Fort Worth Star-Telegram du lieu suivant : Fort Worth, Texas • 23

Wittz? 1) 0 usmess SECTION rr Tuesday September 131994 I FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM I 1-r New investor secures credit line for Sunbelt Stake in nursery group sold leases reworked Kmartt aronoruinces cOosthro Todd Mason 11115 ENTARAIll i pL Pi: 1 414 4 1 rv: 5: till 4-itr i 1 opim 1 4aly: imse-7-t1 crapJ1 Arlington site to absorb workers in consolidation Wheels roll taxes flow Dorian Booker of Mel-Tex Electric Co works on the Kmart store scheduled to open in November on South Cooper Street Two other Arlington locations are closing but no layoffs are expected BY STEVEN YONDER HAAR Fort Worth star-Telegram FORT WORTH In a series of moves that resolve much of the uncertainty in its operations Sunbelt Nursery Group Inc reached deals yesterday to rework a lease agreement and pay off an $116 million credit line with Pier I Imports The company also said that General Host Corp its largest shareholder has agreed to sell its 494 percent Sunbelt stake to the chairman of Lyndale Garden Center Last month Connecticut-based General Host announced intentions to sell to Lyn-dale but did not mention plans to sell to the re-(More on SUNBELT on Page 4) Foil Worth Star-Telegram BRUCE MAXWELL American will lay off 30 pilots BYJEANNE GRAHAM Fort Worth StarTelegram A RLINGTON Kmart Corp is closing two Arlington stores and opening another in the former Pace Membership Warehouse in Arlington's hottest retail area Interstate 20 at South Cooper Street company officials confirmed yesterday The consolidation which does not involve layoffs follows the closing more than a year ago of the Kmart at Abram Street and Texas 360 which was replaced by a new Kmart at Texas 360 and Pioneer Parkway and the announcement last week of restructuring plans that involve shutting down less profitable stores and expanding in growing areas The grand opening for the South Cooper Street store is Nov 6 When the transition is complete Arlington will have two Kmart stores the company said "We need more floor space for wider aisles and additional lines of merchandise" store manager Jim Daley said "We could not expand at the existing Arlington locations" Daley said the store at 2210 Fielder Rd which has been open for 22 years will close Nov 2 The store in southwest Arlington at Little Road and Interstate 20 will remain open as a clearance center until January The Kmart on Little Road has been open for 13 years Kmart previously had said little about its plans for the empty Pace warehouse In May Kmart began remodeling the building plans filed with the city indicated the new store would be a Kmart "This is a high-density high-traffic area" Daley (More on KMART on Page 4) Cuts tied to reduced schedule for fall winter official says Northwest comer Little Road at 1-20 Southwest comer Cooper Street at I-20 a ens one store oses three -irvr i Texas 360 now Eriedit edi IIIPL--- at WA Cowboys club IIMP AIONS Wor Southwest corner 1 11 111 Fielder Road at Spur pAlselamilmot bivison st 4 303 C4-0e: Little 11 Nonh comer west IMIIIIN Road at 1-20 1 iiii cp Em71 1 Ent EirorsaTou3R Iill '4" ct0iiJG: Cooper Street at 1-20 Ci molignill rgialitig0111211tailiiiii ik-rIntr Fir 111 mil 65 111M I IILL litibINNIt al Iti BY DAN REED Fort Worth Star-Telegram FORT WORTH American Airlines will lay off 30 more pilots Nov 1 as part of the company's continuing efforts to shrink its flight operations in response to four years of losses totaling more than 12 billion The new layoffs will push the total number of American pilots furloughed since August 1993 to 590 Fifty pilots are scheduled to leave the Fort Worth-based carrier's payroll on Oct 1 in a previously announced round of layoffs Al Becker an American spokesman said the layoffs are the result of American's plan to shrink op-(More on PILOTS on Page 3) Fort Worth Star-blegrara Frank Taylor Bayer AG German drug maker to buy back US aspirin business Buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis agrees to acquire Borden fin car game lint Buyers lost one Teasing customers -won one It's right 'there on the contract I it you just have to look ID uying a car is a taxing experivi ence literally as well as figura6 tively Ifyou do your homework as 'if'a buyer you'll also want to be preurpared when the authorities slap the levy to your Chevy arili Our public servants in Austin made several changes in the dx code lately Car buyers lost 9ne II'Leasing customers won one but they got no relief from the constitutional quirk in Texas that can saddle them with costly personal prop- ry tax bills Let's start with a recent sales tax -uling by the state comptroller that could mean hundreds of dollars in savings for leasing customers I How? The comptroller worked this magic by deciding to tax you bn the difference between your rade-in and your lease purchase rice just as if your deal were a regular purchase I Ifyou're using Old Betsy as a $9000 down payment on a lease of I 7000 new car for example i ou would pay $480 (6 percent of 8000) instead i Before this ruling you had to ask the leasing company the actual buyer of the car to use its tax credits to offset some of the sales tax it was passing along to you You till can do that in fact You can also get a tax break on a ease car you're turning in to lease another car although it's more complicated Basically you have -4o-exercise your purchase option to own the car for the few minutes it takes you to trade it in on the new lease The comptroller is trying to change with the times says tax specialist Curt Swenson "We're not going to demand a bunch of new titling" he said "One of the prime arguments for this ruling is that more and more cars are being leased" You may have to ask the dealer for breaks on the sales tax since the ruling is still relatively unknown Ask him to call the comptroller's help line at (800)252-1382 if he isn't clear on the concept I have one more hot line number for you this one for car buyers It's guaranteed to settle arguments over Senate Bill 878 a law with a high cost in on the show room floor and a relatively small price in dollars SB 878 aimed to update an antiquated and oft-abused tax system (Ince upon a time county tax apptaisers would physically count vehicles in dealers' lots on Jan I and uSe their dollar value to establish 1 (More on MASON on Page 4) BY STEVE SAKSON The Associated Press Germany's Bayer AG buys back its flagship brand Bayer AG a large German pharmaceutical maker is buying back US rights to Bayer aspirin by purchasing the North American over-the-counter drug business of Sterling Winthrop from SmithKline Beecham PLC The food maker which has dairy plants in Texas had been struggling to turn around its sagging earnings baye known brands as Midol Phillips' Milk of Magnesia NeoSynephrine decongestants and Stridex acne treatments It is now owned by the photographic company Eastman Kodak Co but two weeks ago SmithKline agreed to buy Sterling's worldwide over-the-counter drug businesses for $29 billion outbidding Bayer AG and others Yesterday's announcement means that about a third of the businesses that Kodak is selling to SmithKline will be resold to Bayer AG Bayer Chairman Manfred Schneider said the reuniting of the Bayer name with its parent is "a memorable event in our corporate (More on BAYER on Page 4) terday to buy Borden and will swap $2 billion in RJR Nabisco Holdings Inc stock for Borden The deal ends lengthy speculation about the future of Borden The company whose brands include its namesake dairy products Wise snacks and a variety of pastas and sauces has been selling parts of itself to try to boost sagging profits KKR one of the most prominent takeover firms of the 1980s is the largest stockholder in RJR Nabisco maker of Nabisco brand foods and RJ Reynolds tobacco brands including Winston Salem and Camel cigarettes KKR engineered the $2453 bit-(More on BORDEN on Page 2) NEW YORK Bayer AG the big German drug maker that was stripped of its lucrative US aspirin business after World War I is buying it back 76 years later Bayer said yesterday that it will pay 1 billion to British drug maker SmithKline Beecham PLC for the North American over-the-counter drug business of Sterling Winthrop Inc The deal if approved by US antitrust regulators would give Bayer AG back the businesses that it lost in 1918 when they were confiscated as enemy property by the government and auctioned off to Sterling Sterling also makes such well BY SUZANNE BOWLING The Associated Press COLUMBUS Ohio Borden Inc the food and consumer products maker that has struggled the past few years to rescue its finances said yesterday that it has found a white knight Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Co the firm that took RJR Nabisco private in the biggest corporate buyout of all time KKR reached an agreement yes Brands being sold by SmithKline Beecham to Bayer 0 Bayer aspirin Midol pain reliever Phillips' Milk of Magnesia antacids Stridex acne treatments 0 Campho-Phenique skin care AP I Fort Worth StarTblegram It's scuba-dooby-doo a deux -r0 11 Yule be cool this year BOBbing underwater with Nennan's top gift Feiwus president of Neiman Marcus Direct and his daughter Dana 6 see the elephant clearly yesterday at the Loews Anatole hotel in Dallas i Fort Wonh Star-Telegram JERRY HOFFER '1 -1 tw 14:0 Cie ti51b0 660 r'''6600 BY SCOIT NISHIMURA Fort Worth Star-Telegram ALLAS Already wondering what to get that special person for the holidays this year? What about BOB a pair of underwater scooters with breathing bubbles and scuba tanks? Only $7500 apiece Throw them in the lake in the canal behind your home in your swimming pool Really BOB which stands for Breathing Observation Bubble is this year's special Christmas gift from Neiman Marcus The Dallas retailer kicks off the holidays every year with a fanciful his-and-hers selection items that have ranged from mummy cases to windmills to live ostriches Neiman Marcus publishes the his-and-hers selection in its annual Christmas Book which will begin hitting mailboxes in a few days "Every year the search is on for the unusual his-and-hers gift" Neiman Marcus Chairman Burton Tansky said 0 11v estertil 86034 $00 Jones A $60 14444 26 2930 31 1 2 1 6 9 1 0:1 tarture (6 16 91 01 tatturtoGitreigs and the driver controls movement with a simple steering console The scooters have an air-filled Plexiglas dome air flows in from a scuba tank mounted on the front The scooters can go as deep as 40 feet To operate the scooter you should either have a diving certificate or be accompanied by a certified diving instructor Neiman Marcus says Diving certification is not a condition of sale however As it normally does with its expensive his-and-hers gifts Neiman Marcus is acting as an agent for Bellaqua in taking orders for the scooters and will (More on NEIMAN on Page 3) yesterday Tansky also the company's chief executive officer revealed little about how this year's gift was chosen "This is really for the person who wants to explore the underworld" he said then quickly corrected himself "the underwater world" You don't have to live in a place such as Arlington's Interlochen to use these devices During the unveiling at a party at the posh Loews Anatole hotel yesterday two divers presented the scooters by steering them across the hotel swimming pool underwater The scooters are manufactured by Bel laqua of Palm Beach Fla They are powered by a I 2-volt electric motor posted price WOCK111 futiresr St68874005 1 r41 11 111101F ontract for October 1 -Ali $1739 cH pet barrel 14 4014 11 posted price itroo'ncl futiresfe68874005i A Fort Worth Star-Telegram JERRY HOERR Neiman Marcus Direct President BD Feiwus and diver Kimberly Mader show the BOB submersible scooter from this year's Christmas Book 4 11 Fort Worth Star-lblegnun -ow 10 1 4 4.