South Florida Sun Sentinel du lieu suivant : Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 47

Sun-Sentinel, Friday, March 25, 1994 Section JANE BRYANT QUINN Staying Ahead (DDnnffidtemi nna Msn(iD MARKET RESULTS Assassination won't change plans, firms say Prime time: Banks follow Fed with rate increases I Dow Industrials: 3,821.09 500 Index: 464.35 I NYSE Index: 257.96 I Market updates. Broward, 523-5463; Palm Beach and Dade, 930-5463. Enter Source Line category 5165. MetLife affair offers lessons for consumers here are tips for all consumers in the remorse-and-restitution plan recently forced on the nation's largest life insurer, Metropolitan Life. The deceptions practiced bv some By CHARLES LUNAN Business Writer The assassination of Mexico's leading presidential candidate hasn't shaken the confidence of South Florida companies already doing business south of the border.

And at least three South Florida businessmen contacted on Thursday said the news will not prevent them from traveling to Mexico later next month as part of a import-export trade mission from Broward County. "By the time we get down there it will be a lot quieter," said John Bauer, a Fort Lauderdale food exporter already exporting beef and poultry to Mexico. "I don't think anything is going to stop the NAFTA bulldozer." But coming on the heels of a peasant revolt in the southern state of Chiapas, the assassination could cause some companies dent and senior economic analyst at NationsBank. Indeed, the higher rates mean credit will cost more, particularly if rates continue to gradually rise this year, as many economists expect. In addition to business loans, many consumers' home equity loans and credit card rates are tied to the prime rate.

"I would expect to see the Fed continuing to push short rates up two to three more times this year," said John Godfrey, Barnett Banks' chief economist. However, Godfrey noted that long-term rates edged lower this week when the Fed increased short-term rates. Because the Fed is raising rates gradually at a time when there's little sign of inflation, Godfrey said he thinks long-term rates may well be lower at year's end or even two years from now than they are now. "Certainly there is ample room for that," he said, considering the large gap between an inflation rate of about 3 percent and the yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond, which is at about 6.9 percent. By JIM TALLEY Business Writer Big regional banks doing business in Florida followed the lead of money-center banks and the Federal Reserve by raising their prime lending rates on Thursday.

Jacksonville-based Barnett Banks, NationsBank and First Union, both with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., as well as Atlanta-based SunTrust, the parent of SunBanks of Orlando, all raised prime rates to 6.25 percent from 6 percent. The rate increases come on the heels of the Fed's move on Tuesday to nudge short-term interest rates higher by a quarter of a point, the second such increase this year. On Wednesday, big money-center banks raised their prime rates and that continued on Thursday by such institutions as Northern Trust, J.P. Morgan, Comerica, Harris. Trust and Bank of Boston, among others.

"Banks are doing what any other firm would do when costs go up, pass it along to their customers," said Dan Friel, vice presi MetLife agents may be used by other agents as well. So check out the guidelines MetLife is using to identify bilked consumers to see if they apply to you. V' MetLife peddled so-called retirement plans without disclosing to buyers that these plans were actually cash-value life insurance poli-' cies. The agents involved called the monthly payment a "deposit" rather than an insurance i premium. Customers who asked whether this i i was life insurance were told onlv that there eyeing investment opportunity in Mexico to reconsider.

"This kind of news when it hits international markets is kind of like the crime situation when it hits the tourism market here," said Frank Nardozza, a partner with the Miami office of KPMG-Peat Marwick. "It is just going to add to the nervousness." Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday, attributable both to investors' confidence in Mexico being rattled and a delayed reaction to the Federal Reserve's raising of interest rates, analysts said. The Dow Jones industrial average was off PLEASE SEE MEXICO 8D was an "insurance component." Many buyers thought they had something akin to a tax-deferred annuity. Strategy was used nationwide At first. MetLife officials said all the de- T7T 7 EA BITTEN uizenga: I ceptions were masterminded by a runaway manager in its Tampa office.

But an investi- gation ordered by the Florida Department of Insurance implicated MetLife in a deceptive sales strategy used nationwide. i According to the report, MetLif e's own Call reer Success Schools taught agents to avoid 1 the words "life insurance." They were ad- vised to call policies "insured savings plans" instead. For 1991, when MetLife was official-' I- ly tut-tutting about the Tampa office's mis-1 leading sales practices, Tampa was named its "Sales Office of the Year." Fleas flourish Carnival Indoor Flea Market opened last week in North Lauderdale. Merger in trouble Viacom stock may foil deal, he says Royal Palm Blvd. i i a iS I I 5 Carnival Indoor Flea 1 Market Atlantic Blvd'V 1 X.

Southgatej Blvd. LL Staff graphicANDY DORSETT Newest market adds to growing list in S. Fla. Early this month, MetLife agreed to pay a fine of up to $20 million, to be divided among most of the 50 states. So far, 33 states have signed on to the agreement, according to MetLife spokesman Charles Sahner.

Pennsylvania, Georgia and Massachusetts have reached separate settlements. MetLife has also agreed to refund money to some 60,000 customers. MetLife identifies suspicious policies by looking at the premium that's paid. AH amounts ending in a 0 or a 5 are considered suspect. It would be unusual, for example, for legitimate life-insurance buyers to pay an even premium such as $65, $100, $125 or $150 a month.

More likely, they'd pay an odd number of dollars, such as $158.43. There are some legitimate reasons for making even-dollar monthly payments, but to MetLife it's a red flag. Another red flag, Sahner says, is an agent who has asked how much you can pay per month. Restitution will be made Under the repayment agreement, made with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, MetLife will send restitution letters to even-premium whole-life policyholders if: (1) their agents did at least 25 percent of their business in such policies, in any year from 1990 to October 1993; (2) the agent's office did at least 15 percent of its business in such policies; or (3) their agent or sales office was found to use misleading sales material. They'll aluo get a letter if they complained, any time during the suspect period, that their purchase hadn't been properly explained.

Such policyholders will be offered their money back with interest (minus any withdrawals or outstanding loans) or a transfer into a tax-deferred annuity. Customers who don't fall into the above categories, but feel ripped off, will have their cases investigated individually, Sahner says. (The national phone number for complaints is 1-800-566-6365.) Restitution won't be offered to people who converted group or term insurance policies to whole life or who bought policies worth $1 million or more. It's presumed that they knew they were buying insurance. i -h 'if By VICKI McCASH Business Writer Blockbuster stockholders, analysts and deal watchers have been speculating for weeks that the merger between Blockbuster Entertainment and Viacom-Paramount is in trouble.

This week, Blockbuster Chairman H. Wayne Huizenga confirmed it. "There's a good chance it may not take place," he said of the deal during a news conference at the National Foot-ball League owners meeting on Wednesday in New Orleans. Viacom stock, which once traded near $60 per share, has been trading recently around $29 per share. The stock has dropped steadily since Viacom first made a bid for Paramount Communications and later for Blockbuster, although it has climbed back slightly in recent trading.

The Blockbuster-Viacom deal is a stock-for-stock swap. At Thursday's prices, Blockbuster shareholders would get about $25 in Viacom securities for each share of Blockbuster stock. Blockbuster closed on Thursday at $26.25. "If the stock stays down, there's a good chance that our shareholders won't vote the deal through," Huizenga said; "That's all." Shareholders have a class-action lawsuit pending in Delaware Chancery Court, seeking to block the merger. Analysts said Huizenga's comments sounded like posturing.

Most believe negotiations are going on between the two companies. PaineWebber analyst Craig Bibb said he expects Viacom to offer better protection for Blockbuster shareholders that would pay them if Viacom's stock does not rise over the next year or two. But last week, Bloomberg Business News reported that a Viacom adviser said Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone was leaning against sweetening the bid for Blockbuster. Blockbuster's annual shareholder's meeting is scheduled for May 10. Blockbuster executives have said they would like to have the merger vote as part of the annual business.

To do that, Blockbuster's directors have through the first week of April to decide whether to recommend the merger to shareholders. They need to mail proxy materials to shareholders 30 days in advance of the meeting. Blockbuster's financial adviser, Merrill Lynch, is not likely to reaffirm its recommendation for the merger at current prices, Bibb said, and Blockbuster's board would not be likely to recommend the merger if the financial advisers do not. He said if the board votes against the merger, then the merger is off. Business Writer Eric Conrad contributed to this report, which was supplemented with information from Bloomberg Business News.

Staff photosROBERT AZMITIA The Carnival Indoor Flea Market will attempt to breathe life into a nearly vacant North Lauderdale strip center. By DAVID ALTANER Business Writer If you like flea markets, central Broward is the place to be. Another mostly empty shopping center has been filled with a flea market. Carnival Indoor Flea Market opened last week at the site of a former Knight's Pottery store in North Lauderdale. It is on Southgate Boulevard west of Rock Island Road.

The opening means central Broward will soon have at least nine flea markets. There's Festival Flea Market in Pompano Beach and Mega Mart, which is expected to open this spring in Margate. There's the Oakland Park Flea Market, The Bazaar, and the original flea market, the Swap Shop, all along 31st Avenue. There's also a Margate Swap Shop, plus a flea market in a former Ames store at Broward Boulevard and Interstate 95. And one more, A-l Flea market, is expected to open soon in a former Lionel Play World toy store in Lau-derhill.

Flea markets are often a last resort for shopping centers that can't be leased to a conventional shopping center anchor such as Publix or Winn-Dixie. For example, two Value Mart flea markets opened in former Ames discount department store sites in west Broward. One is operating at University Drive and Commercial Boulevard, and the other on State Road 84 has already closed. One of Carnival's co-owners, Nick Mendel, previously operated a sneaker store in the Knight's Pottery shopping center, half of which is still mostly empty. "We decided we should turn this desert around, to give people some joy in this area," his partner, Sam Nissim, said.

Jane Bryant Quinn is an author and syndicated personal finance columnist. Readers with questions may write in care of Newsweek magazine, 444 Madison New York, NY. 10022 INSIDE BUSINESS EXTRA Group disputes report showing Florida doctors arnojig highest paid in U.S. 3D 4 Source Line Business Broward: 523-5463 Palm BeachDade: 930-5463 Stock quote hotline Instructions on stock page. Dave Brandman shows Daniela Contreras of Lauderdale Lakes some items at the Just Rings booth inside the flea market.

The pair, both Israeli immigrants, pickles, jewelry, all-cotton clothing, say their flea market has variety but men's and women's large-size cloth-is not too big to be overwhelming, ing, a travel agency and even a Vendors Include those selling psychic. National Business 5055 NYSE Most Active 6170 NASDAQ Active 8172 AMEX Most Active 5171 Market Indexes 5165 U.S. Dollar 5070 Exchange Rates 6060 Canadian Dollar 6370 Canadian Headllnes5355 Business Menu Local Headlines Stock Quotes Quote Helpline U.S. Treasury Corporate Bonds All Commodities Toronto Indexes Montreal Indexes 6090 5056 5000 5001 5075 5130 6123 6420 6425 1 .1.