The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 22

The Palm Beach Post PAGE 5B Codes for i unci 000 updates PAGE 6B TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1995 Boca plasma supplier acquires Maryland firm in $150 million deal development and clinical affairs will be in Maryland. Gury will be Chairman and CEO. Stagnaro will become senior executive vice president over research and development, sales and marketing as well as new business development. Univax's current chairman, Brian H. Dovey, will join the NABJ board.

The merger, which is subject to conditions including shareholder approval, is expected to close by the end of November. blood carries an Rho (D) positive fetus. Both companies have other products in stages of testing. Stagnaro Monday estimated 1995 Univax revenues at $12 million. A NABI spokeswoman said revenue was projected to reach $200 million after the merger.

Univax also announced collaboration with Chiron Corp. to develop new classes of antibodies from that company's vaccines. While the combined company's headquarters and manufacturing will be in Boca Raton, research, very solid platform where the new company will move into higher sales and higher profits," said Univax Chief Executive Officer Thomas P. Stagnaro. "We view this merger as a strategic partnership that will enable NABI to advance to its next level of growth," said David J.

Gury, NABI chairman and CEO. NABI also makes specialty plasma products. The companies touted the union, pointing out that NABI has access to 2 million liters of plasma dent plasma supplier will keep the name North American Biologicals initially and its headquarters in Boca Raton but will also keep the Rockville offices of Univax, which develops and markets products to treat and prevent autoimmune and infectious diseases. Univax shareholders will receive 0.79 shares of NABI stock for each Univax share they own. NABI stock closed down 81.25 cents Monday at $10.38.

Univax closed down 12.5 cents at $8. The combination "provides a annually as well as 250,000 donors. Plasma products can be made at NABI's pilot plant in Miami and later in Boca Raton. Univax can market and distribute the finished goods. The new company will have two therapies for immune problems on the market: NABI's H-BIG, which prevents hepatitis and Univax's WinRho SD, for treating the bleeding disorder immune thrombocytopenic purpura and Rho isoimmunization, when a pregnant woman with Rh negative Chase, Chemical will be biggest bank in country THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Chase Manhattan Bank President Thomas Labrecque (left) and Chemical Bank Chairman Walter Shipley take questions during a news conference Monday.

The combined firm will be Boca Raton-based, By MARGUERITE M. PLUNKETT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer North American Biologicals Inc. of Boca Raton said Monday it will merge with Univax Biologies Inc. of Rockville, in a deal worth more than $150 million. The merger will create a bio-pharmaceutical company with annual revenues of about $200 million, a statement said.

The world's largest indepen- Broadcasting merger creates 30-station firm By MITCH McKENNEY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer OmniAmerica which this year bought WOLL-FM and WEAT-AM and FM in West Palm Beach, has agreed to merge with Citicasters creating a broadcaster with 28 radio stations and two TV stations. Both broadcast companies are based in Ohio OmniAmerica in Cleveland, Citicasters in Cincinnati and have most of their stations there and in Florida. Citicasters also has TV stations in Cincinnati and the TampaSt. Petersburg market. Officials from both companies on Monday announced the merger, in which Citicasters will pay 2.75 million shares and $25 million cash to Omni's owners, while assuming $65 million in debt.

If approved by regulators and Citicasters shareholders, the merged company would be the sixth- or seventh-largest in radio revenues, said Paul Leonard, managing director of radio brokerage Star Media Group in Dallas, which was involved in the sale. "We're ecstatic about it," said David D'Eugenio, general manager of the three West Palm Beach stations. D'Eugenio said he had -two big boxes of Chiquita bananas at the station Monday in honor of Citicasters' top shareholder, Carl Lindner, whose holdings include Chiquita Brands International. Omni's chief, Carl Hirsch, says the company won't be cutting anything in Palm Beach County, where he has has a home and hopes of seeing his investment in -talent at WEAT-FM pay off. OmniAmerica is paying more than $200,000 for morning host Kevin Kitchens alone.

"Nobody's got their resumes "out," Hirsch said. The merged company will have three FMs and two AMs in Columbus, Ohio, but Anthony Ocepek of OmniAmerica said the signals do not overlap enough to 'surpass Federal Communications Commission ownership limits. Besides Cincinnati and Colum-tbus, Citicasters has stations in "Atlanta, Phoenix, Portland, and Kansas City, Mo. Its Florida radio stations WXTB-FM and WTBT-FM in Petersburg. OmniAmerica's other Florida stations include two in Jackson-' ville and one in Orlando.

It has three stations in Cleveland. state. It also has a regional credit card facility in Tampa. Chemical Bank Florida, a savings bank, has offices in Palm Beach, Miami and Boca Raton. The proposed merger follows a recent flurry of billion-dollar Meals in banking.

But most of the summer's other deals have represented expansions into new markets or new services; the Chase-Chemical merger is an effort to consolidate their hold on existing markets, sharply cutting costs as a result. Chase and Chemical expect to cut $1.5 billion a year in expenses, by eliminating 12,000 of their combined 75,000 jobs and closing 100 overlapping branches. About a third of the job cuts will be in metropolitan New York. Despite New York's status 1 as the nation's banking capital, the deal shows that the city is not immune to the trend to- 1 ward fewer banks with fewer branches. Since 1988, New York has lost 43,000 banking jobs, 36 percent of its total, I according to the New York Please see MERGER 1 OB The New York Times NEW YORK Creating the biggest bank in the country, Chemical Banking Corp.

said Monday that it would merge with Chase Manhattan Corp. in a deal valued at nearly $10 billion. The combined bank would take the better-known Chase name, although Chemical is much bigger than Chase and is the dominant partner in the merger. Walter V. Shipley, the chairman and chief executive of Chemical, will keep those titles at the new company.

The combined bank would have $297 billion in assets, overtaking Citicorp as the nation's biggest. Chase Manhattan spokesman John Anderson in New York said Monday it is "way too early to know" what happens to the Florida operations because of the merger. Chase Manhattan Private Bank has offices in Palm Beach and Miami and employs 26 in Palm Beach County. The financial institution has operations of Chase Auto Finance, Chase Manhattan Mortgage and Chase Investment Services offices throughout the Chase began as water company; Chemical name survives decades The Associated Press NEW YORK Chase Manhattan Corp. traces its roots back to 1799, when Aaron Burr formed a company to run New York's water supply and, as a sideline, do banking.

Chemical businesses dropped in 1844 Chemical Banking Corp. has transformed itself several times since its founding in 1823, but it has always stuck with its name until Monday's merger Top Five Bank Mergers The original bank, called The Manhattan Company, financed the Erie Canal. Chase National Bank was formed in 1877 by John Thompson, a former school teacher and an expert in currency values. Thompson named the bank after Salmon P. Chase, the treasury secretary who fought for national banking legislation in the early 1860s.

Chase National grew to be the nation's third-largest bank and es Chemical Banking Manhattan August 1995 First Union-First Fidelity, June 1995 Merger The merger of Chemical Banking Corp. and Chase Manhattan Corp. at a glance: $5.4 billion First Chicago Bancorp. July 1995 i OHBBHi $5.3 billion announcement with Chase Manhattan Corp. The bank began life as the New York Chemical Manufacturing Co.

A year after its founding, the company amended its charter to include banking operations. It dropped all chemical businesses in 1844, but retained its name. In 1954, Chemical acquired New York's Corn Exchange Bank, a company with four times as many branches. Still, the Chemical name stuck. More recently, the name survived the bank's 1991 merger with Manufacturers Hanover Corp.

The merger brought together two of the biggest banks in New York and resulted in the closure of some 80 branches around the city. The bank spent thousands to convert the signs at the remaining Manufacturers Hanover branches to tablished a network of overseas of- BankAmerica Chemical Banking Corp. Rank: 4th largest U.S. bank Assets: $178.5 billion 1994 Net Income: $1 .29 billion Employees: 42,130 Branches: 297 fippc facmc, August! 99i $4.7 Diwon NCNB Sovran Corp, July 1991 New Chase Manhattan Corp. Rank: Largest U.S.

bank Assets: $297 Billion Employees: 75,000, but the companies say about 1 2,000 positions will be eliminated as a result of the merger. Ranking in key businesses: No. 1 in mortgage servicing, including collecting payments and foreclosing; global loan syndication, in which the bank puts together financing for major borrowers; global custody, or securities record-keeping; and trading revenue. No. 3 in home lending.

No. 4 in credit cards. 4.3 Diiuon In 1955, the two companies merged. By 1960, Chase Manhattan had offices in 17 countries. David Rockefeller joined the bank's foreign division and became chief executive officer in 1961 and chairman in 1969.

That same year, Chase Manhattan Corp. was formed (The value of the First Chicago-NBD deal is the investment firm's estimate of the stock swap transaction. The other deals are prices announced by the merger participants.) Source: Keefe, Bruyette Woods Inc. Chase Manhattan Corp. Rank: 6th Largest U.S.

bank Assets: $118.7 billion 1994 Net Income: $1.2 billion Employees: 33,535 Branches: 324 ASSOCIATED PRESS as a holding company. Rockefeller retired in 1981. Thomas G. Labrecque, a former operations manager, was named president and later became chairman and chief executive. the Chemical name.

The Chemical name will be finally laid to rest by the time the merger closes in March 1996. The new company will be known as Chase Manhattan. Source: company reports ASSOCIATED PRESS In Brief PALM BEACH POST STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS 7.00i 1 1 1 1 rrr 1 6.90 -AyuSvVt" 6.80 1 V- 6.40 I I I 1 1 1 6-27 7-11 7-25 8-8 8-22 5-30 6-13 Viacom completes WBFS purchase NEW YORK Viacom Inc. said Monday it has completed the purchase of Miami station WBFS-Channel 33 and Philadelphia's WGBS-TV from Combined Broadcasting of Miami for a total of $165 million. Channel 33, which is on many cable systems in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, broadcasts shows from the United Paramount Network a joint venture of Viacom-owned Paramount and Chris Craft and Florida Marlins games.

Viacom, of New York, said it also completed the sale of WTXF-TV in Philadelphia to News Fox Television ,7 Stations Inc. unit for $227.5 million. Paxson buys out non-compete clause Lowell "Bud" Paxson said Monday that his Paxson Communications Corp. has bought out his non-compete clause from Home Shopping Network, freeing him up to go back into the electronic retailing business. Paxson, the co-founder of Home Shopping who left in 1990, said in a release that he paid $1.2 million to eliminate the clause, which was to extend through 1999.

"It was a consulting agreement that he had with the Home Shopping Network," said Louise Geary, Home Shopping spokeswoman. Paxson owns WPBF-Channel 25 in West Palm Beach, and owns, manages or is affiliated with 22 TV stations in the top 50 broadcast markets. Paxson also owns 20 radio stations, mostly in Florida, and eight state radio networks. While Channel 25 is an ABC affiliate, most of Paxson's TV stations are part of his infomercial network, IN TV. Paxson could not be reached Monday to explain the buyout's effect on IN TV.

But in his announcement Friday that he was buying stations in Akron, Ohio, and Bridgeport, Paxson said he would not be pursuing a cable deal for IN TV because it already had so many broadcast stations. MITCH McKENNEY Republic Waste buys security firm FORT LAUDERDALE Republic Waste Industries Monday said it bought into its first service industry outside of the garbage business, agreeing to acquire Kertz Security Systems in a deal worth $24.5 million in stock. Kertz provides electronic security monitoring and maintenance to more than 30,000 residential and commercial customers primarily in South Florida, Tampa and Orlando. Republic Waste, the Fort Lauderdale-based company chaired by H. Wayne Huizenga, indicated initially it would diversify beyond garbage.

Knight-Ridder buys California papers WALNUT CREEK, Knight-Ridder Inc. has agreed to buy Lesher Communications and its San Francisco Bay area newspapers for $360 million, the companies announced Monday. Lesher, based in Walnut Creek, publishes the Contra Costa Times, the West County Times, Ledger Dispatch and San Ramon Valley Times-Valley Times, with a combined daily circulation of 190,000 and more than 206,000 on Sunday. Knight-Ridder, based in Miami, publishes 28 daily papers, including The Miami Herald and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Motorola gets $20 million contract ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, 111.

Motorola Inc. said Monday it signed a $20 million contract with Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co. to expand an existing digital cellular phone system in the nation. First Nationwide buying Calif. SAN FRANCISCO First Nationwide Bank has agreed to acquire San Francisco Federal Savings and Loan Association for $250 million, the banks announced Monday.

The two will have Trading Ylds: Auction Dates 30-Year: 6.7 Not scheduled 1-Year: 5.64 Sept. 14 6-Month: 5.57 See below 3-Month: 5.45 See below From Monday's auction: 3-month yield 5.50 percent; 6-month yield 5.58 percent; Price of $10,000 bill: 3-month 6-month $9,730. wmmmmmm- i Medicine Shoppe International, up $4.31 to $43.06: The stock was bid up following news that the retail drug chain will be bought by Cardinal Health for $45 a share, or about $2. 1 billion. Cardinal Health fell 1 to $54.

Camelot, down 84 cents to $5.22 in heavy Nasdaq volume of more than 5.4 million shares: The stock came under pressure amid reports of uncertain potential for Camelot's Diglphone Internet communication software. Adobe, down $3.38 to $55.50 in heavy Nasdaq volume of more than 2.8 million shares: The stock encountered selling amid rumors about its third-quarter results. combined assets of $18.8 billion and 195 branches 1 in California, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. First Nationwide has three offices in Palm Beach County. The all-cash -transaction is subject to approval by shareholders' of SFFed the holding company for San -Francisco Federal Savings, and by federal 5 1 regulatory authorities.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 1996..