties in a smuggling operation that began in the
late 1970s. The commission, the EU's executive agency, had no right to file the
suit and usurped the powers of the bloc's 15 national governments in doing so,
Philip Morris said in a statement.
MEDIA: Unions end boycott of Detroit
newspapers
Union leaders ended a 5 1/2-year boycott of Detroit's daily
newspapers Wednesday, three days after workers ratified the last two unresolved
contracts. The circulation and advertising boycotts had continued even after six
unions in 1997 ended their 19-month strike against the Detroit Free Press, The
Detroit News and their joint business and production agency, Detroit Newspapers
Inc. ''It is a tough moment, but we have to move on,'' Teamsters President James
P. Hoffa said. The labor dispute effectively ended Sunday, when Teamsters locals
representing delivery drivers and mailers became the last of the unions to
ratify.
REAL ESTATE: Fort Worth cuts deal to entice Dell Computer
Fort Worth, Texas --- Fort Worth City Council will create a special taxing
district to close a 60-year economic development agreement with Dell Computer
Corp. The 40-year, 2,500-acre tax increment financing district is the linchpin
of the city's aggressive proposal, designed to entice the computer manufacturer
to expand its presence during the next several decades. Dell will invest $ 40
million and employ 1,000 employees at the proposed campus, city officials said.
RETAIL: Body Shop pulls plug on online joint venture
London ---
Cosmetics group Body Shop International is delaying the start of online shopping
and pulling the plug on its new Internet partnership. The company originally
planned to launch its Web retailing service in the United States by Christmas.
It has now pushed back the U.S. launch until the second half of next year. In
May, with a big fanfare, it formed a partnership with Japan's Softbank
Technology to develop the dot-com business, Body Shop Digital. That venture will
end. Most of the operation's staff of 40 in Seattle will lose their jobs as it
is merged with Body Shop's retail and mail- order businesses.
TECHNOLOGY: AOL asks that merger be OK'd by year-end
America
Online urged the Federal Communications Commission to rule on the company's
merger with Time Warner Inc. before year's end so the companies can avoid a
costly paperwork burden. Delay until 2001 could force the companies to file more
than 10,000 partial-year state and local income tax returns, make additional
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, undertake "costly and
duplicative audit and accounting reviews" as well as make "significant
modifications" to internal accounting systems, according to a filing by AOL's
outside counsel, Peter Ross. The FCC is the last regulatory hurdle for the
companies, and FCC Chairman William Kennard has said he hopes to rule by
year-end. The Federal Trade Commission approved the purchase last week after the
companies agreed to let America Online rivals reach customers over Time Warner's
cable television lines.
GE to hold annual meeting in Atlanta next April
> General Electric said Wednesday it will hold its 2001 annual meeting in
Atlanta, after announcing plans last week to move its GE Power Systems
headquarters to the metro area next year. GE will hold its meeting April 25 at
the Atlanta Civic Center at 10 a.m. Shareholders will elect directors and vote
on proposals in GE's proxy statement, to be mailed to shareholders in March. GE
confirmed last week that it is moving the headquarters of its Power Systems
division early next year to Wildwood Office Park in Cobb County, where it now
has about 1,400 workers. Fewer than 100 managers and administrative employees
will be involved in the move from current headquarters in Schenectady, N.Y. The
division is a major supplier of power generation equipment, with sales expected
to top $ 15 billion this year.
Also ...
> Towne Services:
Shareholders of the provider of online services to small businesses and
community banks approved a 1-for-5 reverse stock split. The shares will trade on
a post-split basis today.
TELECOMS: BellSouth experiences isolated
Atlanta outages
> BellSouth on Wednesday reported several outages
affecting phone and high- speed service in the Atlanta area, especially its
digital subscriber lines. The worst problem seemed to be around Midtown, where
about 600 customers lost service for nearly two hours in the morning. Another
incident of cable damage along 10th Street near Peachtree Street was reported
late in the day. At least several hundred customers lost service. Service to at
least some customers was down all day. BellSouth spokesman Bill Carver said the
problems appeared to be isolated.
American Tower buys rights from Alltel
American Tower Corp., the largest independent U.S. owner of broadcast
transmission towers, agreed to buy rights to as many as 2,193 towers from Alltel
Corp. for as much as $ 658 million in cash. American Tower will lease the towers
through a 15-year agreement, Chief Development Officer Jim Eisenstein said.
American Tower will have the option to acquire the rights to 200 additional
towers for as much as $ 300,000 each. American Tower also bought the rights to
build about 500 more towers for Alltel, to suit the needs of the Little
Rock-based seller of telephone service, Eisenstein said. The towers send
information to wireless phones and devices connected to Alltel's network.
Verizon system slowed by wave of junk e-mail
Verizon Communications
said Wednesday its system is back in full operation after being slowed by a wave
of millions of junk messages that delayed e-mail for as many as 200,000 of its
Internet customers on the East Coast. ''Each time it was tens of millions of
messages. Our mail servers could not handle it,'' Verizon spokesman Larry Plumb
said from Arlington, Va. Plumb said the first "spam" attack occurred Nov. 19,
with additional attacks on Nov. 20 and Dec. 5. The company is still
investigating the source of the junk e-mails, Plumb said, although Verizon knows
the Internet service provider from which the messages originated.
TRANSPORTATION: Northwest investigates report of package abuse
Northwest Airlines may punish baggage handlers who were caught on tape
throwing around holiday packages as if they were basketballs. KSTP-TV's tape
showed three workers taking packages off a plane at Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport on Monday and chucking them into a large bin. One handler
picked up a box coming off the plane and lobbed it to a co-worker, who threw it
high and backward into the bin. One worker took a mailbag and attempted a
reverse two-handed overhead shot that missed. The tape also showed larger
packages landing on top of smaller boxes, potentially crushing them. ''We're
going to want to follow up with these employees, find out what they thought they
were doing,'' Northwest spokesman Jon Austin said. ''If disciplinary action is
appropriate then we are going to take that as well.''
Toyota denies
making decision on engine plant
> Toyota Motor Corp., the No. 3 automaker
in the world and No. 4 in the United States, said it has yet to make a decision
on plans to build a new engine plant in the Southeast, denying a newspaper
report that it will proceed with an investment of more than $ 266 million. The
Nikkan Kogyo newspaper in Japan reported that Toyota will build 4.7-liter V-8
gasoline engines at a site in Tennessee, Alabama or Georgia. ''Nothing has been
decided'' regarding the plant, said Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco. Toyota has
said it plans to step up production in North America to increase its share in
the company's most profitable market.
GAO study unfavorable to planned
airline merger
Washington --- The proposed United
Airlines-US Airways merger would likely be detrimental to far more of
America's flying public than it would benefit, a congressional investigation
released Wednesday concluded.
The General Accounting Office study also found
the $ 4.3 billion deal, which would allow United, already the world's largest
carrier, to dwarf by far its next-largest competitor, would touch off other
airline mergers. That has been a major worry of both congressional critics and
federal regulators still considering the proposed pairing. Separately, The Wall
Street Journal reported that state and federal regulators likely will require
more divestitures than United and US Airways already have offered before
approving the deal.
Also ...
Northwest Airlines: The carrier said it
will drop flights between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Osaka, Japan, next summer due
to the slow recovery of the economy in the Kansai region of south-central Japan.
UTILITIES: Scana likely to drop plan for N.C. plant, pipeline
Columbia, S.C. --- Scana Corp. said a $ 355 million plan to build a power
plant and natural gas pipeline for Fayetteville, N.C., may be canceled after the
city withdrew from negotiations over financing issues. The $ 265 million plant
''was proposed as a 60-40 partnership from the beginning,'' said Berry Gibbes,
president of South Carolina Pipeline Corp. ''Unfortunately, the (city of
Fayetteville) took a pessimistic view of the regulatory risk and potential time
delays, which in the end affected their confidence.'' The plant was scheduled to
open in 2004. ''Without the power plant, there's no need to build the
pipeline,'' Scana spokeswoman Cathy Love said. Scana owns electric and natural
gas utilities in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.
Enron unit
agrees to buy Energy USA Retail
TNPC Inc., formed by Enron Corp. to sell
natural gas and power to homes and small businesses, agreed to buy Energy USA
Retail Inc., a unit of NiSource Inc. serving 34,000 retail gas customers in
Indiana and Ohio. Terms weren't disclosed. Most USA Retail's gas customers are
in areas where TNPC, which provides power through its New Power Co. unit, will
begin marketing electricity in 2001, New Power CEO H. Eugene Lockhart said in a
statement carried by PR Newswire.
Also ...
Duke Energy: The
Charlotte-based company will split its shares 2-for-1, payable Jan. 26 to
shareholders of record Jan. 3.
U.S. Department of Energy: Secretary Bill
Richardson extended for a week an order requiring Western generators to sell
electricity to power-strapped California.
--- Staff, Associated Press,
Bloomberg News, Dow Jones News Service
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