Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 1-28

28 CHICAGO SECTION1 BUSINESS The World Trade Organization is set to weigh in for the first time on the trade spat between the U.S. and European Union over aircraft subsidies, but a final resolution could be years away, trade experts said. The 5-year-old dispute is unusual because it involves governments that are otherwise close allies and Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS, companies that dominate the global commercial aircraft market. The imbroglio has attracted wide attention because any WTO-imposed limits on government aid also would apply to burgeoning aerospace industries around the world, from Canada to China, where planemakers are intent on breaking up the Boeing-Airbus duopoly.

AWTO panel is expected to issue a preliminary report Friday on the 2004case filed by the U.S. and Boeing, sources said. Although its findings are confidential and will be released only to the governments that are party to the litigation, they are certain to leak to the public within a few hours. Officials of Chicago-based Boeing are quietly confident the trade group will find that France-based Airbus has unfairly benefited from $15bil- lion in launch aid for new aircraft that was funded by four European governments. Airbus has received a total of $25billion in government assistance since 1970, the U.S.

claimed. Aseparate panel of the WTO is mulling a counterclaim by the European Union that development of aircraft such as the 787 Dreamliner was aided by in research it conducted for NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense. Boeing claims it received about one-tenth of that total. The Europeans calculate the total value of state and federal aid to Boeing through 2024 to be an amount that includes tax breaks and its package to relocate its headquarters to Chicago.

The World Trade Organization likely will find some merit to both claims, legal experts said. think there will be the usual mixed result, an attempt to compromise and give both sides something to predicted Brian Havel, director of the International Aviation Law Institute at the DePaul University Col- lege of Law. But a final resolution of the matter is likely years away, he cautioned, especially if the trade organization seizes the issue to spell out guidelines for government aid to essential industries such as aerospace. The WTO must issue final reports on the two cases, then deal with any appeals, typically a lengthy process. Boeing and Airbus offer vastly different interpretations of the amount and availability of the government aid cited in the two cases, as well as their impact on the mar- ket.

Boeing and the U.S. claim that launch aid provided to all of previous aircraft platforms is an illegal subsidy, devilishly clever financing vehicle for said Robert Novick, outside counsel. While it is structured as a loan, the aid bears below- market interest rates and little risk. Airbus have to repay the low-interest loans for years, until the airliner they financed is performing well in the marketplace. Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus Americas, compared launch aid with industrial revenue bonds that U.S.

cities commonly provide to companies. He noted that Boeing obligated to repay much of the funding it has received. If the U.S. prevails, will have an effect on the global aerospace said Novick. a government considering a request for support, I have to be mindful that the WTO has But McArtorpredicts a stalemate at the WTO and thinks that trade negotiations among governments would provide speedier results.

preliminary interim report have any market impact. It will not change any behavior, and the process itself, with clarifications and appeals, is going to take some he said. For starters, the WTO litigation likely to halt European governments from funding the A350-XWB, answer to popular Dreamliner and 777 jets, analysts said. Three of European government backers already have allocated money for the A350. If the U.S.

Trade Representative were to challenge that launch aid, which is expected to total billions of dollars, it would have to file a separate case with the WTO. The current litigation only applies to company actions through 2005, an Airbus spokeswoman noted. WTO report due on plane subsidy fight Resolution of U.S., EU cases unlikely for many years By Julie Johnsson TRIBUNE REPORTER Boeing and the U.S. contend European governments unfairly provide subsidies to Airbus to develop new planes. The European Union and Airbus, in turn, say Boeing gets improper assistance from federal, state and local governments.

AP FILE PHOTO Next week looks to be momentous at WTXF-TV. After months of planning, the Fox owned-and-operated station is adding 90 minutes of local weekday news to its schedule with the introduction Monday of a fifth hour to Day at 9a.m. and a new half-hour newscast at 6 p.m. to follow its successful 5 p.m. show.

The architect of those moves, however, already has moved on to his next project, here in Chicago. WTXF boss Mike Renda on Tuesday was named the new vice president and general manager of WFLD-Ch. 32 and My Network WPWR-Ch. 50. Renda, who ran WJW-TV for Fox for a decade before moving to WTXF in 2007, succeeds Pat Mullen, the one-time president of Chicago Tribune parent Tribune entire broadcasting division.

Mullen is leaving Channels 32 and 50 after less than 3 1 2 years to pursue other entrepreneurial opportunities, such as they may be. has proven over the last 12 years that he is a strong general manager who knows what it takes to build a market-leading Jack Abernethy, chief executive of News Fox Television Stations group, said in the announcement. along with his ability to foster strong news talent and develop compelling local newscasts, will be valuable as we look to strengthen our Chicago This changing of the guard comes less than three weeks before the scheduled Sept. 21 end of perhaps the boldest experiment on watch, the 10 p.m. WFLD weeknight newscast launched in 2007, which is to be supplanted by reruns of It also comes at a time when technology and the economy have contributed to revenue declines throughout the industry, which led Mullen to make staff reductions.

Along the way, Channel 32 also parted company in July with morning co-anchor Mike Barz after an investigation of his off-hours conduct. And 9 p.m. co-anchor Mark Suppelsa bolted last year for rival Tribune owned WGN-Ch. 9. the late news that has followed Channel 9 p.m.

marquee broadcast, never quite lived up to belief going in that it had pretty good of challenging long-struggling CBS-owned WBBM-Ch. 2. Nevermind the idea that time we can give them all a run for their On the other hand, even minus WFLD will still air a market-leading 37 1 2 hours of live local news weekly, thanks in part to addition last year of a fifth weekday hour of morning news. And Renda clearly sees news, and the original content it provides, as a key to the future. is a vibrant, diverse market with a highly competitive broadcast media Renda, who was reported traveling Tuesday, said in a statement.

the most locally-produced news hours and high-level partnerships such as the Chicago Bears, WFLD and WPWR are well-poised to expand their presence in the community. I look forward to working with the teams at these stations to accomplish that It may be instructive to note that chief competition in the mornings, at noon and at 9 p.m.—eschewed joining the 10 p.m. news race in favor of launching a 5:30 p.m. local show against network national newscasts. The 5 p.m.

news at WTXF ranked No. 1 in Philadelphia during last ratings period among viewers age 18 to 49, as well as in the 25-to-54 demographic. Under Renda, WTXF was apioneer in partnering with WCAU-TV to establish a local news service to share video, a pilot program that has become a template for similar operations elsewhere, including Chicago. a content standpoint, allows us to be in more Renda told the trade paper Broadcasting and Cable last month, crediting the partnership with enabling the Philadelphia station to add the news debuting Monday. But rather than look back at what he has done in the City of Brotherly Love, Renda is heading to a pair of stations in the City of Big Shoulders that perhaps could use a brotherly shove.

Character witnesses: Tweets shall inherit the Earth. DePaul U. to new frontiers of class. Philly TV exec brings his approach to Chicago Phil Rosenthal New GM may give Channels 32 and 50 a needed lift Well, that take long. Paula Manley who in Marchjoined Corus Bank- shares Inc chief accounting officer, will resign from the critically under- capitalizedChicago-based condominium lender Thursday to other op- portuni- Corus said it plan to name a replace- ment.

Before joining the bank, Manley had been a consultant with JohnssonGroup Inc Her annual salary at Corus was $200,000. Bank industry observers believe only a matter of time before regulators seize Corus. Meanwhile, Glickman family members, who until recently owned nearly 45 percentof Corus shares, continue to trim their holdings in the bank, whose stock has been trading around 30 cents. Most recently, Edward Glickman brotherof former Chief Executive RobertGlickman reduced his stake to 3.8 million common shares, or 7.1 percentof the company. As of March 9, Edward Glickman had owned 6.3 millionshares, or 11.7 percent of Corus.

Money everything: Michael Iannaccone president of Oak Park-based community-bank consultant MDI Investments Inc predicts that regulators could end up seizing as many as 600U.S. banks among the so with various shortcomings. But a lack of qualified management teams could complicate efforts by private investment firms to buy failing banks, Iannaccone said in an interview with SNL Financial. Private-equity firms might have plenty of cash to invest in banks, but they might lack experienced bank managers on staff to run the lender after they acquire it. One exception is John Kanas a bank veteran who recently led a private-equity group that invested in failed BankUnited in Florida.

is a qualified Iannaccone said. But talk to tons of people who say in the process of getting a which need down the road to bid on abank, they have the management Iannaccone told the trade publication. fact, some of those groups have people I know the regulators Ashelf charter gives preliminary approval to private investors for a national bank charter. The charter remains the until the investor is in the position to bid on a troubled bank. Comings and goings: First Bank Trust a $517 million-asset institution based in Evanston, has hired Kelly and Brogan Ptacin as managing directorsto bring in corporate business throughout the Chicago area, particularly the west suburbs.

a St. Ambrose University graduate, most recently worked at Midwest Bank and Royal American. Ptacin has worked at American National Bank Royal American, where the Creighton University graduate headed commercial banking, and then Midwest Bank. Both men live in Arlington Heights. First Bank Trust is owned by First Evanston Bancorp Inc which has about 450shareholders.

It has fouroffices in Evanston and one apiece in Winnetka and Skokie. INSIDE FINANCIAL SERVICES Corus accounting chief exits Undercapitalized bank to lose officer after just 6 months By Becky Yerak TRIBUNE REPORTER Paula Manley Contact us Michael Lev, Associate Managing Editor for Business: 312-222-4762; ctc- Product: CTMAIN PubDate: 09-02-2009 Zone: ALL Edition: HD Page: 1-28 User: cci Time: Color:.