Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 35

30 Today ineso unovinn mm Regional news Star TribuneTuesdayDecember 221992 International nows Olympic Financial delays securitization Olympic, which buys, sells and ser Proponents, foes say USAir deal unlikely to fly Other U.S. carriers opposing alliance Maureen Hooley to run marketing at megamall PR manager is being promoted to post being vacated by Rosemary McCormick with British Air; decision to be Thursday "The transition should be smooth, deal requires a review by the Trans Olympic Financial Blooming-ton, said it has delayed a planned securitization of a $30 million portfolio of auto receivables until the first calendar quarter of 1993 because of negotiations to secure a AAA-rated quarantee from a financial guaranty company. Olympic had expected such a guaranty from Financial Guaranty Insurance but that company decided not to participate, and discussions are underway with another potential guarantor. Bio-Interfaces sells Lifecore Biomedical Chaska, said San Diego-based Bio-Interfaces Inc. has sold 265,000 of the 330,000 Lifecore shares that it had received as payment for debt related to the acquisition of the Sustain dental implant system.

The stock liquidates $2.05 million of Life-core's debt remaining from the $2.4 million acquisition. Moody's reviewing Moody's Investors Service Inc. said it has placed Eagan-based Cray Research's Baa2 subordinated debt rating under review for possible downgrade, affecting about $105 million in long-term debt. The agency said the review was promoted by concerns that increased operating risk will continue in the inter New York Times Washington, D.C. Despite a personal appeal by British Prime Minister John Major to President Bush to approve a proposed alliance between British Airways and the USAir Group, supporters and opponents of the deal said it was likely that the United States would block the transaction.

Lobbyists representing the big U.S. airlines that have fought the deal predicted that Transportation Secretary Andrew Card would recommend blocking the deal or impose conditions that British Airways would probably find unacceptable. Three days remain until a self-imposed deadline in the agreement between the two airlines. While the transaction would conform to the federal requirement that a foreign holding in a U.S. carrier not exceed 25 percent of the voting stock or 49 percent of the total equity, the two airlines intend to operate essentially as one airline.

Thus, the By Sally Apcar Staff Writer The Mall of America has promoted Maureen Hooley to director of marketing effective Jan. 1 She will replace Rosemary McCormick, who is leaving the mall to form her own marketing firm, McCormick Marketing. As director of marketing, Hooley will oversee public relations, advertising, special events and marketing partnerships with corporate sponsors. She is assembling an 11-member staff. Hooley joined the mall staff in 1990 as its public relations manager.

In brief Wix Mix Systems a Minneapolis-based concert sound and lighting company, said it has acquired the assets of Southern Thunder Sound Inc. Terms were not disclosed. National news vices retail automobile installment loans originated by automobile dealers in Minnesota, Colorado and Texas, planned the securitization for this month. Because of the delay, an increase in market interest rates and lower than expected loan volume, the company said it will incur a net loss of about 16 to 21 cents per common share for its second quarter ending Dec. 31.

Lif ecore stock The transaction had called for acquisition debt to be liquidated in cash payments over a period extending to March 1995. The agreement was renegotiated to allow Lifecore to substitute common stock to satisfy the obligation. Cray debt rating mediate term because of slowed revenue growth in Cray's core supercomputer business. In an unrelated item, Cray said the University of Magdeburg, Germany, has accepted a CRAY Y-MP2E supercomputer system. magazine's owner, to continue to write his well-known "Up Down Wall Street" column.

But he said he would do so only if Dow Jones agreed to name as editor a person Abelson recommends. Staff members said they believed there had been some sort of falling out between management and Abelson over a redesign of the publication. PJl US logic 480DX33 Mid-Tower 1 pa. 3865133 Ian Maxwell ordered to pay $780,000 Abelson out as editor of Barron's Time Warner upheaval will be hard to discern London, England A London High Court Monday ordered Ian Maxwell, the son of" the late publisher Robert Maxwell, to pay $780,000 to a pension fund his father allegedly looted. Judge John Chadwick found that Maxwell, 36, was in breach of the duty he owed Bishopsgate Investment Management, which ran some pension funds for Maxwell's companies.

Chadwick said Maxwell had erred in signing stock transfer forms without assurances that they had 2YarWamyl Vfclor 14" SVGA $299 mmmtimimM New York, N.Y. Alan Abelson, the outspoken editor of Barron's, told a stunned staff Monday that he had been asked to step down from his post, which he has held since 1981. In a meeting Monday afternoon, Abelson, 67, said he had been asked by Dow Jones the US loalc High jgmm 386SX23 2MB RAM. 120MB HD. VGAcard, 101-Key Keyboard and pre-installed MS DOS 5.0, and MS Windows 3.1.

Monitor not included, nimtt PL Add Analysts expecting of chairman's death Associated Press New York, N.Y. The upheaval in the Time Warner Inc. boardroom is expected to pass largely unnoticed by the millions of customers who read its magazines, subscribe to its cable TV services or pay for its movies and records. A day after the death of Time Warner Chairman Steven Ross, analysts said Monday that the company's divisions are led by strong executives who worked without corporate interference and should weather the latest board changes. They expect the giant media and entertainment company to continue pursuing alliances with foreign partners, step up expansion of its cable TV channel capacity and possibly intensify efforts to cut its big debt.

Ross died Sunday after a long bout with cancer and the company announced plans only hours later to shrink the board's size to a dozen members from 21 as several longtime Ross allies leave. Ross' co-chief executive, Gerald Levin, became the sole chief executive upon the death of the 65-year-old Ross, known for masterly corporate dealmaking and his rapport with Hollywood entertainers. With Ross in ill health for more than a year, Levin has been running 1999 '059 7T 24-pin, 80-column. Lets you control fonts, pilch, form length and more. m-ibi Fast 25MHz.

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n-iozt9 as I have been in the role of assistant for two years working with Rosemary in marketing," Hooley said. Mall manager John Wheeler said Hooley has done "an outstanding job for the past two years. Her commitment has been extraordinary." In particular, he said Hooley did a good job handling mall critics who surfaced even before the mall was completed. Before joining the Mall of America, Hooley was corporate director of advertising at Cub Foods, which is based in Stillwater. E.W.

Blanch Bloomington, a reinsurance company, said it plans an initial public offering of equity securities, subject to market conditions, during the first half of 1993. little change in wake shrinking of board the company since becoming co-CEO in February, when Nicholas J. Nicholas Jr. was forced to resign. "Everyone at Time Warner shares in the vision Steve gave us," Levin said in memo yesterday to the company's 41,000 employees.

"For my part, I pledge to do everything in my power to make it a reality." Ross was not immediately replaced as chairman, but the board expressed confidence in Levin's leadership. In New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday, Time Warner closed up 50 cents at a share. Time Warner was created by the combination completed in January 1990 of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. The deal left it $11 billion in debt.

Its holdings include magazines like Time and Sports Illustrated, a film and TV operation that has backed movies such as "Malcolm and the "Murphy Brown" TV series, and a music division with artists including Phil Collins and Madonna. It owns the Home Box Office pay-TV service and is the nation's second biggest cable-system operator with the industry's largest system, 150 channels in operation in one New York neighborhood. The restructuring steps up a strategic realignment that Melville had ready undertaken by closing about 250 stores a year for the past several years and replacing them with better-performing stores. Melville will close almost half of its 730 Thorn McAn shoe stores and about 250 of its 1,250 Kay-Bee toy stores, many of which were sites Melville acquired when it bought the Circus World in 1990 and toy stores in 1991 and merged them with Kay-Bee. The company also will close about 75 of the smaller stores in its Linens 'n Things chain as their leases expire as part of a plan to open larger Linen 'n Things stores.

The balance of closings will come mostly from the Chess King chain, which sells men's clothing. software firm Novell, based in Provo, Utah, has been working with Unix System Labs for some time. A year ago it formed a joint venture with USL called Umvel to sell a version of Unix designed for PC users. Meanwhile, Microsoft plans to unveil a more powerful version of its popular Windows operating system, called Windows NT, next year. Windows NT will contain built-in networking technology, which could decrease the market for Novell's networking software, called NetWare.

"This is really an attempt by Novell to prepare itself for Windows NT," said William Bluestein, an analyst with the high-tech research firm Forrester Research Inc. portation Department Robert Marx, a department spokesman, refused to comment on the issue, except to say that Card will announce a decision by Thursday. USAir has reported losses of more than $800 million in its last three fiscal years and is counting on British Airways' capital to help insure its survival. The British airline, which is hoping to acquire 44 percent of USAir's equity and 21 percent of its voting shares, says it wants to form a "seamless" global airline network that would link its London-based international flights with USAir's large system in the United States. But the proposed alliance has ignited a fierce debate and a high-priced lobbying battle in Washington.

Several big domestic airlines argue that the deal should not be approved because Britain's airports impose heavy restrictions on them that unfairly benefit British Air. been approved by the fund board. In July, a court ruled that the liquidators of Bishopsgate Investment Management were owed $634 million by Kevin Maxwell, Ian's younger brother. Kevin was declared bankrupt in September and was seen applying for government unemployment assistance. Chadwick said yesterday the half a million pounds was an interim award, pending an assessment of the full amount due.

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iwma $xovoxjyr Melville to close, sell or revise stores Colorado Jumbo 350MB Tap WPC Teed '299 41-10081 Creative Lab Sound BkmHr Pro Baric '159 Vefor hr Advanced Gravis Joy Stltk '32" MMOUOI Woifom 124MB Hard Drive '399 Dgfaf I ID! Kraft Thunderstlck '24" jj naves Mantek Matador 400 DPI Hand Held Scanner '99" U-tflTM Hayet Optima I4.4Fax Modem '479" Covox Sound Matter II '169" 31 1(1051 Roland Media Vision Midi ProAudlo 10 keyboard Spectrum '299" '239" laarnfna Co. Talking Header Babbit '34" rtV0l Edmark KID Desk '29" A.MINI7 tBRcnd illllj iiiiriiimiiiiiittl l4SQ 12 UMMOft Ifarbo Tax 040Wmdovm HDSTKT92 Sloe Publishing Corporate Broderbund Ladder Bannermanla let Act Far Windows '09" fT.VIIIII6 ftS WWI Smj9S Sf A95 'jwsAlta New York, N.Y. Melville which operates Marshalls, Thorn McAn and other retail chains, said Monday that it would close, sell or reformat 700 to 800 stores over the next three to five years and focus on divisions that show the most promise. "It reflects our belief that to thrive in today's highly competitive retail environment, we must continually reassess our investments and capitalize on our better-performing units," said Stanley Goldstein, chairman and chief executive. The closings represent 9 to 10 percent of Melville's 8,200 stores.

The company, based in Rye, N.Y., will take a one-time after-tax charge of $212 million, or $2.03 a share, in the fourth quarter to cover the costs. Novell to buy New York. N.Y. Novell the largest maker of software that links personal computers in networks, said Monday that it would buy a software company controlled by for about $335 million in stock. Analysts described the move as a defense by Novell against the growing power of Microsoft the biggest maker of PC software.

The operation, Unix System Laboratories, designs and promotes Unix software, a so-called operating system that is seen by many as a standard for the computer industry. An operating system is the base layer of software on computers. It works with application programs, which provide specific uses such as word processing or spreadsheets. i 1 hi To Tola ttHoMlil Intuit Maverltk Maverick Walt Dyiney Apple Power Up Quicken lor Discover Discover Beauty and Sasy Way Power kxmwior Contact Neva Windows 2.0 Numbers Alphabet Tho Boast Bundle Bvndk Act Kahoom '19? '3" '3" '14" 9299M '24" (B2-IOI40 'gKcJlS" tW-KWIT HM-KITTO H(1701 KU.IC1I2I i7.l!2 ITT.1-loins Tiiiii "IT FAXi tlHUMO) Producli in Ihis ml arc limited to'ilmk on hand. Nn rainthnks.

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