PNC Bank, the No. 4 deposit gatherer in the Chicago area, has struck up a relationship with Saint Xavier University. It’s the second college deal that the Pittsburgh-based lender has done in the Chicago area in 13 months. Get the full story »
Walgreen to sell pharmacy benefits business
A Walgreens on Michigan Avenue. (Bonnie Trafelet/Chicago Tribune)
Walgreen Co. said Wednesday it will sell its pharmacy benefit management business, which increasingly has conflicted with the drugstore giant’s push to get consumers to fill their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter.
The Deerfield-based company will sell Walgreens Health Initiatives for $525 million in cash to Catalyst Health Solutions Inc. of Rockville, Md. The deal is expected to close in June. Get the full story »
Madoff trustee to distribute $2.6B to victims
The court-appointed trustee charged with recovering assets stolen by Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff is ready to distribute $2.6 billion worth of recovered funds to the victims. This will be the first time that Madoff’s victims will receive recovered funds. Get the full story »
Navistar reports 1Q loss on weaker sales
Navistar International Corp. reported a fiscal-first-quarter loss as results weakened at each of the commercial-truck maker’s main manufacturing segments. Still, Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel C. Ustian said encouraging industry trends should push full-year earnings to the high end of its previously projected guidance of $5 to $6 a share. Get the full story »
Toyota aims to be first to sell 10M vehicles
Toyota Motor Corp. is aiming for an auto industry first by reaching annual sales of 10 million vehicles by 2015 even as it acknowledges that overly rapid growth was at the root of its recall fiasco. Get the full story »
SEC workers viewing porn at work disciplined
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has counseled or disciplined 24 employees who accessed pornographic sites on government computers between 2005 and 2010 as the financial system teetered and almost collapsed.
In a letter dated March 3, the SEC responded to a Freedom of Information Act request by Denver attorney Kevin D. Evans listing the offices of the employees. They were in Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, Texas. Get the full story »
Testimony: Tribune Co. settlement talks ‘painful’
WILMINGTON, Del. — Confirmation hearings in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case got under way Tuesday with a full day of testimony about the company’s tortured on-again-off-again effort to forge a settlement among its warring creditors.
Investment banker David Kurtz of Lazard Ltd., who spearheaded negotiations on behalf of Chicago-based Tribune Co. for two years, described a “painful and difficult” process paralyzed by the obstructionist behavior among the creditors.
He said efforts to broker a deal among creditors sparring over legal claims related to Tribune Co.’s 2007 leverage buyout were repeatedly undone by the aggressive tactics of hedge funds on all sides of the case who bought the company’s distressed debt hoping to profit from a restructuring. Get the full story »
Wheeling firm sells laundry business to U.K. buyer
A Wheeling-based company that provides laundry services to area hospitals has been sold by its private-equity owner to a strategic buyer based in the United Kingdom.
New York-based Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC said Tuesday it has sold Wheeling-based Healthcare Laundry Systems, whose clients include Swedish Covenant Hospital, NorthShore University HealthSystem and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, to Crothall Services Group. Get the full story »
Suburban Chicago man pleads guilty to $18M fraud
A suburban Chicago businessman has pleaded guilty to stealing $18 million of public money set aside for minority businesses.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Tuesday that 58-year-old Ronald Blum of New Lenox pleaded guilty to two counts of minority business fraud. Blum owns the Markham-based Castle Construction Corp. Get the full story »
Leasing giant orders 133 jets from Boeing, Airbus
International Lease Finance Corp, the world’s biggest plane leasing company, said it will order 100 narrowbody planes from EADS unit Airbus and 33 narrowbodies from Boeing Co., and scrap an order for 10 Airbus A380 super jumbo aircraft.
The orders from the aircraft leasing unit of insurer American International Group Inc. are potentially worth $11.2 billion at average list prices. The canceled A380 order, which had been in jeopardy for some time, was potentially worth $3.75 billion. Get the full story »
Private equity firm Wynnchurch raises $600 million
Rosemont-based private equity firm Wynnchurch Capital Ltd., whose portfolio companies supply such products as orange traffic barrels and crash-test dummies, said it has raised $603 million for its third fund, exceeding its target of $500 million.
Wynnchurch now manages $1.1 billion of capital. Its previous fund was raised in 2006 and had capital commitments of $350 million. Get the full story »
AIG pays more funds back; TARP recovery at 70%
American International Group repaid another $6.9 billion of its bailout on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury said.
With that payment, the Treasury said it has now recovered 70 percent of the $411 billion distributed under the crisis-era Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Get the full story »
Senate mulls food safety bill for farmers markets
A bill that would allow people to sell home-baked goods at farmers markets is slowly making its way through the state Senate.
Senate Bill 137 would make it legal for people to sell their home-baked “non-potentially hazardous food,” such as bread and cookies, at farmers markets and community events. Get the full story »
Baxter CEO’s compensation falls 20% in 2010
Baxter International Inc. Chief Executive Robert L. Parkinson Jr. received compensation valued at $11.5 million in 2010, down 20 percent from the prior year amid a sharp reduction in his annual bonus and a tumultuous year for the medical-products company. Get the full story »
