The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 8

suburban caffflAL MANUACTURING Illinois based firm purchases RP Adams for $38 million PRINTING Imports force Quebecor out of books By MATT GLYNN News Business Reporter RP Adams Co a Town of Tonawanda designer and maker of heat exchangers wa ter strainers and filters has agreed to be bought by an Illinois based company for $38 million The planned purchase by Serfilco hinges on approval of the deal by RP Adams shareholders and other closing conditions Richard Adams the president said his 40 employee company has been losing money over the past five years due to an erosion of the American industrial base that buys RP products lot of companies have gone out of business and taken their business he said RP best hope to turn things around and tap into international sales was to be acquired by a larger operation Adams said It put out feelers to potential buyers and eventually struck a deal with Serfilco RP Adams is rich in family history Richard's father founded the company in 1937 Richard took the helm in 1998 after the retirement of his brother Robert Serfilco makes filtration equipment and pumps Its president Jack Berg said his company intends to operate RP Adams as a subsidiary that will retain the Adams name in its identity Berg founded Northbrook 111 based Serfilco in 1961 and has about 200 employ ees He describes Serfilco and RP Adams as compatible companies that serve differ ent markets with their products If the deal goes through RP shareholders are expected to receive pro ceeds of about $978 per share mail: mglynn(gbuffnewscom By RED 0 WILLIAMS News Business Reporter Quebecor World Buffalo will exit the book business it launched in 2002 driven out by import competition from Asia general manager Kevin Clarke said The business in Depew that makes cardhoard covered bookswill lose about halt of its 15 jobs by June 1 he said The remaining work will focus on specialty books that require rush delivery cutting overseas competitors out of the running zigging and Clarke said have the best equipment in the world and we compete on a price stand Quebecor opened the chil dren's book business in 2002 af ter the shutdown of bankrupt bookbinder Carton Craft in Buf falo a customer for printing and coating services The business is housed in a leased fa cility across the street from Que main plant on George Urban Boulevard in Depew Quebecor which employs about 1000 people locally also faces the possible loss of work printing coupon books for Eek erd Drugs Clarke said a sub stantial source of business Own er JC Penney Co is in talks to sell the drugstore chain mail: fwilliams(ci buffnewscom rut A I Busmess THURSDAY MARCH 25 2004 PAGE B4 KEY INDICATORS DOW 11 a today 6992 1011815 NASDAQ 1 1 am today 3202 194150 CANADIAN DOLLARToday 620 cent 7472c GOLD London today $130 $41660 BONDS 10 yr treasury 004 374 BusmessToday Economy grew by 41 percent WASI I1NGTON (AP) America's economic recovery ended 2(103 on a good note growing at a solid 41 percent annu al rate and is expected to do even better in the opening quarter of this year The latest reading on gross domestic product for the Octobcr to Deccmbcr quarter was the same as a previous esti mate made a month ago the Commerce Department reported GDP measures that value of all goods and services produced within the United 'States and is considered the most impor tant barometer of the economy's health ord VP leaves for marketing job DEARBORN Mich (AP) Jan Valentic ord Motor Co's vice presi dent for global marketing will leave the company April 1 io ne come an executive vice president at Young Rubicam Brands the automaker said Wednesday Valentic will be re sponsible for global marketing efforts of the Microsoft Corp account Young Rubicam Brands is a member of the WPP group of companies the second largest holding compa ny of advertising and marketing firms ord will realign global marketing ac tivities under Jim group vice president for North American market ing sales and service Dell to recycle units for EPA Dell Inc the world's largest personal computer maker will recycle computers for the US Environmental Protection Agency after being criticized last year for the environmental practices Dell will recycle computer systems that are being replaced by the EPA as the agency leases as many as 10000 Dell desktop notebook and server computers The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition an environmental group last year criti cized Dell's recycling program for using prison labor and not adequately recycling parts A few weeks after the criticism Dell overhauled the program Bloomberg News Adelphia wins settlement Adelphia Communications Corp the bankrupt cable television provider whose founders are on trial for fraud won a federal approval of a $194 billion settlement with its former telephone and Internet subsidiary Under the accord approved by US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber in New York Adelphia Communicationswill drop an $842 million claim pay $60 mil lion cash and buy $39 million of telecom munications services over five years from TelCove Inc a former unit reorganizing in a separate bankruptcy TelCove will drop as much as $1 billion in claims against Adelphia The settlement removes an obstacle to efforts by the two companies to come out of bankruptcy and complete a split that was hampered by their insolvency TelCove formerly called Adelphia Busi ness Solutions in December won Ger approval of its plan to exit bank ruptcy Adelphia's plan was filed last month Adelphia Communications slit from Adelphia Business in January 2002 and the former unit filed for bankruptcy pro tection two months later Bloomberg Mw In other business news 1 CMGI Inc a one time Internet high flyer that was hit hard when the tech bubble burst announcing plans Wednes day to purchase Modus Media for $1575 million in stock Chinese regulators have approved plans for a joint venture between USlife insurer MetLife Inc and the owner of the Beijing International Airport rhe US company has a 50 percent stake in the 500 million yuan ($605 million) ven ture to sell life insurance Royal DutchShell Group signed a preliminary agreement with Libya to de velop gas resources in the north African nation A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Royal DutchShell deal was worth $200 million fSlS Jan Valentic vice president for global marketing will leave the company April 1 MOVIE THEATERS AMC pulls plug on University Cinemas By DAVID ROBINSON News Business Reporter The curtain has come down on the University Cinemas in Amherst AMC which acquired the eight screen theater when it purchased the General Cinema chain out of bankrupt cy two years ago closed the movie com plex at 4100 Maple Road on Monday Despite the closing AMC still has a presence on Maple Road with the Ma ple Ridge 8 theaters that arc about a quarter mile away at 4276 Maple Road The closing of the University Cine mas comes just six months after Dipson Theaters took over the former AMC theater adjacent to the McKinley Mall in Hamburg AMC left the McKinley theaters when its lease expired and also because those cinemas were much smaller than the 14 scrccn complex that is the typical size of an AMC the ater The closing continues the gradual fallback by the movie theater industry from the building boom that saw the number of indoor theaters nationwide fall by 4 percent over the last four years after soaring by 77 percent to a peak of 36448 in 1999 from 20595 in 1987 ac cording to the National Association of Theater Owners an industry trade group Since 1999 however the number of screens have been gradually dropping in response to what industry analysts have described as the ovcrscrcening of America which eventually helped push more than a dozen movie chains in cluding a pair with a Western New York presence General Cinema and Regal Cinemas into bankruptcy That squeeze is even more apparent in the number of theater sites that arc operating Almost one of every five the ater sites that was operating at the end of 1999 had closed by the end of last year the trade organization said One reason is that chains like AMC prefer bigger theater complexes with more screens AMC for instance has opened or acquired almost 2500 mega plex style screens over the last eight years and disposed of more than 1000 older screens that the company consid ered to be obsolete The average AMC complex has about 15 screens which is the highest among North American theater companies AMC said all passes will be honored at the company's Maple Ridge 8 and Walden Galleria theaters mail: drobinsontji buffnewscom INSURANCE HOSPITALITY 1 i a yf 44 1 Sfejg1 4 i MgC 'IsSK a A Bw MaBEig Photos by BILL WIPPLRTtBuffalo News John Zinno right the general manager watches as Geico service trainers Ed Bosworth left Juliana Dickson and Brent McKenzie move Wednesday Zinno said officials hope to start taking sales phone calls at the facility at the end of April but begin handling service calls until the end of May Geico is getting settled Auto insurer begins moving into temporary office in Amherst By JONATHAN EPSTEIN News Business Reporter Auto insurer Geico Corp moved into its temporary offices at 61 John Muir Drive in Am herst Wednesday as it prepared to begin the next phase of train ing today for its first group of em ployees The fifth largcst auto insurer is setting up a new nation al insurance service center in Amherst that will ultimately house at least 2500 employees in customer service sales and claims jobs The permanent site a $40 million building to be locat ed in Uniland CrossPoint Business Park has not yet been constructed so the fast growing company is being housed for now in the 39000 square foot former home of One Beacon Insurance Group in the Audubon Office Park The permanent 250000 square foot building which will include a 20 year lease is expect ed to be completed within 18 months As part of the deal to at tract Geico which said it would create jobs paying $40000 a year the company is getting $100 mil lion in tax breaks In the meantime officials are still in the planning and design stage for the permanent facility but are mostly waiting to sec how the initial operation goes and how much success the company has with hiring and growth are waiting for Geico to further the start of their opera See Geico Page B7 Andrew Papantoniou a Geico sales trainer is loaded down with boxes Wednesday as the auto insurer moves into temporary space at 61 John Muir Drive I Jte ft i airfield Inn in Lancaster purchased by NJ company By MATT GLYNN News Business Reporter A New Jersey based hotel operator has bought its first property in the Buffalo area and plans to come back for more Tramz Hotels which owns five hotels in the Syracuse area paid $365 million for the airfield Inn near the Thruway in the Town of Lancaster Il remains a air field Inn brand hotel Tajjammal Murad president said he is upbeat about the Buffalo area hospitality industry and is working on deals for other hotels here He said he was not ready to share details yet coming to Buffalo in a big Murad said Tramz plans to spend an additional $1 million on renovations of the 135 room Lancaster hotel which is called the air field Inn Buffalo Williamsville It opened on reeman Road near Transit Road in 1991 Tramz bought the hotel from a joint venture that included the Carlyle Group of Washington DC and Sage Hospitali ty Resources of Colorado Tramz is also buying two hotels in Ohio from the joint venture The Lancaster hotel was part of a package of 26 hotels that the joint venture bought in 1994 through an affiliate MI 1U from Host Marriott That portfolio has been gradually sold off over the past two years said Doug Wiley a Carlyle Group principal been doing Wiley said of the Lancaster hotel a strong market the rate has remained Syracuse area portfolio in cludes a airfield Inn which is a mid price brand of Marriott Tramz also owns three hotels in Virginia Murad said he believes the hospitality industry is poised for a turnaround after some down years I think is go ing to he said Tramz enters the Buffalo Niagara market at a time when at least four new hotels arc planned for Erie County See Hotel Page B7 I YPN riday in Business: Rick Snowden owner of Tally Ho owns a piece of Playboy history after buying Hugh stretch limo suburmhcthal.