The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 23

Pharmacy benefits manager Caremark rejects bid, 10B At Detroit auto portrayed 4 as future rivals, 16B i The Palm Reach Rst 9B TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2007 PaIm3eachPost.com Odiums 0) oitOXGffl MDVIP, a concierge-medicine company, looks to take advantage of Procter Gambles' marketing capabilities. online women's forums, 10B 'r than $68 billion in 2006, says it invested in MDVIP because it likes the Boca Raton company's business model and it meets vision to improve consumer health. Further, hopes to leverage its marketing prowess to help MDVIP add more doctors and patients. I "It has become very clear to us that they have created a unique and very compelling health care services model," said Nathan Estruth, general manager at Cincinnati's See MDVIR 10B THE KSSSSX REPORT A DOW 12,423.4925.48 A NASDAQ 2,438.20 3.95 A 1.412.84 3.13 A RUSSELL 2000 776.99 1.12 A 10-YR NOTE 4.66 0.01 CRUDE OIL $56.09 Buzz on deals bolsters stocks NEW YORK Wall Street overcame early losses to close higher Monday as a drop in oil prices and a fresh round of acquisition activity helped boost investors' confidence in the economy. Low energy prices also helped stocks reverse course from losses earlier in the session.

In 2001, MDVIP was among the first companies to break into the field of concierge medicine. The company charges patients a membership fee of $1,500 a year in order to get more personal attention from doctors, including same-day appointments, lengthy physical examinations and even their physician's cellphone number. MDVIP has 136 doctors nationwide, including 32 in South Florida and 16 in Palm Beach County. The company added 46 doctors in 2006. Overall, MDVIP has about 50,000 patient members.

which had sales of more ucts, will be a minority owner of privately held MDVIP. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "This will enable MDVIP to take advantage of the phenomenal marketing talents and research capabilities of to help us improve our message to prospective patients and doctors," said Darin Engelhar-dt MDVIP's general counsel and chief financial officer. By PHIL GALEWITZ Palm Beach Post Staff Writer The company that sells Tide detergent Pampers diapers and Ivory soap bought a stake Monday in Boca Raton-based MDVIP, the nation's largest concierge-medicine firm. The Procter Gamble Co.

(NYSE: PG, the world's largest maker of household prod CONSUMER EIECTEOhiCS SHOW 2007 The next wave appears to be linking devices computer, cell phone, portable music player, cameras to your TV so you can get whatever program you want, whenever and wherever you want it Kraft to relabel Capri Sun packages; TiiEf.iuniiiliGLniE Fidelity Federal sale closes After outlasting its rivals amid decades of bank mergers, Fidelity Federal Bank Trust the oldest and biggest bank based in Palm Beach County, officially has been sold to an out-of-state institution. 1 The food giant will remove 'all natural' from the kids' drink. '4 a 7 By SUSAN SALISBURY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer The chief plaintiff in; a deceptive-packaging lawsuit against Kraft Foods Inc. applauded a company statement Monday that said the phrase "all natural" will soon be removed from packets of its Capri Sun juice drink. Iinda Rex, 61, of Boynton Beach filed suit Monday in Palm Beach County Circuit Court against Northfield, Ill-based Kraft (NYSE: KFT, calling on the company to remove the two words from the shiny foil pouches.

Rex, joined by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest of Washington, said Capri Sun drinks contain small amounts of juice and water, and are sweetened artificially with high-fructose corn syrup. I "Nobody knows about this stuff fsvruo). It's a terrible Associated Press photos by ME C. HONG trick to olav on the children," said Rex, who has been a Between bytes: Companies look to interlink technology Fidelity Federal's parent company, Fidelity Bankshares, announced in July that it would be sold to National City Corp. (NYSE: NCC, $36.08) of Cleveland.

The $1 billion deal closed Friday, National City said Monday. National City also bought Harbor Federal Savings Loan of Fort Pierce for $1.1 billion last year. The two deals give National City 94 branches in Florida, most of them in Palm Beach, Martin and St Lucie counties. Oil prices resume slide NEW YORK Oil prices declined Monday, resuming last week's plunge as heating oil supplies go unused due to mild weather in the Northeast United States. Prices had briefly rebounded in earlier trading on reports that OPEC oU ministers are considering another cut Light sweet crude for February delivery dropped 22 cents to settle at $56.09 a barrel on the -New York Mercantile Exchange.

GE to buy oil services firm NEW HAVEN, Conn. Citing strong global demand for energy, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE, $37.55) said Monday it agreed to buy oil services company Vetco Gray for $1.9 billion from a group of private equity funds. Vetco Gray provides drilling, completion and production equipment for oil and gas fields. The business has 5,000 employees with key centers in Houston, Britain, Norway and Singapore.

Forest Oil plans acquisition DENVER Oil and gas producer Forest Oil Corp. (NYSE: FST, $30.13) moved Monday to expand in the booming Rockies and Texas regions, announcing a $1.5 billion cash-and-stock deal to acquire Houston Exploration Co. (NYSE: THX, The combined company would have estimated proved reserves of about 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents in the Rockies, Texas and the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Surgical firm OKs takeover DALLAS United Surgical Partners International Inc. (Nas- daq: USPI, which operates short-term stay surgical facilities, on Monday said it agreed to a takeover offer worth about $1.39 billion from a group affiliated with the buyout specialist Welsh, Carson, Anderson Stowe.

Including debt being assumed, the transaction is valued at about $1.8 billion. Short-term T-bill rates rise WASHINGTON Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction to the highest levels since November. The Treasury Department auctioned $17 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.940 percent up from 4.930 percent last week. Another $14 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.920 percent up from 4.900 percent last week. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was a six-month bill sold for $9,751.27.

Consumer borrowing revives WASHINGTON Consumer borrowing rebounded sharply in November, rising at the fastest clip since August The Federal Reserve said Monday that borrowing rose at an annual rate of 6.2 percent in November. Palm Beach Post staff and mrt services would use television set-top boxes made by Cisco's Lawrenceville, Scientific Atlanta subsidiary and Internet routers made by its Linksys division. Sony Corp. is showing off devices that plug into its TV sets and connect them, wirelessly or with cables, to home computer networks, allowing users to get video from the Internet Sling Media whose Sling-box device lets users access their home television programming over the Internet using a computer wherever they are, unveiled a new gadget Monday called SlingCatch-er that lets users do the reverse: access Web sites and Internet video with their televisions. The most-anticipated TV connectivity breakthrough, though, may be detailed today in San Francisco, not Las Vegas.

At Apple Computer Incs Macworld conference, CEO Steve Jobs is widely expected to provide more details on the iTV device designed to connect to the Internet and also work as a bridge between TV sets, computers and Apple's iPod music See ELECTRONICS, 16B By BOB KEEFE Palm Beach Post-Cox Sews Service LAS VEGAS That big-screen digital television you just bought or are thinking about buying, soon may get some powerful new connections. As the annual Consumer Electronics Show Google, Yahoo gets into full seek more mobile swing here, once accessibility, 16B agajn everybody is talking about connectivity. But this time, it's not about connecting computers to each other. Instead, it's about connecting all the other devices you already may have your computer, your cell phone, your portable music player, your cameras to your television, so you can get whatever programming you want whenever and wherever you want it "Our ambition is to give you connected experiences 24 hours a day," Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said during a conference kickoff speech Monday.

Microsoft announced plans here to update its Xbox 360 video game console by the end of the year so it also will work as a set-top box 'Our ambition is to give you connected experiences 24 hours a Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Monday. for IPTV television programming delivered via Internet protocols. It also is developing software for a new line of home computer servers designed to store and dish up movies, photos, games and other digital content to TV sets, other PCs and portable devices. Microsoft isn't the only tech company talking about connectivity Cisco Systems Inc. CEO John Chambers today plans to discuss how his company wants to hook consumers' PCs and TVs together, and to the Internet The effort member of the nonproiit group for years.

Brian Warwick, an attorney with Varnell Warwick in The Villages, said the 13-step manufacturing process required to make high-fructose corn syrup is not naturaL The process was developed in the early 1970s, and since then, the syrup has gained popularity as a cheap ingredient in millions of products. Capri Sun was introduced in 1981. "The main issue is the use of the word 'naturaL' If you walk down the aisle at Publix, it is half a block long, full of everything called juice," War wick said. "People are selecting Capri Sun because they think it's all naturaL You might as well be feeding your kids a Coke." But late Monday, Marc Firestone, Kraft's executive vice president for corporate and legal affairs, said in a statement that the company has been reformulating its Capri Sun line and its packaging for about a year, i The revamped Capri Sun will go into production in about two weeks, he said. "The new packaging will say that Capri Sun contains 'no artificial colors, flavors or See CAPRI SUN, 16BS Sweet corn i What is high-fructose corn syrup? A sweetener made by extracting starch from I corn and using acids and I enzymes to convert it into 1 1 glucose and fructose.

HFCS is composed of either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose, with the remaining sugars being 1 i primarily glucose. In use since the 1970s, it is found in millions of food i and beverage products. Comcast to offer TiVo service through cable box hard drive without the hassles of video tapes. It also lets users pause cast subscribers will be able to add TiVo DVR features to their existing set-top boxes without a visit from a technician, Comcast said. The actual launch plans were unclean but the companies said they have been testing the service since late 200b.

The companies also did not disclose how much more the TiVo software will cost Comcast customers currently pay about 510 a month for a basic DVRservice on top of their regular TV service charge. a The two companies plan to demonstrate the new TiVo-based service at the International Consumer Electronics Show this week. Digital video recorders let TV watchers search for and easily record their favorite shows onto a By MAY WONG The Associated Press LAS VEGAS TiVo Inc. and Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, $42.47) on Monday unveiled the long-awaited fruit of an agreement to work together, a cable box that runs TiVo's digital-video-recorder software.

The collaboration between the largest US. cable operator and TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO, $5.61) was announced to great fanfare in March 2005 and has been considered one of the most significant deals for the DVR pioneer. TiVo has been facing tough competition from a growing number of less-expensive DVRs from cable and satellite TV operators, including Comcast Soon, for an additional fee, Com- live TV, create instant replays ana zip past commercials. TiVo's service is known for its slick, easy-to-use interface and advanced features such as suggesting programs a user might enjoy, the ability to transfer TiVo recordings for viewing on PCs and portable devices and the ability to schedule last-minute recordings via the Web. It has been challenging for the company, however, to differentiate itself.

Comcast is in the process of taking over Adelphia Communications cable franchise in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. Source: U.S. Departtncnt of Agriculture 1 1.