Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 24

C2 THE HARTFORD COURANT: Saturday, July 13, 1991 Pan Am trying to sell treasured Latin American routes were meeting for a third day in New York on Friday, according to an airline official who spoke on condition of anonymity. United and Pan Am were trying to work out terms for a purchase of the Latin American and-Carribean routes that gave Pan Am its start in 1927 on a mail run from Key West, to Havana. Neither side would comment on the talks, which were continuing a day after Pan Am agreed to sell all its routes across the Atlantic and into Asia and Africa for $260 million to Delta Air Lines. Pan Am said it has also received some unspecified overtures from ruptcy court, according to an industry official familiar with Pan Am's plans. 1 1 United benefited from Pan Am's decline this spring by snapping up its route authorities to London's Heathrow Airport, considered the dominant gateway to Europe, for $290 million.

When Pan Am sold those routes, it was able to get United to agree to a marketing partnership that Pan Am had hoped would lead to an outright merger. But United was not interested. Nor was Delta interested in a merger, so Pan Am finally had to open the door to a piecemeal sell-off. In addition to all of Pan Am's operations over the Atlantic and in the Eastern Hemisphere, Delta will get the Pan Am Shuttle, which ferries mostly business travelers between New York and Washington and Boston. As of Friday, Delta was not even sure what it would call the shuttle.

The flights might operate under the Delta Air Lines name, though the carrier could conceivably keep "shuttle" in the name if there seemed to be 'a marketing advantage, Delta spokesman Neil Monroe said. "We haven't really decided on the name, but you can rest assured that Delta will igure prominently." I Groton company accused of violating safety rules AT A GLANCE: Danbury Savings Loan Association Savings Loan is a thrift operating in the Danbury area. It is mutually owned. Background: The thrift was established in 1920. It operates seven branches three in Danbury and one each in Newtown, Ridgefield, New Fairfield and Southbury.

Assets: $278 million (as of March 31). Deposits: $188 million (as of March 31). Loans: $206 million (as of March 31). Earnings: The thrift lost $1.66 million in its quarter ended March 31. Employees: 85 Chief executive: Peter Filous, president who was ousted Friday by federal regulators.

A Groton aerospace manufacturer faces possible penalties of $85,500 for 70 alleged violations of federal job-safety regulations. Wyman-Gordon Investment Castings Inc. exposed workers to numerous hazards and failed to provide required safety equipment and training, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said. The agency accused the Poquon-nock Road company of 33 serious violations, most resulting from its alleged failure to provide safeguards on dangerous machinery. The company also was accused of improper handling of hazardous chemicals.

Serious violations are defined as those in which there is a substantial Source: Veribanc Inc. and Resolution Trust Corp. SOURCE: Bank of New England Corp. Hyatt Hotel chief Jay A. Pritzker, of Chicago.

Pritzker has declined comment. Earlier in the week, United made an offer for the Latin American routes and some European routes that ended up in Delta's hands on Thursday. Pan Am filed for protection from creditors in bankruptcy court in January, but the company recently abandoned its fight to stay alive in favor of a strategy of selling its valuable international' assets as quickly as possible. Although that would effectively shut Pan Am down, the airline's executives felt such a fate was preferable to a chaotic liquidation in bank- The Hartford Courant- The Hartford Courant exceeding $100,000 will be broken up into smaller accounts to ensure that they are covered in the future, an OTS spokeswoman said. i' The federal seizure Friday marked the third failure in Con- -necticut this year, following regulators' seizure of Connecticut Savings and Loan Association of Hartford Jan.

11 and Security Savings and Loan Association of Waterbury April Associated Press NEW YORK Pan American World Airways, the dying carrier that shed assets for years to keep flying, was trying Friday to sell its last treasure: the Latin American routes that made it the pioneer of commercial aviation more than 60 years ago. The prospective buyer was United Airlines, the Chicago-based superpower that became a key player in the unraveling of Pan Am when it purchased Pan Am's lucrative trans-Pacific routes in 1985 for $750 million. Executives for the two airlines Federal government seizes Continued from Page CI its capital was $3.4 million, or 1.2 percent of total assets, McGrath said, well below what regulators require. It reported having assets of about $278.3 million, with deposits of about $188.4 million. Capital, the difference between assets and liabilities, serves as a bank's financial cushion.

Since March 31, the thrift's capital had continued to decrease, and Haley said the institution had become insolvent. McGrath said its survival was threatened. "When you see a bank's capital continue to diminish, and you see their nonperforming assets continue to grow, that usually translates into continuing losses, unless there can be an influx of new capital, and that didn't occur here," McGrath said. McGrath said regulators were concerned about the high levels of bad loans, including a heavy concentration in commercial real estate, which helped raise its level of non-performing assets to more than $31 million in the quarter that ended March 31. Danbury Savings Loan was ac-, tively involved in condominium development, an issue that arose when its former president, Charles E.

Bruno, became a key figure in the 1990 federal corruption trial of former Danbury Mayor James E. Dyer. Bruno testified that he personally paid Dyer more than $30,000 and relayed another $30,000 from Waterbury developer John Erri-chetti. Bruno received two years probation for federal tax fraud after cooperating with the government. Dyer was acquitted on all charges except one count of filing a false tax return.

During testimony in the Dyer trial, Bruno said the bank, from which he retired in 1988, had a policy of waiving origination fees on mortgage loans to city officials, including DS Bancor profits fall in quarter possibility that the conditions could cause death or serious injury and that the employer knew or should have known existed. Wyman-Gordon also faces 37 lesser violations, including improper storage and maintenance of respirators. Bob Abramson, manager of facilities engineering for the company, said Wyman-Gordon would decide Monday whether to challenge the citations. He said he expects the company to ask for an informal conference with OSHA to discuss the citations. The factory has about 700 workers.

Inspectors visited the plant in response to a complaint, said Ted Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the agency. Also contributing to the earnings decline was a $286,000 loss on the sale of investment securities, the company reported. The company's directors Friday declared a 5 percent stock dividend, payable on Aug. 9 to shareholders of record on July 26. As of June 30 the company had assets of $641.9 million, compared with $627.5 million a year earlier; deposits of $492.9 million, compared with $471.5 million; and net loans of $519.6 million, compared with $547.5 million.

Other Connecticut companies reporting earnings included: C.R. GIBSON Norwalk 1w Miwtv wviiu inn 30 1991 1990 $537,000 Nft Incwrw $7,000 Ptr Shr M.13 Rtvtnuts $14. wn York, was released early in the day. Gilrain declined to make available a copy of the report. He said its contents included "some nice things about the.

company and its prospects." He said the volume Friday was "a little on the high side" but "not extraordinary." 1991 bank failures The seizure of Danbury Savings Loan Association brings to eight the number of Connecticut financial institutions that have failed this year. 1 Connecticut Bank and Trust Hartford: Seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Jan. 6. Sale of the bank to FleetNorstar Financial Group has been approved by the FDIC.

2. Community National Bank, Glastonbury: Seized by FDIC Jan. 11; deposits and some assets bought by Fleet Bank. 3. Connecticut Savings and Loan Association, Hartford: Put into receivership by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision Jan.

1 1 The Resolution Trust Corp. is acting as receiver while seeking a buyer. 4. Merchants Bank Trust Norwalk: Seized by FDIC Feb. 1 deposits and some assets sold to Union Trust Co.

5. Landmark Bank, Hartford: Seized by the FDIC March 28; all deposits sold to People's Bank. 6. Security Savings and Loan Association, Waterbury: Put into receivership by the state Department of Banking and the federal Office of Thrift Supervision April 12. The federal Resolution Trust Corp.

will act as the receiver while seeking a buyer. 7. Whitney Bank and Trust Hamden: Seized by the FDIC April 12. Its FDIC-insured deposits were transferred to First Constitution Bank of New Haven. 8.

Danbury Savings Loan Association, Danbury: Put into receivership by the state Department of Banking and the federal Office of Thrift Supervision. The federal Resolution Trust Corp. will act as receiver while seeking a buyer. DS Bancor, the parent company of Derby Savings Bank, Friday reported second-quarter earnings of $380,000, or 20 cents a share, down from $645,000, or 33 cents a share, in the same period last year. Harry P.

DiAdamo president and chief executive officer, attributed the decline in net income to an increase in bad loans. The company during the first quarter added $975,000 to its loan loss reserves, up from $600,000 in the same period last year. The increase in bad loans caused interest income to decline. The bank's nonperforming loans rose to nearly $14.8 million as of June 30, up from $14.5 million on the same date last year. Total nonper--forming assets stood at $37.9 million, up from $23.6 million a year earlier.

Travelers job cuts Travelers will eliminate 10 jobs in Hartford as a result of a realignment in its Financial Services Department, the company confirmed Friday. About half the affected employees will be placed in other Travelers positions, and the company will continue to try to place the others, spokesman Dan Kaferle said. The department has 1,200 employees, about 850 of them in Hartford. The realignment of Financial Services, which sells life insurance and annuities, is a continuation of the restructuring that began more than a year ago. Travelers said the latest move is designed to further improve the company's ability to deliver quality products and services in a changing marketplace.

Pittston picks chief GREENWICH Pittston board of directors has elected Joseph C. Farrell to become the company's chairman and chief executive officer when Paul W. Douglas retires from those positions Oct. 1. Farrell, 55, is Pittston's president and chief operating officer.

He joined the company in 1984 as executive vice president-coal. He previously had been president of Freeport Gold Co. Pittston mines and markets coal and provides global air freight services, transportation security and home security. NATION Hose resignation NEW YORK James Hoge announced Friday he would resign as publisher of the Daily News, four months after the tabloid was sold following a bitter strike. Hoge will remain as a consultant to Maxwell Newspapers parent company of the Daily News.

He also accepted an appointment for the fall semester as senior fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. General Dynamics ST. LOUIS General Dynamics Corp. said Friday it will take a $140 million, or $3.35 a share, gain in the second quarter after adjusting the amount of money it had set aside for taxes.

General Dynamics will be able to take the gain now than an Internal Revenue Service audit for 1977 through 1986 has been completed. Once the work was done, General Dynamics found it would be allowed to take various credits for items including investments and research and development, i Layoffs at Seagate SAN JOSE, Calif. Seagate Technology the largest independent computer disk drive maker, laid off 1,200 workers Friday in a cost-cutting move that is another sign of the recession in the computer industry. Julie Still, a spokeswoman for the Scotts Valley-based company, said the layoffs represent 18 percent of Seagate's U.S. and European work force.

Asia manufacturing operations weren't affected. Still didn't know how many of the cuts from Seagate's total 41,520 worldwide work force occurred in the United States. Scientist sentenced NEWARK, N.J. A cancer-stricken scientist was sentenced Friday to more than five years in prison for stealing millions of dollars worth of trade secrets from two pharmaceutical companies. He is expected to live only six more months because he has inoperable lung cancer.

"I don't want to die in prison," Mario Miscio cried to U.S. District Judge Alfred Lechner just before sentencing. Lechner said he had no choice but to sentence Miscio, 70, to five years and three months. Miscio was convicted in March of conspiring to sell the formulas for ivermectin and interferon to an undercover FBI agent for $8 million. From staff and wire reports FUNDS AVAILABLE For equity participation in established, profitable manufacturing distribution service businesses.

Minimum participation $500,000. tquity Acquisitions, Inc. ENTIRE SUMMER INVENTORY SAEiE! FREE ALTERATIONS 30-50" Stanley Works stock price rises by nearly $2 members of the city's planning commission. Bank officers, he testified, were also expected to buy hundreds of dollars' worth of tickets to political fund-raisers. Regulators Friday emphasized that it would be business as usual for bank depositors and borrowers.

Deposits will continue to be insured up to the $100,000 federal limit, and the accounts of depositors with deposits Continued from Page CI nated spokesman, could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon. Gilrain attributed Friday's surge in shares traded to an analyst's report recommending Stanley stock. The report, by Lawrence J. Horan of Prudential Bache Research in New Returning WHCT-TV to airwaves might be difficult undertaking Television stations in Connecticut also have to contend with stations in New York and Boston. Continued from Page Cl provide any other information on their applications.

There are two ways to acquire the broadcast license. One would be to buy the station in the bankruptcy sale, getting the license, the station's Garden Street headquarters and all of the broadcasting equipment. The other would be to apply to the FCC for the broadcast license only and to be picked by the FCC as the best candidate. The license holder then would have to purchase equipment and establish a broadcasting center. A buyer who purchased the station in the bankruptcy sale could begin broadcasting immediately.

But the new owner could lose the license within about a year if the FCC ruled another license applicant was more qualified to operate the station. In that case, the equipment and building would be useless. Shurberg, Sage, Ellerston and Stanford all have applications pending before the FCC. Clay Pendarvis, FCC chief of television, said review of the applications is under way, but the process would take six months to a year. In addition to pursuing the station through the license application route, Shurberg's lawyer said the company has talked about making a bid in the bankruptcy sale.

"We have contacted, at least preliminarily, the trustee," said Harry Cole, a Washington, D.C., laywer who represents Shurberg. Not much came out of the talks, but Cole said the channels remain open. He said the firm originally applied for the license for the station in 1983 and reaffirmed its interest in 1989. "We are just waiting to see what the FCC does," Cole said. Jeffrey Foisie, chief correspondent for Broadcasting, a trade publication, said Connecticut is an especially tough market for independent television stations.

Nationally, independent stations are doing well, he said. But "the HartfordNew Haven area is a different market because there are already at least two other independent television stations," Foisie said. munications, which operates the independent Hartford station WTIC-TV, Channel 61, agrees. When Channel 18 went off the air, it left Channel 61 and WTXX, Channel 20, as the Hartford market's independent stations. Chase said the market is not large enough to support more than two independent television stations with conventional programming.

"The obvious type of buyer that would go for Channel 18 would be a specialty programmer, such as a religious programmer or an ethnic broadcaster," Chase said, "someone who does not depend on the normal advertising market" Chase said, however, it is possible that someone might come into the Hartford market with the idea that they could do a better job than the current conventional independent broadcasters. But, he said, "I would be extremely surprised if an established broadcaster purchased the station." In addition to the three major network affiliates, independent stations in Connecticut also have to contend with stations in New York and Boston whose signals are capable of reaching homes in much of the state. With all of the competition, there is little quality conventional programming left for other stations. Channel 18 programming included a mix of ethnic, religious and sports programming. Foise said the most likely buyers for Channel 18 would be "experienced, independent television station operators such as the Home Shopping Network." Arnold Chase, co-chairman of Chase Com unpaid auto insurance discounts New York probes Continued from Page Cl the discounts or whether they will receive a refund.

Two other companies being investigated by the state, Libery Mutual and Prudential, said that customers have been receiving their discounts. David Snyder, counsel for the American Insurance Association, a trade group, said he didn't know the extent of possible violations. But he said recent information questioning the safety of passive auto restraints may show that insurance discounts are not warranted for cars with these devices. Still, Snyder said, "We would urge Ijt iraftmt Ibw czn wo yea? invite readers to write, call or visit to share their opinions, ideas for news stories and letters to the editor. The business-news office is located at 285 Broad Hartford, and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.

to 5 p.m. Teleonone: 241-6736 or toll-free, 1-800-524-4242, Ext. 6736. IS Louis J. Golden, business editor, oversees all business sections.

He can be reached by calling 241-3857 or toll-free, 1-800-524-4242, Ext. 3857. News releases may be Louis J. Golden Business Editor sent to him at 285 Broad St, Hartford, CT 061 15. James Doody, deputy business editornews, supervises the business sections that appear Tuesday through Saturday.

He can be reached hv callinn P41-317 nr toil-free, 1-800-524-4242, Ext 3907. 5 Patricia E. McNerney, deputy business editorweekends, supervises I the Sunc'-v business section and I Business Weekly. She can be reached by 241-3C50 or Ext 3850. C3usiness staff members may be reached oireef'v try cs: 1 41-6735 or toll-free, 1-60-52 4-4242, Ext.

6736. They are: i W. Joseph Campbell Manufacturing, roreign trade, economy Mary Agnes Carey Cyndie D. Greer Inside Business Appointments, calendar, new business, corporate facts Banking Utilities Retailing Insurance Real estate notes Real estate Labor, workplace issues Defense industries, aerospace Personal finance, marketing I I Joanne Johnson Susan E. Kinsman Pamela Klein Diane Levick Lynne B.

Maston Lawrence B. Rasie Michael Remez Robert Weisman Stephen Williams Freelance submissions: Freelance articles and proposals should be submitted to Patricia E. I McNerney, deputy business editorweekends at 241-3850 or toll-free, 1-800-524-4242. Ext. 3850.

rj General Information: The Courant publishes several lists in i Business Weekly each Monday, I including business appointments, coming events, new businesses and marketing news. To submit information for these lists, please call Patricia E. McNerney, deputy business editorweekends, et 241-M'O or toll-free, 1-800-524-4242, 1 1 Ext 38-3. 1 1 I ers who tell the company about safety devices and will give refunds to people who weren't aware of the discount, said Stephen Wasdick, company spokesman. Abrams said some insurance companies have already promised to change their computer programs to ensure that customers automatically receive the discount.

If they fail to follow through, Abrams said the companies will be sued. Other companies being investigated by the state are: Arnica, Hanover, General Accident, Kemper Group, Colonial Penn, State Farm Fire Casualty, New York Central Mutual, Nationwide, Geico, Allstate, Metropolitan and Allstate Indemnity. about recovery The various changes left the Producer Price Index for finished goods, before adjusting for seasonal variations, at 121.9 in June, compared with 117.8 a year ago. That means a marketbasket of goods at the wholesale level would have cost $121.90 last month, compared with $117.80 a year ago. Most economists expect price pressures to remain modest, at least through the early stages of a recovery, and are predicting 1991 will be the best year for inflation since 1986.

our companies to comply with the law." Companies are aware which cars they insure are equipped with passive restraints because that information is part of the coded vehicle identification numbers, Calagna said. Abrams is asking companies to contact consumers who haven't received an anti-theft discount to find out if they deserve one. But a spokesman for Aetna, another company being investigated, said the vehicle identification number doesn't provide information about passive restraints for owners of vans, pickup trucks and cars bought before Sept. 1, 1989. Aetna offers discounts to custom after it became clear the Persian Gulf war would not seriously disrupt world oil production.

Excluding food and energy, the index moved up at an annual rate of 3.3 percent from January to June, about the same as in each of the three previous half-year spans. In June, energy prices fell 1.4 percent, after rising 2.4 percent a month earlier. Except for May, energy costs have not risen since November. Food costs dipped 0.6 percent in June, after a rise of 0.2 percent in May. Price, sales reports arouse concerns Continued from Page Cl During the first half of 1990, prices paid for finished goods ready to be shipped to retailers fell at an annual rate of 1.5 percent, compared with an annualized increase of 8.2 percent in the previous six-month period.

The big difference came in energy costs. They shot up at an annual rate of more than 60 percent in the last half of 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait They fell at a rate of 19.7 percent in the first half of this year,.