Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 13

Th Tribune Tuesday, July 16, 1985 DOW JONES AVERAGES SAP INDEX High 1m CIm Oig. aOkMknt 21141 21174 21241 US 4N Mud 21111 21151 21171 170 20 Transit 1S051 17115 179.10 112 40 Ut Sties 9147 9111 9110 104 2149 2151 2154 111 500 Stocks 19104 19155 19172 157 DIGEST By Rebecca Smith TIM ns Descendents of the Saq Francis-, co jeat-maker, Levi Strauss, ye-tefday confirmed they will uy to buy back all outstanding shares of -stock in the cbmpany for $50 apiece, a $2-billion leveraged buyout. Details of the bank financing-package, critical to success of the secure the funds borrowed to buy the Stock, then appointed four members who are not descendents of Levi Strauss or employed by the company, to a special committee. Committee members will evaluate the forthcoming cash offer of $50 a share, with the help of Goldman Sachs investment bankers, and make -a-recommendation to shareholders. deal, were disclosed, yesterday ah president of Levi Strauss Co.

and a great-great "grandnephew of the founder, ex plained the leveraged buyout proposal to company directors for the first time in a special meeting yesterday. The 17-member board listened to the plan to use poxnpany assets to Stock. in the company (NYSE: LVI) jumped $1.50 a share to $47,125, yesterday in heavy trading, suggesting that investors think the buyout looks like a sure thing, analysts said. As consummation of a leveraged buyout appears more and more likely, the difference between the. trading price and the proposed buyout price diminishes.

Stock in Levi Strauss has jumped about $10 a share since rumors of the buyout surfaced last Thursday. The company yesterday disclosed the structure of the proposed transaction' that is designed to return control of the company to family hands. Family members ran the company until they took it public in See LEVI, Page BS Market skittish due to Reagans surgery news NEW YORK Technology issues carried the stock market for moat of yesterdays session, but at the close prices were mixed as investors awaited word 'on President Reagan health. After the conclusion of trading, the White House said the tumor removed from the president on Saturday was cancerous, but doctors said they thought all malignancy had been eliminated. The Dow Jones industrial Samtm Nw Stick ftatop average, which gained lestf than a point backtracked 3.14 points, to 1,335.46.

Over all, 875 issues increased in price while 691 declined. But the average share fell 6 cents, the New York Stock Exchange composite index dropped 0.20, to 111.93, and the Standard Poors 500-stock index was off 0.57, to 192.72. Volume weakened to 103.93 million from 120.26 million Friday. Oakland Coranuts turn 50 IBM, Intel in earnings Dollar continues to fall; gold mixed NEW YORK The dollar staged a broad retreat in volatile trading early yesterday and dipped fractionally further late in the day after the presidents cancer was reported? The medical findings were disclosed after most currency trading had ended in the United States and there was no dollar-selling surge. Gold prices traded in a narrow range.

Republic National Bank of New York said gold bullion was bid at $317.25 a troy ounce as of 4 p.m. EDT, down 50 cents from the late bid Friday. (For complete New York Com-ex gold and silver quotations, see Futures on page B-3.) The dollar feU to 238.60 yen in Tokyo from 242.80 yen Friday, its lowest rate since July 3C 1984. (For complete currency quotations, see Foreign Exchange, Page B-4.) Kaiser to build major complex in Fairfield Kaiser Development Co. announced yesterday the $3.9 million acquistion of 98 acres in Fairfield for a large commercial and industrial complex.

Called the Fairfield Business. Campus, the development will offer space for light industrial and research and development purposes as well as sites for offices, restaurants, hanks and a hotel. Kaiser Development the real estate subsidiary of Oakland-based Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical didnt fare well in second quarter earnings that were released last week. The subsidiary repented $4.5 million in pretax earnings in the second quarter compared with $25 million in pretax earnings in the first quarter. However, Cornell C.

Maier, chairman of Kaiser Aluminum, said the subsidiary expects a good outlook, for the second half. By RogerRspoport 77m ns Fifty years ago this month an Oakland estate agent named Albert Holloway leased a building, to aspiring entrepre- 1 neurs making a munchie known as Brown Jug Toasted Corn. Dad didnt know anything about the food business, says corporate-tieir Maurice Hollo- way, the agents son. But he liked the product, decided tybuy out the business and get out of real estate. The result, half-a-century lat-' er, is a $20 million-a-year Oak- land business called Comnuts.

Each year the company sells 100 million packages of the. giant toasted corn kernels that' come in plain, nacho, barbecue, salted and unsalted versions. In the fiercely competitive consumer food products market. Commits sales have doubled in the past five years. Privately-held Comnuts con-tinues to.

grow largely on the strength of retained earnings. We do borrow from the bank to pay farmers for the 10 million tons of corn we buy each year in the Salinas Valley and Ohio's Mad River Valley, says Holloway: And we did use' industrial revenue bonds to build our new plant in Ohio. But we dont have a great'deal of debt." The 150 employees who work at the Comnuts plant on Pear- Cf 77m JH baadytalf and aawa aatirioaa The nations leading computer manufacturer, IBM Corp. and one of its leading vendors, Intel Corp. -of Santa Claes, both reported lower' second quarter earnings yesterday.

Intel's income was million, or 8 cents per share for the second quarter ending June 29, down 80 percent from $46 million, or 39 cents per share, for the same period last year. Our orders this quarter were, once again, well below shipments, said Gordon Moore, Intel chairman and chief executive officer. He said there are no signs the slump is ending. IBM which owns 12 percent of Intel, blamed its lower earnings 'on listless economy, a See IBM, Page B-10 Domestic auto sales ByAatala PaacratiaTha Maurice Holloway, son of Coranuts founder. man Street and at its headquarters on Capwell Drive, are the beneficiaries of Several trends.

the company began half a century ago, the small, very hard toasted com kernels were generally happy hour fare served in bars. The company expanded into the retail end of the snack food business during See B-7 i Ailing Pittsburgh Steel faces strike Treasury bills short-term yields Use, Yields on shortterm Treasury securities rose in yesterdays auctions, reversing declines of the past two weeks. The Treasury Department sold $7.2 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of .7.06 percent, up from last weeks 6.92 percent' Another $7.2 Ullion was sold in six-month bills at an average discount rate of 7 JO percent up from 7 percent last week. In the' Bay Area The Newark-based distributor that introduced ice cream to Northern California in 1976 has taken legal action to block the ice cream maker from ending their business' relationship. Two months ago, Haagen-Daz notified Two Count Inc.

that it would terminate its relationship with the distributor and announced the appointment of a replacement effective Aug. 1 Narragansett Broadcasting Co. of California Inc has completed its acquisition of radio stations KHTT-AM and KSJO-FM of San Jose from Sterling Recreation Organization of Seattle for $8.25 million National Semiconductor Corp. has signed an agreement with Sandia National Laboratories to allow to develop a family of radiation-hardened mi-croprocessor devices based on Nationals Series 32000 family of 32-bit microprocessor circuits Around the state A congressional panel plans to examine this week whether conflict of interest as well as risky-real estate ventures led. to the insolvency of Beverly Hills Savings Loan Association and why federal banking regulators did not take early action to remove management begins cutting its long distance prices by more than four percent next week, in accordance with a state PUC decision By 8tophanl it Droll Tha Lot Angaha Thaaa DETROIT With consumer demand leveling off and imports claiming a larger slice of the U.S.

market, the domestjpstfutomakers posted their largest sales decline of the year in the first 10 days of July, the industry reported yesterday. Seven U.S. auto manufacturers said that they sold 174,019 cars in the 1-10 period, down 14.9 percent from the 179,026 that they sold in the same, period JaaCfear. Auto analysts attributed the Beeline to the increased availability Japanese-cars and the lack of major' consumer incentive-programs, which the domestic manufacturers used heavily during the year's first half. These figures confirm the See AUTO, Page B-7 By Peter Mattiace 77m Aaaodatad Prmaa PITTSBURGH Appealing directly to workers, Wheeling-Pitts-burgh Steel Corp.

Chairman Dennis J. Carney said yesterday his.iinan-ciallyrs trapped company will unilaterally reduce wages and benefits if permitted and warned that a retaliatory strike would destroy the steelmaker, jobs and communities. We do not intend to fight the union, Carney said in a five-minute speech for television and radio stations in western Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio and. northern West Virginia. We intend to fight for survival.

The company, meanwhile, reported losses of $50.1 million for the second quarter, including a non-recurring loss of $28.7 million, and losses of $78.6 million for the first six months of the year Shipments were off more than 12 percent for the second quarter and first half. It is important to the survival off Wheeling-Pittsburgh that all employees understand just how serious our financial problems are, Carney said in his 768-word address. Wheeling-Pittsburgh, the nations seventh-largest steelmaker, filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws on April 16. In the first significant interpretation of new bankruptcy laws, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Warreft W.

Bentz is expected to rule as early as today whether to dissolve Wheeling-Pittsburghs current contract with the USW. We would much prefer to reach an agreement with the (United Steelworker? of America) union, Carney said. However, if we cannot reach a negotiated settlement and the bankruptcy judge permits us to reject our present labor agreement, we will put in our own wage rates and revised benefits package. Let me assure you we will do nothinno force you to walk out, he said. We will provide you vyith a total labor rate that you can live with, so that you can continue to See STEEL, Page B-7 Banks asked to help farms Oil company will pay $900,000 to the EPA While farmers are busy tending to summer crops and hoping for better times, the financial bailout proposal is a reminder of the continuing stress on UJ3.

agriculture and the financial institutions closely tied to it Around the nation Mortgage rates fell sharply in early June, posting the largest month-to-month decline in more than two years, the government reported. Another report indicated that in May American took on $9 billion more in installment debt than they paid oft Eastern Airlines stockholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of an anti-takeover measure at its annual shareholders meeting Around the world North Yemens government announced an agreement granting Exxon Corp. the right to explore for oil and minerals in an 8,800 square area in the Central Plateau The World Banks private-sector arm, the International Finance has made its first investment' in China for the production of Peugeot pickup trucks which includes an agreement enabling worker to buy stock in the 1 operation. jr TIM Trtbuna atad and By Jim Drinkard ThO JiMOOMfctf AfM WASHINGTON Member banks of the nations largest farm lending system are being asked to contribute to a bailout of. the seriously ailing, four-state district Officials of the $80 billion Farm Credit System said the infusion is needed to restore health to the Omaha Federal Intermediate CreditBankf which has suffered heavy' loan losses and de-'linquencies during agriculture's current financial crisis The rescue, if approved by the governing boards of the 37 regional banks and their regulatory agency, the Farm Credit Administration, would be the largest yet in the system.

Approval is not expected before September. A similar $150 million rescue was approved last month for the system's Spokane, Intermediate Credit Bank. While.farmers -are busy-tending summer crops ana hoping for Tha WASHINGTON Diamond Shamrock Inc. has agreed to pay a $900,000 administrative fine for failing to notify the Environmental Protection Agency before making -or importing three new chemicals, the agency said yesterday. The company also will pay separately to settle charges of violating PCB regulations at its Green's Bayou plant in Houston.

Identities of the three chemicals and amounts involved were not disclosed; the EPA is allowing them to be kept secret Though EPA originally had proposed a fine of $1.7 million for the notice violations in March, the amount was reduced because of undisclosed new facts, and' because Diamond Shamrock had co company voluntarily disclosed the violations on.the part of its Duolite International subsidiary in the first place, ETA said. In addition to the fine, the company agreed, fo tell the ETA 90 days before they begin commercial marketing of new chemicals in compliance with the Toxic Substances Control Act at 43 of its installations. And the ETAreserved the right to take further action cm the basis of the companys findings. Fines totaling $6.9 million were Imposed against six companies last month for similar violations. PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyl compounds, ban cause cancer in laboratory animals.

They have not been manufactured in the United States for but were -once widely- used for electrical iiK sulation. better times, the financial bailout proposal is a reminder of the continuing stress on U.S. agriculture and the financial institutions closely tied to it The Farm Credit System, a quasi-governmental network of banks owned by the farmers who borrow from it, holds the largest, single share of the nation's $212 billion total farm debt, some $80 INSIDE NYSE 8-2 American lKchss9Srri ir it r---r IdHorlil See FARMS, Page B-10 operated in the investigation. The pr.