The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 52

Wednesday. Dec 1. 1999 BUSINESS The Atlanta Journal-Constitution TODAY'S TOPIC: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SALLYE SALTER (e-mail: ssalterajc.com) Office towers seen BUSINESS IN BRIEF Hancock policyholders approve IPO plan John Hancock policyholders approved plans Tuesday to take the company public as it moves toward a $2 billion initial public offering next year. According to preliminary results, 94 percent of the 137-year-old company's policyholders voted to approve its conversion to public ownership. Several hundred cast a final ballot during a one-hour meeting after nearly 1 million had already voted by mail.

As a mutual insurance company, Boston-based John Hancock Mutual life Insurance Co. is owned by its roughly 3 million policyholders. Hancock is preparing an initial public offering in late January that would transfer ownership to stockholders. Allied seeks new strategy, replaces CEO By Scott Thurston STAFF WRITER Allied Holdings, the Decatur-based car-hauling company, is shaking up top management in a bid to climb out of an earnings pothole. Allied said Tuesday that Robert Rutland will step aside as chief executive on Jan.

1, handing overihat title to the 2 executive, Mitchell Poole. Rutland, 58, will remain chairman of the board and will still be "active in the business," Allied said. But day-to-day management control will move to Poole, 52, who'll get the newly created post of vice chairman and chief executive. He was formerly president and chief operating officer. Randall West, currently president of Allied's Axis Group logistics subsidiary, will replace Poole as president and COO.

The changes follow an earnings slide this year. Allied posted a loss of $3.7 million for the first nine months of 1999, vs. a $3.4 million profit a year earlier. Its stock, which has lost half its value in the past year, closed Tuesday at $7 a share, down 6lA cents. "Our immediate task is to address unsatisfactory financial results, primarily in our North American car-hauling operations," Poole said.

The company was hurt by a strike last year at General Motors, its biggest customer. The trend toward sport-utility vehicles and light trucks also has eroded profits, because Allied makes less money on heavier vehicles and didn't quickly adjust its pricing to compensate. Poole, an 11-year veteran of the company, also said Allied must devise new business strategies to stay current with trends in e-commerce and supply chain management. The change is a milestone for Allied: Rutland was the third member of his family to run the firm since his grandfather, Guy Rutland bought it in 1934. company three days to comply.

NATION Merrill Lynch starting Net trading account Merrill Lynch Co. is expected to introduce a lower-cost Internet trading account today, allowing clients to bypass its 14,800 brokers, the most of any U.S. securities firm. The 114-year-old firm's individual clients will be able to trade stocks and bonds online for $29.95 per transaction. That compares with as much as $100 charged by its full-service brokers to trade 100 shares.

TECHNOLOGY MCl's Atlanta unit wins BP Amoco contract MCI WorldCom's Atianta-based unit has landed a $650 million, five-year contract to handle all the telecommunications for BP Amoco. BP Amoco is one of the world's largest companies with revenue last year of $83 billion. The oil company has decided to outsource all of its telecom work, including its Internet services. Based in Clinton, MCI WorldCom has more than 4,000 employees in Atlanta. ALSO NOTEWORTHY Images USA, a 10-year-old advertising and marketing firm, has moved its headquarters to 290 14th St.

in Midtown. The agency, which has 35 employees, also has opened a branch office in Charlotte. SBC Communications Inc. is considering tracking stocks for its wireless and international businesses, Chief Executive Edward Whitacre Jr. said.

Coca-Cola Minute Maid Co. unit and Snack Foods Corp. formed a long-term alliance to market their Minute Maid and Hi-C brand products to retailers and food service customers in the frozen juice novelty category. Delta Air Lines is issuing $1.5 billion in private notes, after paying about the same amount to buy regional affiliate Comair. Ecom-panies is paying $7.5 million to a Houston entrepreneur for the rights to the domain name business.com.

It is thought to be the highest price ever paid for an Internet address. The board of Birmingham Steel Corp. formed a special committee Tuesday to review alternatives, including the possible sale of the company, amid a proxy fight with dissident stockholders. Nissan Motor Co. said it will cut 10 percent of its U.S.

work force, or about 1,000 jobs, by March 2001 as part of a global restructuring plan. Staff and news services lar quarterly auction of residential and commerical properties, most in metro Atlanta. The brochure and terms of the sale are available at www Online bidders can preregister by Dec. 6 at livebid.amazon.com. Falcons headquarters in Suwanee up for sale The Atlanta Falcons' Suwanee headquarters, which includes a 110-room motel, a health club and a office building, has been put up for sale.

The price tag is $11.5 million, according to Floyd H. Baldwin, broker with the Gainesville-based Norton Agency listing the property. The team, which is relocating to Flowery Branch, will vacate the Suwanee site by next September. Barnes to speak to property group Gov. Roy Barnes will address the Georgia chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties at the group's annual meeting at 7:30 a.m.

Dec. 9 at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. Deals done Boston-based Cabot Industrial Properties paid $10.3 million for a office building at 7100 Highlands. Parkway in Smyrna. The seller was Colorado-based Prologis Trust, according to Databank, which covers local deed transactions.

Miles Properties, an Atlanta investment firm, purchased Highland Forest apartments in Stone Mountain for $6 million. The 180-unit complex was sold by Felker Properties, another local firm, Databank said. San Diego-based Fairfield Development paid $4.3 million for 44 acres in Lawrenceville, where it plans to build 498 apartments, Databank reports. ATLANTA Southern Co. part of fuel cell project Southern Co.

has joined forces with three other companies in a $7 million, three-year fuel cell demonstration project at the Houston Advanced Research Center. The project seeks to determine the various conditions under which fuel cells can be used. Other backers are Dana an automotive parts supplier based in Ohio; Texaco, the international energy company based in White Plains, N.Y.; and Salt River Project, a Phoenix-based utility company. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an adviser. "Southern Co.

has a long history of technology innovation in electric power generation," said Charles Goodman, vice president for research and environmental affairs at the Atlanta-based utility holding company. "We view this collaborative approach as a beneficial means to fully test and understand the future of fuel cell power generation technology." Lanier Worldwide to repurchase stock Lanier Worldwide board approved the repurchase of up to 8 million of the company's common shares. The Atlanta-based company has about 88 million shares outstanding. Lanier said it will retain the repurchased shares as treasury stock and will use them as part of its stock-option plan. Profit Recovery buys control of French firm Profit Recovery Group International Inc.

bought 89 percent of Groupe AP, a French tax-audit firm, for about $30 million in cash and shares. Profit Recovery, which offers accounts-payable and other recovery audit services, said Tuesday it will pay SO percent of the price in cash and the rest in restricted, unregistered shares. Eleven percent of Groupe AP's shares are traded on France's over- remaining 11 percent stake. Groupe AP will operate under Profit Recovery's Groupe Alma unit, a Paris tax-audit company. Lodgian shareholder sues over takeover bid Lodgian which operates 133 hotels in 35 states and Canada, was sued by a shareholder who wants the company sold to the highest bidder.

Atlanta-based Lodgian rejected an offer of $6.50 a share two weeks ago from Fort Mitchell, Casua-rina Cayman Holdings Ltd. Casua-rina already owns 9.3 percent of Lodgian. Lodgian stock owner Theodore Weiss contends company directors rejected Casuarina's bid, which represented a 48 percent premium at the time, because they want to keep their jobs. Officials of Lodgian could not be reached to comment. South African Airways joins Delta SkyMiles South African Airways today becomes a partner in Delta Air Lines' SkyMiles frequent flier program, the first step in a new alliance between the carriers.

SkyMiles members can now earn and redeem awards on SAA flights. SAA plans to launch the first nonstop Atlanta-Johannesburg flights on Jan. 31. Delta will sell seats on the flights under a code-share pact with SAA. Coca-Cola distributor to appeal Belgian ruling Coca-Cola's Belgian distributor said Tuesday it will appeal a court decision to stop a promotional campaign aimed at regaining consumer confidence following a health scare over the summer.

"Looking at the court decision, it is pretty obvious we will do so," said Coca-Cola Belgium spokesman Steve Leroy. While the appeal process runs its course, Coca-Cola Belgium will end Operation Restore, which aims to provide cafes and shops with a number of free products. Monday's decision gave the as likely to hold value Ponder these prices of office towers. Plaza was sold last week for about $100 million. The of the 14-year-old building was Sumitomo Life Realty, which in 1988 made a $103 mil-V lion mortgage on the square-foot building.

Six weeks ago, a 50 percent 'interest in Promenade II, regional headquarters i complex in Midtown, sold for $80 million. 'tk Construction of the -square-foot building was financed Hn 1988 with a $163 miUion loan by Sanwa. In the interim, Equity Office Properties bought it in 1996 for $150 million. At the recent prices, both buildings have "strong prospects for appreciation," said Ted Klinck, a principal with Lend Lease Real Estate Investment v-' Management, adviser to the institutional buyers of both prop-pities. "They will definitely hold a their value." Prices of office buildings here "probably two years ago," Klinck said.

Atlanta Plaza's price, the equivalent of about $162 a Vquare foot, was "a slight discount to replacement cost," he said. John Wise, a senior associate 'with Marcus Millichap, a "rational brokerage, estimated the replacement cost of Atlanta Plaza Would be $180 a square foot. highest Price per square foot paid so far this year, Wise gaid, was the $171 BellSouth 4 'paid for a building in Lenox "In years past we have had a )ol higher prices," Wise said. Still, Atlanta market is healthy and drawing buyers. an office building sales i t' report released this week, Wise 'gaid 1999 dollar volume through i.

the third quarter was $475.1 mil-lion, down 44 percent from $855.7 in the comparable period 'l''pf 1998. The number of buildings 'j declined only slightly, to 46 i' from 49. Construction contracts decline across the board New contracts for all types of construction statewide declined in October for the second consecutive month, according to the latest data released by McGraw-Hill F.W. Dodge division. All categories of construction experienced double-digit decreases in the value of contracts awarded, reported Dodge, a major provider of information on the construction industry.

Contracts for infrastructure such as roads, utilities and communications systems were down 33 percent compared with November 1998. Commercial, industrial and institutional buildings were down 31 percent, and residential buildings declined 11 percent. For the year to date, however, total contract values are 7 percent higher than in the first 10 months of 1998. Commercial, industrial and institutional building contracts were 3 percent lower year-to-date, the only category of construction to show a decline. Residential construction contracts were 13 percent higher, while commercial, industrial and institutional buildings increased 2 percent.

Real estate to be auctioned online Bids for Georgia properties can be made live online via Amazon.Com LifeBid Auctions in a series of sales Dec. 7-14. Atlanta-based Interstate Auction Management is adding the Internet accessibility for its regu- the-counter market. Profit Recovery is planning a cash tender offer for the Always the BESTPR1CE1 I I I re Uzvs Car 770455-6556 li VOLVO I MIKIMOTQ THE ORIGINATOR OF CULTURED PEARLS. SNCT MM.

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