Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 47

TODAYS BUSINESS BRIEFING FRIDAY, MARCH 1 1996 STAR TRIBUNE PAGE D3 REGIONAL NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWS Independent bankers file objection to Norwesf plans to buy AmeriBank Group asking Fed board to deny Norwest's bid to purchase privately owned four-branch bank based in Bloomington EU, Asian nations plan Bangkok trade summit Although Asia is Europe's largest trade partner, Europe invests little in Asia face between its automatic teller machine (ATM) network of Instant Cash machines and a smaller independent contractor called SHAZAM, which operates in 12 states including Minnesota and Iowa. Donovan said, "I understand their point, but we still provide ATM access to a large number of community banks. And as far as SHAZAM is concerned, I know, there have been negotiations with SHAZAM. But I have been told that they have not been fruitful at this time." Norwest is the largest provider of ATM machines to Minnesota's independent banking community and receives fees for such services, Donovan said. ICBM asked the Fed for three things: to be allowed to submit confidential information to the Fed Board, to review any responses by Norwest, and for a meeting with Fed officials in Minneapolis.

Norwest has eight days to respond to the objections. The Fed is expected to review the case in the next few weeks. The fact that the summit has no fixed agenda has led to fears that it could be just another international gabfest in the sun that will end after half a dozen good meals with little more than a few pages of incomprehensible paper. Meetings of world leaders can be interesting, but some business leaders don't think that the politics of the summit will be significant in the long run. "The political operations are very important to set a framework," said Erik Dejonghe, vice president of Barco, a Belgian maker of video screens and projection systems.

"But I think it's Barco's responsibility in the first place to establish our presence." Barco, which did 18 percent of its buying and selling in Asia in 1994, said Europeans must think in different terms to sell in Asia. "We were used to doing business the European way," Dejonghe said. "Now we approach it more and more in an Asian He said the company is trying hard to hire more Asians as executives. They will be more attuned to the ways that Asians approach business, he said. Associated Press BANGKOK, THAILAND As leaders of the 15 European Union countries open a summit with their counterparts from 10 Asian nations, some feel that European thinking hasn't progressed much in the 700 years since Marco Polo opened up trade with Asia.

Trade is booming: In 1994, Asia displaced the United States as Europe's largest trading partner, reaching $312.5 billion. But there is little investment there. Though Asia accounts for 23 percent of European trade, it gets less than 1 percent of Europe's direct foreign investment. Many Asian leaders think that Europe is too preoccupied with its own development and its own troubles to invest in Asia. That may be why the Asians not the Europeans called the two-day Bangkok summit, which starts today.

Mary Seet-Cheng, Singapore's ambassador to the EU, said Europe has become marginalized in Asia, and "unless Europe steps up investments, it will be even more marginalized." By Dee DePass Star Tribune Staff Writer The Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota (ICBM) filed an objection with the Federal Reserve Board Thursday to Norwest Corporation's plans to buy AmeriBank, the last independently owned community bank based in Bloomington. Norwest already has saturated the Twin Cities market and should not be allowed to expand further here, said ICBM President Al Olson. Part of the fear is that the AmeriBank deal would restrict commercial bank choices for consumers and borrowing options for smaller businesses. Olson asked the the Fed to deny Norwest's request. Norwest filed its purchase application with the Fed in January, and ICBM members quickly claimed that the deal would spell monopolistic and unfair competition against small community banks.

Norwest has maintained that the acquisition is so small that it should not warrant concern. Norwest, with $71 billion in assets, would not stand to benefit greatly by swallowing AmeriGroup, the bank holding company that owns AmeriBank, with $167 million in assets. AmeriBank, known for being well capitalized but not great on profits, has three branches in Bloomington, one in Minnetonka and has been owned privately by the Cargill and MacMillan families for the past few years. Norwest Regional President Pat Donovan said he had not seen the ICBM objections but added, "Frankly, I am a little puzzled by this because we think we are competing in a very competitive marketplace." For the first time in banking history, the ICBM asked the Fed to consider Norwest's massive electronic banking capabilities when deciding whether or not to approve the deal. "Our main concern is to call attention to the electronic banking issues that have not, heretofore, been a part of the antitrust evaluations," said Olson.

"What we are alleging for the first time is that Norwest is the most dominant of three banking institutions that collectively control 98 percent of the electronic banking market." Olson also said that Norwest has refused to permit direct inter BottomLiners Eric and Bill Teitelbaum Texas jury verdict favors 3M Co. Briefs Ault Brooklyn Park, said that its board of directors has adopted a shareholder rights plan designed to ensure that all of the company's shareholders receive fair treatment in the event of any proposal to acquire the company. The board declared a distribution of one right for each share of common stock outstanding on March 4, 1996. Each right entitles the holder to purchase 1 100th of a share of a new series of junior participating preferred stock of Ault at an initial exercise price of $36. Initially, the rights will be attached to the common stock and will not be exercisable.

They become exercisable only following the acquisition by a person or group, without the prior consent of the Ault Board, of 15 percent or more of the Company's voting stock, or following the announcement of a tender offer or exchange offer to acquire an interest of 15 percent or more. ValueVision International Eden Prairie, said that it has completed the sale of two television stations to West Palm Beach, Paxson Communications Corp. in a $40 million cash transaction. The sale included Akron ABC affiliate WAKC-TV (Ch. 23), serving the Cleveland-Akron, Ohio markets, and independent station WHAI-TV (Ch.

43), a television station in Bridgeport, serving the New York City market. The stations were acquired by ValueVision for a total of $13.6 million in 1994. Control Data Systems Arden Hills, said it has signed a licensing agreement to provide its MailHub e-mail integration software for the new Omnes Xpo Messaging Service. Cray Research Ea-gan, said that that it received orders for multiple CRAY supercomputers from Ford Motor Co. The orders came in third and fourth quarter 1995 and included two CRAY T90 series systems and a CRAY C916 supercomputer.

Cray also said that it has reached a technology and marketing agreement with Wizard Information Systems Inc. to provide Convex systems users with an easy, cost-effective migration path to Cray systems. Computer Petroleum St. Paul, said that it has added site specific retail fuel price information to the its PetroNet product line. In addition to the company's extensive wholesale pricing database, it can now provide daily fueling transaction information from nearly 125,000 retail locations.

Zytec Eden Prairie, said that it has established a new distributed power architecture operation near Dallas, Texas. The Toro Bloomington, has named Robert Buhrmaster to its board of directors. Buhrmaster is president and chief executive officer of Jostens Inc. being assessed against the company. Those cases involved a suit filed in Hawaii and a suit filed in Texas, where a mistrial was declared because the jury was deadlocked after three days of deliberation.

In another case, an Appeals Court in Texas reversed a $29 million judgment against 3M at the request of all parties so that the plaintiffs could get a smaller but quicker settlement. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. A 3M spokesman said Thursday that other suits involving implants have been filed against the company. 3M entered the breast implant steer down; Fabiaschi Tm sorry, your lab results show you're a congenital liar." A Houston jury Thursday returned a verdict in favor of 3M Co. in a case in which three women had sued the company for $45 million for silicone breast implants they claimed caused them health problems.

A statement issued Thursday by Maplewood-based 3M said it was pleased by the verdict, which came after the jury had deliberated 5'2 hours. The suits were filed in 1992 and 1993, with each woman asking for $5 million in compensatory and $10 million in punitive damages, according to a 3M spokesman. The case marks the third time a breast implant suit has gone to trial and resulted in no damages Cortese steps Richard Cortese, president and chief executive of Edina-based Racotek said Thursday that he was stepping down from those positions to become vice chairman for personal reasons. Michael Fabiaschi, whom Cortese recruited to Racotek 4VS years ago, was named by the board to the positions of president, chief executive and a director. Fabiaschi, 40, has been vice president of sales and support since joining Racotek in 1991.

Cortese said that a member of his family was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and that EEOC sues nursing The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing a Bloomington nursing home for paying male nurses more than female nurses. According to the suit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Eagle Nursing Home in 1993 hired male licensed public nurses at $11 an hour and females at $10.25. "Eagle paid men a higher wage based on a stereotypical assump he has had to devote an increasing amount of time to his family responsibilities. "While I can work a significant amount of time, the CEO job is a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day responsibility and I've had a reduced ability to do that," Cortese said.

"Luckily, we have somebody we believe is the perfect candidate to be CEO." Fabiaschi said that as head of sales, professional services and managed networks he has worked closely with Cortese on strategic issues at Racotek, which builds and supports wireless mobile data transmission systems. in implant suit business in 1977 when it bought McGhan Medical Co. of Las Vegas primarily to get access to technology to develop lenses that are implanted in the eye to treat cataracts. 3M does not provide specific figures, but has said that the breast implant business was a relatively small part of its health care operations. 3M stopped marketing breast implants in 1984 when it sold the business back to a group of investors that included some of the original McGhan management.

Susan Feyder CEO at Racotek "We plan to continue to build on the foundation we've built," he said. John Vareka, an analyst with John G. Kinnard said the moves "should be an easy transition to make Richard's talents have been really strategic, and the contacts and energy he projects in presenting the company. Those talents will continue to be utilized in his new position." Vareka said that although Fa-biaschi's background has been "more in the day-to-day running of things, certainly he has the skills" for the CEO job. Susan E.

Peterson hired the two nurse aides to work on the late night shift," the re-lease said Eagle said the EEOC failed to consider that the pay was related to new night staffing arrangements. There are about 100 employees at the 80-bed home. Jill Hodges extended officer's permission whenever he wishes to leave Los Angeles County. Sandler said Milken, who did not attend Thursday's hearing, was not worried by the developments but wanted the probation to end as soon as possible. "Mr.

Milken has been spending the last three years teaching children in city schools, working on education projects and battling a very serious disease, prostate cancer, for which there is no cure," Sandler said. "He would like to see this chapter of his life fully closed." Milken reportedly will receive $50 million for his work advising media executive Ted Turner on the $7.5 billion sale of his broadcasting empire to Time Warner. home for male-female pay difference University Computer Center 4 MB EDO $09 8MB 2x32 $199 16 MB 4x32 $299 Intel Pentium 100 MHi CPU, ZIFF Socket 8 MB RAM, 1 GB Hard Drive, 1 .44 FD 1 4" Nl SVGA Monitor, 1 MB PCI Video 4x CD-ROM Drive, Sound Cord, Mouse Keyboard, Windows 95, Speakers $1298 Dinkytewn 623-9493 321 SE 14th Av. Mpls MN 55414 The dresses you're dreaming of from the best New York collections Wednesday, February 28 through Sunday, March 3 (Orientation in the store Saturday, March 2 at Ipm Scores of dresses from Vera Wang Bridal Heiser-Egan Carmen Marc Valvo Magali Cattiva Karen Lawrence more! GALLERIA 925-3424 0)e('i(d OFFICE HERE! IIMIIIIItlllll IIIMIIIMIIIII lllllllllllllll IMIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIMIUIMI SHINGLE CREEK PKWY 694 NEW OFFERING! $12 gross 63,000 sq ft office contiguous 10,000 ft per floor, 6 floors As small as 2,000 ft Abundant surface garage parking! Cave Ltd. Call Barb or Sam 482-9668 All Furs, re-owned Furs, Women's Winter Sale ALREADY REDUCED 60-70 (P llllllf hunt' lllllt.

Jo 1 i fiffii-frfflgi i i iS-i 'win Michael Milken's probation tion that men required a higher wage before they would work in a occupation historically occupied by women, and based on the presumption that men needed a higher salary to support their families," the lawsuit claims. Eagle said in a news release that the two male nurse aides worked at the nursing home for less than 18 months. "Eagle had no intention of violating any federal law when it NATIONAL NEWS tion sparked by Milken's role in the purchase of Turner Broadcasting Inc. by Time Warner Inc. and other deals last year.

Sandler said Milken did not violate the lifetime banishment from the securities business that was part of his sentence and did not see the new investigation as a threat. Sandler said SEC officials informed Milken of the investigation in October. The SEC probe is expected to last at least another six months. Without the extension, Milken's probation would have ended Saturday. Sandler said Wood lifted several restrictions on the order in any case and after Saturday the junk-bond magnate, who remains a wealthy man, will no longer have to call his probation officer every month or seek the Money market fund yields are down NEW YORK The seven-day average yield on money market mutual funds fell in the week ended Tuesday to 4.78 percent from 4.81 percent the previous week, said IBC's Money Fund Report.

The 30-day average yield fell to 4.85 percent from 4.90 percent, IBC-Donoghue said. The newsletter Bank Rate Monitor said its survey of 100 leading commercial institutions showed that the annual percentage yield on money market accounts fell to 2.76 percent as of Wednesday, from 2.77 percent a week earlier. The annual percentage yield available on interest-bearing checking accounts was unchanged at 1.43 percent. Washington Post NEW YORK U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood lifted travel and reporting restrictions Thursday on convicted securities felon and financier Michael Milken but extended his probation 90 days so that investigators could probe possible violations of his sentence.

Milken's attorney, Richard Sandler, told Wood his client agreed to the probation extension and anticipated that the government would try to extend it again while Securities and Exchange Commission investigators looked at his role in some recent finan- cial deals. The probation-extension agreement was the first public confirmation of an SEC investiga I Take an I IO Wi3 additional Jy.