The European Commission Wednesday cleared consumer-goods giant Unilever PLC to buy Sara Lee Corp.’s personal care unit, but stipulated that the antitrust approval depends on the sale of Sara Lee’s Sanex bath, shower and deodorants brand in Europe. Get the full story »
Phusion to pull caffeine from Four Loko
The Chicago-based manufacturer of popular caffeinated alcohol drink Four Loko said Tuesday it will remove the caffeine from its products, pulling the blend off the market just as the Food and Drug Administration is poised to ban it.
Phusion Projects said in a statement posted on its Web site that the company will remove caffeine and two other ingredients from its products going forward. The announcement came as the FDA is expected to find as early as Wednesday that caffeine is an unsafe food additive to alcoholic drinks. That finding essentially would ban Four Loko and other drinks like it.
GM IPO could raise $22.7B, most ever in U.S.
General Motors Co. Wednesday set the final terms for a landmark initial public offering that could raise up to $22.7 billion after a surge of investor interest in an automaker that had fallen from blue-chip status to government bailout.
At the high end of its price range, the IPO could be the largest ever in the United States — and a major first step toward break-even for a $50 billion U.S. government bailout of the 102-year-old company. GM plans to sell 478 million common shares for $32 to $33 each and $4 billion worth of preferred shares, according to an amended filing with U.S. securities regulators Wednesday. Get the full story »
Nov. 17, 2010 at 5:30 a.m.
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Filed under: The day ahead in business
Reports: Consumer Price Index for October, 7:30 a.m.; Housing starts for October, 7:30 a.m.
Major earnings: BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc., Limited Brands Inc., Target Corp.
Confusion reigns over Ricketts’ Wrigley request
(E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
The day started with the Chicago Cubs touting the support of Chicago area labor officials for its Wrigley Field renovation plan, but by afternoon key lawmakers in Springfield seemed to be splashing mud on the deal amid contradictory statements.
House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) told reporters in Springfield Tuesday afternoon that the team’s owners, the Ricketts family, withdrew its proposal to finance a $200 million stadium renovation with a state bond sale that would be repaid with the anticipated growth in the 12 percent amusement tax levied on tickets sold at Wrigley. Get the full story »
Johnson Publishing HQ sold to Columbia College
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Johnson Publishing Co. has sold its headquarters at 820 S. Michigan Ave. to Columbia College Chicago, though it did not disclose terms of the sale. In a press release, Johnson Publishing said it will continue to occupy the building under an 18-month lease.
Evans, other Fed officials react to bonds criticism
Federal Reserve officials, taken aback by stinging criticism of their decision to print money and buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds, are counterpunching to defend themselves and, in some cases, to reinforce their commitment to the policy.
Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a strong supporter of the Fed’s easing policy, noted in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the weak economy and low inflation warrants the Fed’s policy and that more such purchases might be needed in the months ahead if the economic outlook doesn’t turn.
“I would continue to want to apply accommodative monetary policy until I had some confidence that that situation was changing,” Evans said, noting that $600 billion is a “good place to start” the easing program. Get the full story »
Agar, ‘News Junkie’ out in latest WGN-AM moves
Jerry Agar and Shawn “The News Junkie” Wasson are off the WGN-AM 720 schedule, and former Chicago Bear Glen Kozlowski is back with a weekend revival of the long-running “Sports Central” program.
General Growth to take charge for Hughes spinoff
General Growth Properties Inc., which emerged from bankruptcy last week, said it expects to take a $537 million noncash charge in connection with the spinoff of the Howard Hughes Corp. Get the full story »
Report: Aggressive lending doomed Broadway Bank
Signage gets changed in the window at Broadway Bank at 5960 N. Broadway. The bank was seized by the FDIC on Friday, Apr. 21, 2010. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)
A regulatory autopsy into the April failure of Chicago’s Broadway Bank, which was owned by the family of failed U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias, faulted management for pursuing an aggressive growth strategy in commercial real estate.
A heavy emphasis on such lending was “exacerbated by the bank’s significant emphasis on out-of-territory lending and large borrower relationships,” according to a report released Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Office of Inspector General.
Although not a primary reason for its failure, the FDIC also cited Broadway’s investments in higher-risk collateralized debt obligations. Get the full story »
Experts say Congress may slow green job growth
Republican gains in the next Congress will likely curtail spending on green construction projects, but the sector promises to be a source of job growth for an economy that sorely needs it, advocates say.
“America needs 30 million jobs. Our mission ought to be to make those green jobs,” David Foster, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of nine labor unions and four environmental groups, told the Greenbuild Expo in Chicago. Get the full story »
Nov. 16, 2010 at 4:15 p.m.
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Filed under: Agriculture/Farming, China, International, Stock activity Commodities sink amid concerns about China
Commodity prices are sinking amid concerns about inflation in China and European talks about bailing out Ireland.
Some of the steepest declines came Tuesday in agriculture products and industrial metals. Traders are concerned that demand may diminish because of the developments in other countries.
Packaging giant Reynolds closes Pactiv acquisition
Reynolds Group Holdings Ltd., maker of aluminum foil and other packaging products, announced Tuesday that it has completed its acquisition of rival Pactiv Corp., paying shareholders $4.6 billion.
Citing strong demand, GM steps up Volt production
A model stands next to Chevrolet's new Volt at the Orange County Auto Show on Oct. 7, 2010. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
General Motors is stepping up production of its new Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle to try to meet “huge demand,” a top executive said on Tuesday.
Speaking at an event where the Volt was named Motor Trend magazine’s 2011 Car of the Year, GM product chief Tom Stephens said: “If you look at where we were originally, in terms of what we thought the volume would be, we have stepped it up.”
Stephens declined to give a new production forecast. Most recently, GM, the world’s No. 2 automaker, had said it planned to build 10,000 Volts in 2011 and 45,000 in 2012. Get the full story »
Illinois AG calls for more foreclosure transparency
An abandoned foreclosed house in Highland Park in 2009. (David Trotman-Wilkins/Chicago Tribune)
Mortgage servicers would not be able to put a home into foreclosure until they could detail specifically why all modification efforts failed, under legislation proposed Tuesday by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
The bill, which would amend the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Act, also is intended to prevent the practice of cutting corners and rubber-stamping foreclosure files as accurate as they head toward judgment, a practice that has drawn headlines and spawned an ongoing investigation into lenders’ internal practices by the attorneys general of all 50 states. Get the full story »
