Business briefs, March 27

Published March 27, 2007 at midnight

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NATIONAL

Report: Saudi group bidding $12 billion for GE plastics unit

A Saudi firm is putting together a bid of as much as $12 billion for the plastics division of General Electric, the Financial Times reported Monday.

The newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the Middle East's largest petrochemicals producer, has appointed Citigroup to prepare an offer in advance of the first round of an auction of the division in mid-April.

Russell Wilkerson, a spokesman for General Electric Co., which is based in Fairfield, Conn., would not comment Monday. Citigroup also would not comment.

JUDGE BACKS PLAN Northwest Airlines can begin seeking creditor approval of a plan to exit bankruptcy that values the company at an estimated $7 billion, a judge ruled Monday.

The decision puts the airline in the last stages of bankruptcy before it can emerge from court protection. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in New York said that once Northwest revises its disclosure statement to incorporate agreements reached Monday, the statement could be released to creditors, along with a restructuring plan.

GM MADE OFFER General Motors Corp. offered to buy Chrysler Group in late January, prompting DaimlerChrysler AG to publicly discuss the idea of selling its struggling U.S. arm.

The offer from the world's largest automaker remains on the table, but GM is a long-shot candidate to buy Chrysler, The Detroit News reported Monday, citing people familiar with the situation whom it didn't name. DaimlerChrysler initially rejected the offer for being too low.

TIME CLOSING 'LIFE' Time Inc. said it will close Life magazine, which has been published as a weekly newspaper supplement since 2004, but it will keep developing the brand on the Web. Time cited a decline in the newspaper sector and a weak outlook for advertising growth in the category.

"We will now be concentrating on migrating this iconic brand in many innovative ways on multiple digital platforms," Time CEO Ann Moore said in a statement.

WARNER BOOKS RENAMED Warner Books, home to such best sellers as Jon Stewart, David Baldacci and James Patterson, has been renamed Grand Central Publishing a year after being purchased by the French company Hachette Livre, a deal that required Warner to change its name.

Next month, Warner will move from the Time-Life Building in Rockefeller Center to offices by Grand Central Terminal.

KROENKE: NO ON ARSENAL Sports mogul Stan Kroenke is not interested at this point in buying into the London soccer club Arsenal, according to a Denver-based Kroenke Sports company spokesman.

"We're not pursuing anything like that at this time," said Jurgen Mainka, spokesman for Kroenke's Colorado Rapids, which recently announced a marketing alliance with Arsenal.

CITIGROUP MAY CUT JOBS Citigroup Inc. expects to have completed its corporate cost review by mid-April, company officials said Monday, as published reports suggested the nation's largest bank was considering cutting about 15,000 jobs.

The Wall Street Journal said the job cuts - which would amount to about 5 percent of Citigroup's worldwide work force - were part of the New York-based bank's restructuring plan, which was disclosed late last year and is aimed at improving the bank's financial performance.

MALPRACTICE DATABASE HealthGrades, a Golden-based health care ratings company, created a database that includes all public physician malpractice records for 15 states.

The data, available at Healthgrades.com, includes the amount of payment and whether the outcome was a settlement or arbitration award.

Colorado isn't included because it's one of the 35 states that doesn't report malpractice data, HealthGrades said.

CHOLESTEROL DRUG DEAL Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp., partners looking to grab more of the $32 billion global cholesterol-drug market, will jointly develop a new medicine combining their Zetia with rival Pfizer Inc.'s blockbuster Lipitor.

The planned drug, meant to reduce bad cholesterol levels in two ways, could hit the market when Lipitor's patent expires in a few years, Merck and Schering- Plough said Monday. Information on when human testing would begin was not disclosed.

LOCAL

Mercy Housing signs deal to redevelop Marycrest campus

Mercy Housing has signed an agreement with the Sisters of St. Francis, Sacred Heart Province,to redevelop 21 of the 26 acres of the order's Marycrest campus at 2851 W. 52nd Ave.

Preliminary plans call for improving existing structures including reuse of the convent, affordable senior housing and multifamily housing, for-sale town homes, neighborhood commercial space, and housing and offices for the Sisters of St. Francis.

Marycrest Assisted Living for seniors and younger adults with disabilities and the King Adult Day Enrichment Program will continue to operate on the campus.

N.M. RANCH FOR SALE Orvis/ Cushman & Wakefield Ranch and Recreational Properties LLC, a joint venture between the Orvis Co. and Cushman & Wakefield, is listing the 250,000-acre Bell Ranch in northern New Mexico for $115 million for the Chicago-based Lane family. It is the largest ranch - both in dollars and acres - on the market outside Texas, broker Rye Austin said.

In 2005, the company listed the 312,170-acre Overland Trail Cattle Ranch for Denver financier Phil Anschutz. "He pulled it off the market," Austin said.

HOWARD JOINS WILDBLUE WildBlue Communications, a provider of high-speed Internet to rural areas, said former Liberty Media executive Gary Howard joined its board of directors.

Howard is a retired executive vice president and chief operating officer of John Malone's Liberty Media, and he serves on EchoStar's board of directors. Liberty is one of WildBlue's investors.

FUEL CELL COMPANY SOLD Broomfield-based fuel cell company Mesoscopic Devices will be acquired by Protonex Technology Corp. for $12.4 million, of which $3.2 million is payable in cash and the rest in new Protonex shares.

Established in 1998, Mesoscopic Devices is a developer of portable fuel cell technology for government, military and commercial customers including the Army, Navy and NASA.

ECONOMY

Sales of new homes fall 3.9% in February

Sales of new homes fell sharply for a second consecutive month in February, a weaker- than-expected performance that dimmed hopes for a rebound in the troubled housing market.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new single-family homes fell by 3.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 848,000, the slowest sales pace in nearly seven years. All regions of the country except the West experienced weakness last month.

The February decline followed an even larger 15.8 percent drop in sales in January, which had been the largest one-month plunge in 13 years. The back-to-back declines provided evidence that the housing market is continuing to struggle with lagging demand and a glut of unsold homes.

The weakness in sales pushed the median price of a new home down to $250,000 in February, a drop of 0.3 percent from a year ago.

It marked the second straight month that the median price fell compared with the same period a year ago. The median is the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less.

THIS JUST IN

• The Colorado American Marketing Association is accepting nominations for its 19th annual PEAK Awards, which will recognize outstanding marketing campaigns in 12 categories. The deadline for submission is April 13. For complete rules, go to coloradoama.com.

• JohnstonWells Public Relations has added Derek Grant to its client services team.

• The Visiting Nurse Association, a provider of hospice, home care and wellness services throughout Colorado, has named Mary "Kitty" Gordon as the clinical operations division manager.

• Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb will present a free program and sign copies of his recently released autobiography, Wellington Webb: The Man, the Mayor, and the Making of Modern Denver, at 7 p.m. today at the Colorado History Museum.

• Rose Family Medicine Center and Residency Administrative Offices has moved to Rose Medical Center Campus at 4545 E. Ninth Ave.

• Exempla Healthcare nurses will be honored with the -Daisy Award for their outstanding efforts on Thursday at St. Joseph Hospital. The nurses are Mechele Fillman, Bernie Pomarico and Deb Stevenson.

• CSIA, Colorado's technology association, will hold its annual CIO and Global Trends panel from 7:30 to 10 a.m. Thursday at the Denver Metro Chamber building. The event is open to the public, and tickets can be purchased at csiaonline.com.

• E3 Consulting has added Frank Kirby as executive director; Vanessa Cameron as senior director of regulatory affairs; and Ginger Grubbs and Andy Hixson as consultants.

• Emily Curray, an immigration lawyer and partner at Stern Elkind & Curray, has been named vice president to the Colorado chapter of the International Network of Boutique Law Firms.

• Mark Burr, owner of Reel Creative Productions, and independent scriptwriter/producer Esty Atlas have won the 2007 Telly Award for their 30-minute video biography on the life of Ronald L. Moore. The film is on permanent display at the University of Denver's Ritchie Center.

• Kaiser Permanente has named Robin Sadler as vice president of human resources.

Rocky staff and wire reports

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