Tampa Bay Times du lieu suivant : St. Petersburg, Florida • 33

I You can send E-mail with story tips, comments and questions to the Times Business Department at: bizsptimes.com 13 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1995 abisco tfoir spinoff pFQSSQS BUSINESS DIGEST DOW DOLLAR YIFI The two insurgent shareholders say they'll try to replace RJR's board if it doesn't spin off its food business. 30 INDUSTRIALS 4756.57 14.82 VS. JAPANESE YEN 30-YEAR U.S. BOND 101.93 6.35 0.18 Unch. New York Timet Monday's Markets spinoff, and Carl and I will go away." Icahn said, "We will not accept any greenmail there is none involved." He was referring to payment to a putative corporate raider to abandon a hostile offer.

"We are only interested in the spinoff." The company responded by telling stockholders that an immediate and complete spinoff would be "premature and not in the best interest of shareholders," Carol J. Ma-kovich, a company spokeswoman, said. In a stock offering last January, RJR Nabisco sold 19.5 percent of its food business to the public, and the board subsequently adopted a resolution that no decision about a complete spinoff could be made before 1997. Denying news reports Monday that it had changed its position, the company said that a spinoff was still only a "possibility." Wall Street, responding to the excitement generated by the potential of a noisy Please see NABISCO 6E 7 i NEW YORK Announcing that they now jointly own 4.8 percent of RJR Nabisco Holdings Bennett LeBow and Carl Icahn said Monday that they would ask the company's shareholders to demand an immediate spinoff of Nabisco Holdings completely splitting the company's food business from its tobacco operations. In a day punctuated by charge and countercharge from the challengers and the company, LeBow, chairman and chief executive of Brooke Group asserted in an interview that "we are not interested in taking control of the company." He added: "Do the MARKET RISES.

Stocks rose Monday, led by transportation and technology shares, continuing a rally that began Friday. TREASURY YIELDS MIXED. Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities were mixed in Monday's auction. The Treasury Department sold in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 5.29 percent, up from 5.22 percent last week. Another was sold in six-month bills at an average discount rate of 5.31 percent, down from 5.33 percent.

The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors 5.45 percent for three-month bills and 5.55 percent for a six-month bill. In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills fell to 5.58 percent last week from 5.59 percent the previous week. AP Carl Icahn, left, and Bennett LeBow vow they won't accept "greenmail" to drop their efforts on RJR Nabisco. Nation I Giving disabled freedom of road A Tampa couple run both a thriving body shop and a clearinghouse of information for drivers with disabilities. 3 State is checking fund sales by banks More than 160 customers who bought bond mutual funds and other products from bank and thrift branches have complained.

I. U- j- 1 'i i 7 WaN Street Journal By KARI K. RIDGE Timet Corrotpondent TAMPA For Adam Bugan, driving on the open road has always been the best feeling of freedom he knows. But when he became a paraplegic 48 years ago while in the Navy, Bugan feared he had lost that independence forever. Instead, he GM signs deal to build cars in China General Motors Corp.

has signed a joint venture deal in which it aims to build up to 100,000 midsize Buicks a year in China with Shanghai Automotive Industry a major Chinese automaker. The agreement, announced Monday, is the culmination of two years of negotiations between GM and Chinese officials, who also were talking with Ford Motor Co. on the project. It envisions an investment of $l-billion or more in new assembly, engine and transmission plants in China, with car production to begin in 1997. Tampa BayState USAA COUNTERSUES EX-EMPLOYEE.

USAA is countersuing a former employee who accused the company of allowing her supervisor to harass her sexually. In a counterclaim filed Oct. 16 in federal court in Tampa, the insurer denies nearly every allegation made by Jana Agliano and accuses her of defamation and interfering with its relationship with employees. USAA is seeking damages, court costs and attorney's fees. Earlier this year, Agliano filed suit against USAA, saying that she had been sexually harassed and that the company had refused to accommodate an injury she received on the job.

SOUTHTRUST MERGING SUBSIDIARIES. SouthTrust Corp. is merging all its Florida subsidiaries into a single bank. The Birmingham, bank holding company now operates six subsidiary banks in Florida. By combining them, SouthTrust aims to eliminate paperwork and make it easier for the smaller ones to make big loans, said Gene Oliver, chairman and chief executive of SouthTrust Bank of West Florida.

The change won't affect services or staffing in its offices in Tampa Bay, he said. BUSCH COASTER WILL BE MONTU. Busch Gardens said Monday it's next roller coaster will be called the Montu. Touted as the world's largest inverted steel roller coaster, the ride will be named after a hawk-like sun god dating from ancient Egypt. The ride, which is scheduled to open next summer, will anchor a new $20-million Egyptian theme area.

i discovered that special adaptive equipment could allow him to drive. Since then, Bugan, 66, has gone across the country, visiting friends and exploring the countryside. He recently spent $18,000 to install a wheelchair ramp and hy Florida securities watchdogs have expanded their investigation into how banks sell mutual funds in the state, following complaints that some elderly residents weren't informed about invest- ment risk. The Florida Division of Securities is examining more than 160 complaints from customers who bought bond mutual funds and other products from brokers working out of bank and thrift branches. The state's interest has expanded far beyond an inquiry, begun in August 1994, into NationsSecurities, a unit of Charlotte, N.C.-based NationsBank.

The inquiry, which now includes the securities units of a half-dozen other institutions, appears to be the largest statewide investigation of its kind. Florida officials say they are looking at complaints against Barnett Securities, a division of Barnett Banks of Jacksonville, and First Union Brokerage Services, a division of First Union of Charlotte, N.C. The inquiry list also includes the securities units of several smaller re- gional banks, including Great Western Financial Securities, Glendale Brokerage and SunTrust Securities, as well as the investment-services unit of Citicorp in Florida. "I can't talk about specifics, other than to say we're concerned about the Adam Bugan of Lutz says driving is "a means of legs" for him. Timet photo KEN HELLE Becky and Red Plank demonstrate a computerized driver control in a van used to train disabled drivers.

draulic drop system that lowers his van to a curb. "Driving is all important because it's a means of legs," said Bugan, a Lutz resident. "If I couldn't drive, I would probably have gone straight to a funny farm somewhere babbling to myself. Instead, I got on the road." Bugan has help as he seeks equipment to make his driving easier a Tampa couple that run both a thriving body shop and a nationally known ed in resources for the disabled after her brother lost an arm and a leg in the Vietnam War. Now she and Red, 62, are the guiding forces behind the non-profit National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association.

NMEDA, an international organization which has been mentioned in newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and Newsday, now has more than 400 Please see VANS 6E clearinghouse of information for drivers with disabilities. Mobility Services in Sulphur Springs, begun 13 years ago by Becky and Red Plank, is a booming business that retrofits vehicles for drivers with special needs. In 1982, their first year, modified 10 vans. Last year, the shop worked on 150 vans and cars with a staff of nine. Becky Plank, 51, became interest Please see FUNDS 2E Earnings USAA to offer policies to enlisted personnel The insurer's move may mean more jobs in the company's Tampa office.

By TIM GRAY Times Staff Writer INTERMEDIA COMMUNICATIONS OF FLORIDA INC. The Tampa company said it lost or 61 cents per share in the third quarter, even though revenues increased 200 percent to a record The company, which offers businesses an alternative communications service to the local telephone companies, said it expects pressure on earnings for another two or three quarters as it expands its business to handle growth. Intermedia had 251 employees as of Sept. 30, up from 81a year ago. It also had connected 353 buildings to its fiber optic network, up from 279 in the third quarter of 1994.

Intermedia's stock closed unchanged Monday at ITT CORP. The company lost $174-million in the third quarter, reflecting costs related to the conglomerate's impending breakup into three separate entities, the company said Monday. The $174-million, or $1.49 a share, loss compares with a profit of $257-million, or $2.01 a share, in the 1994 third quarter. KIMMINS ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE CORP. The Tampa company said it earned $562,000, or 4 cents a share, for the quarter ended Sept.

30, compared with $346,000, or 3 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Kimmins provides solid waste management services including transfer, collection, demolition and recycling. AP Little Caesars started an ad campaign Monday for its stuffed crust pizza. Little Caesars goes for slice of the stuffed crust market provider of auto coverage for military officers. But since then, it has gradually enlarged its pool of customers by adding military dependents and former officers.

And it has expanded its menu of products and services. Besides property and casualty insurance, the company sells life insurance and banking, investment and travel services to its 2.8-mil-lion customers. For now, USAA will offer coverage only to enlisted personnel who are actually serving in the military. It won't extend coverage to their families or former enlisted personnel. But simply adding current enlisted personnel will plump the company's pool of potential customers.

About 1.3-million enlisted personnel serve in the military. Schattenberg said rates paid by current USAA customers won't be affected by adding enlisted personnel. A lot of people assume that soldiers and sailors drive recklessly and, therefore, would pose greater risk to an insurer. But so far, USAA has found no evidence to bear out that bit of "corporate folklore," Schattenberg said. And even if enlisted personnel were riskier drivers, their records wouldn't boost rates paid by other customers, he said.

That's because the new customers will be insured through separate USAA subsidiaries and pay rates commensurate with the risk their driving records pose. Attoclated Prett Best Mortgage Rate TAMPA USAA, a company known for catering to the insurance needs of military officers and their families, soon will start providing a lot more coverage to enlisted personnel. Starting next year, the company will begin to phase in auto, homeowners and renters insurance for enlisted men and women in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. By 1997, the coverage should be widely available. The announcement means several thousand Tampa Bay residents will have a new place to shop for insurance.

The bay area is home to hefty outposts of the Air Force and Coast Guard. Several thousand enlisted personnel from the two services are stationed here. In the long run, USAA's move also might translate into more jobs in the company's regional office in Tampa, where it employs about 1,400 people. Paul Schattenberg, a spokesman at the company's headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, wouldn't predict how many positions might be added or when. USAA's addition of enlisted personnel signals a shift in strategy for the insurer.

The company began in 1922 as a The best 30-year fixed mortgage rate in the Tampa Bay area as reported Monday was 7.625 percent with 0 points offered by, among others, AApex Mortgage Corp. (813) 684-1111, Atlantic Resources (813) 822-2294, and Florida Home Mortgage (813) 449-0202. The rate is based on a $100,000 loan with a 5 to 10 percent down payment. For additional mortgage rate information, see the list of rates offered by some area institutions in Saturday's Home Garden section. The information is supplied by National Financial News Services in West Chester, Pa.

and a few other cities in March, featuring spft mozzarella string cheese and pepperoni hidden in the crust rim. "We found there was a decent-size demand for stuffed crust, and we definitely want to provide the consumer with what they want," company spokeswoman Susan Sherbow said. Little Caesars launched the product nationwide Monday with television and print ads focusing on its low takeout price $7.99 for a large cheese and pepperoni. Little Caesars also offers a cheese-only version. To differentiate its pie from Pizza Please see PIZZA 6E DETROIT It's gooier, messier and more fattening than your average pizza, but it sells.

So Little Caesars on Monday took on industry leader Pizza Hut by offering its own version of stuffed crust pizza nationwide. Since Pizza Hut began selling the cheesy concoction in March, its sales at stores open at least a year rose 22 percent in the second quarter and were up 6 percent in the third quarter while pizza sales industrywide have increased only slightly. No. 3 Little Caesars began test-marketing stuffed crust pizza in Detroit More business briefs, Page 2E.