In the Region
Prime Retail gets $700,000 in sale to pay down debt
Prime Retail Inc. said yesterday that it had sold a 205,000-square-foot shopping center in Knoxville, Tenn., for $9.5 million and that it plans to use net proceeds to make a critical payment next month on a high-interest loan.
The Baltimore real estate investment trust sold the Shops at Western Plaza, one of Prime's two strip centers, to WP General Partnership. The deal brought Prime $700,000 after it repaid a $2.5 million mortgage on the property. Prime, one of the nation's largest outlet shopping center owners, has said it needs to sell properties to pay down its debt of about $822 million.
Prime, which owns or manages 43 outlet shopping centers, including three in Maryland, must make a $15.5 million principal payment by July 15, but the deadline can be extended to Oct. 15. The company said it must sell additional assets to make the payment.
Local thrift shortens name to Bradford Bank
Bradford Federal Savings Bank is changing its name to Bradford Bank to reflect its growth into a full-service bank.
Originally a savings and loan association, the Baltimore bank has added consumer products and a commercial banking division since its founding in 1903.
The bank has $300 million in assets and four branches, two in Baltimore and one each in Ellicott City and Phoenix.
Elsewhere
Dynegy CFO quits as energy trader sets 340 job cuts
Dynegy Inc.'s chief financial officer stepped down yesterday, less than a month after the chief executive quit as the company's stock price plummeted amid questions surrounding energy trades
Robert D. Doty Jr. resigned as executive vice president and chief financial officer. The company appointed its president of energy marketing, Louis J. Dorey, to replace him. Dynegy said the move will allow it to improve its financial position, strengthen its balance sheet and improve its credit profile.
Dynegy said it would cut 340 jobs, or about 6 percent of its work force as the U.S. energy trader and power producer sought to reduce costs and debt. The company will eliminate 300 jobs in Houston, where it is based, and expects the reductions to save $35 million a year.
British regulators approve merger of two cruise lines
A planned merger that would reshape the cruise ship industry moved a step closer to completion yesterday when British regulators approved the union of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and its smaller rival P&O; Princess Cruises PLC.
The Competition Commission said the merger was not likely to restrict growth or competition within the industry or reduce the diversity of cruises available to British consumers.
Britain is the second country after Germany to approve the deal, which was put on hold in February after a hostile bid for Princess by Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise operator, sparked a revolt among Princess shareholders.
Probe of Schering-Plough by U.S. authorities reported
Federal authorities reportedly are investigating whether drug maker Schering-Plough Corp. used cheaper, imported ingredients that are not approved for use in the United States.
Quoting sources close to the investigation, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., reported yesterday that officials have begun a criminal investigation into the matter.
Robert Consalvo, a spokesman for Schering-Plough, said the company had "no knowledge of any such criminal investigation."
BP to pay $45 million to settle Calif. complaints
Oil giant BP PLC agreed yesterday to pay $45.8 million to settle safety complaints involving underground gasoline tanks at 59 Arco service stations in California.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer had accused the company of falsely certifying that the tanks had been made leak-proof.
Arco will pay $25 million in penalties and costs and $20.8 million for improvements in what Lockyer said was the nation's largest cash penalty in a case involving enforcement of tank regulations.
Pa. power company to cut 598 jobs, 7% of work force
PPL Corp., of Allentown, Pa., will eliminate nearly 600 jobs, 7 percent of its work force, as part of the power company's effort to improve productivity, its top executive said yesterday.
The initiative is expected to reduce the utility's operations and maintenance costs by about $50 million a year, said William F. Hecht, PPL's chairman, president and chief executive officer.
Employees were told yesterday about the planned elimination of 285 management positions and 313 union-represented jobs. Linemen, electricians and other employees directly involved in providing electrical service are not affected by the reductions.
Fujitsu, Toshiba to form computer-chip alliance
Fujitsu and Toshiba Corp. are forming an alliance to create sophisticated computer chips, the latest partnership among struggling Japanese electronics rivals looking for ways to cut costs and speed development amid tough competition from the United States and the rest of Asia.
The agreement announced yesterday calls for both sides to share costs and bring together design teams. It aims to make a new kind of chip that better integrates software with circuitry.
Demand for such chips is expected to grow as mobile homes, digital TVs and other gadgets connect to the Internet.
Starbucks to buy back up to $244 million in stock
Starbucks Corp., the largest U.S. specialty-coffee chain, said yesterday that it would buy back up to $244.4 million in stock to boost shareholder value.
The company said it would buy up to 10 million shares. Starbucks has repurchased 3.5 million shares for $51.6 million as part of a plan announced in September.
The coffee seller will pay for the purchases with cash and other short-term investments. The purchases will offset dilution from stock-based employee compensation plans.
Ex-mortgage sales executive is accused of fraud in N.J.
The national sales manager of Walsh Securities Inc., a defunct wholesale mortgage lender, was indicted in Newark, N.J. on federal charges of approving fraudulent loans to inflate the company's value.
Betty Ann Demola was accused of accepting kickbacks to process fraudulent applications, telling employees to approve mortgages without appraisals and pressuring appraisers to inflate property valuations in 1996 and 1997.
She is the most senior official of the company in Parsippany, N.J. to be charged in the investigation, which has resulted in 16 convictions.
The indictment alleges that Demola tried to boost Walsh's loan portfolio to induce a 1997 merger with Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group Inc. Had the union been completed, Demola would have received Resource shares, and a substantial salary, bonuses and commissions, prosecutors said.
AES power company seeks to raise $1 billion
The new president and chief executive of AES Corp., of Arlington, Va., said yesterday that the power conglomerate plans to raise $1 billion to improve its cash structure, possibly by selling some of its troubled plants in South America.
In a conference call with analysts, Paul T. Hanrahan said the company's plans to increase liquidity by $1 billion by the end of 2003 could come through a combination of asset and equity sales.
The moves will be in addition to its plans to sell Cilcorp, an Illinois utility, and a minority interest in Ipalco in Indiana.
AES, with about 180 power plants on six continents, has struggled recently along with other power companies. Its stock price has dropped 90 percent in the past year.
This column was compiled from reports by Sun staff writers, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News.